How should businesses respond to the National Food Strategy?

Reflecting on the National Food Strategy: How should food and farming businesses respond?

Our Business Forum space in July 2021 gathered initial reactions to the recently launched National Food Strategy for England and explored how food and farming businesses should respond.

We discussed aspects of the Strategy where there was broad consensus amongst participants, such as on trade, plus areas likely to be more contentious, like the proposed salt and sugar tax. It was argued that joint responses are likely to be more powerful than piecemeal responses and that constructive responses were generally better than straight opposition. Food and farming businesses have important voices that should be heard, although crucially not at the expense of other voices. Read our summary write-up to learn more of what was discussed.

In contrast to regular Business Forums, we did not have any speakers for this session, held online, as we wanted simply to create a space for reflection and to begin to explore constructive, collaborative responses. The discussion was chaired by Dan Crossley, Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council.