Mapping the local food system in Southampton
July 2024 Update: For the latest this project, read the policy brief summary here.
This post has been authored by Lucy Scullard, Jenny Baverstock, Guy Poppy, Becky Wilkinson, Ravita Taheem
The public health team at Southampton City Council (SCC) are working with the University of Southampton on a project to carry out work to understand our local food system.
A food system is highly complex and has been defined as the interconnected system of everything and everybody that influences, and is influenced by, the activities involved in bringing food from farm to fork and beyond1. The food environment as a national priority was underlined in 2021 when a National Food Strategy2 independently commissioned plan was published by the Government. The report highlighted the adverse impact that our current food system is having on the environment, food security and public health.
Within Southampton, a Scrutiny Inquiry into Tackling Childhood Obesity recommended improving knowledge and understanding of the food environment in the city to develop local policies. However, a recent review of council policies and strategies showed limited progress to promote a healthier food environment in the city. This current work presents a valuable opportunity to fill knowledge gaps and support policy development.
Percentage of children (year 6) who are classified as overweight including obese by Southampton area 2016/17 to 2020/21 (pooled)
Source: Southampton data observatory
The Covid-19 pandemic and the concerns about increasing costs of living have shown how individuals and organisations can come together at times of crisis to help people access food. Now we want to understand how together we can support a healthy, resilient food system. Our work will help identify how the Southampton food system contributes to the city in economic and employment terms (national figures represented below) and how the local food system can support access to healthy, well priced food across the city.
Source: UKRI Transforming UK Food Systems Programme
We will be running workshops in April and May to listen to the views of people involved in all aspects of the food sector; from growers, manufacturers and retailers to food aid providers and the hospitality industry. Stakeholder focus groups will be used to develop an understanding of the underlying drivers of the local food system and identify the activities that can be undertaken at a local government level to influence systems change as well as activities requiring leadership by other actors in the system.
In particular, we want to find out about:
1) The key drivers of the local food system in Southampton.
2) What can be done at the local level to leverage change in the food system and what requires change at a national level?
3) How does the food system offer economic benefit to Southampton?
Co-produced with stakeholders across the city, this will set out ambitions and provide the strategic direction needed to support a system change to create a healthy sustainable local food environment. In the short term this project will be used to inform SCC decision makers to support a strategic approach to food in the city.. In the longer-term the project may lead to the development of a food partnership in Southampton and, if so, will directly inform a local action plan for a more healthy and sustainable food environment with the potential to extend the public policy outcomes to other areas in the region.
If you have any questions or comments or would be interested in participating in the stakeholder focus groups please email Sotonfoodmap@soton.ac.uk
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the University of Southampton’s Centre for the South New Things Fund as funder of this project (2023-24).
Links and References :
1) Government food strategy: Parsons, K et al. (2019). Rethinking Food Policy: A Fresh Approach to Policy and Practice, Brief 2: Understanding the food system: Why it matters for food policy, Centre for Food Policy.
2) National Food Strategy Independent Review: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1025825/national-food-strategy-the-plan.pdf
3) Southampton data observatory: Homepage (southampton.gov.uk), Southampton City Survey
4) Hasnain, S., Ingram, J. and Zurek, M. 2020. Mapping the UK Food System – a report for the UKRI Transforming UK Food Systems Programme. Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford. ISBN 978-1-874370-81-9
https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-05/Mapping-the-UK-food-system-digital.pdf
5) Tackling Childhood Obesity in Southampton Report: