Kent Food Partnership

The Kent Food Partnership is on a mission to create a diverse and inclusive environment in which all its citizens and visitors can access and know about good, healthy and affordable food that is sustainably grown, produced, processed, distributed, sold and served, boosting the local economy, improving the health of its citizens, creating a sense of community and protecting the environment.

The partnership brings together lead agencies Produced in Kent and Social Enterprise Kent with local Government, health institutions, Kent Universities, food and drink business representatives and community groups to try and turn the tide on a UK food system that is not geared towards accessible, healthy good food, but instead is making us ill and is wrecking the planet. The partnership will showcase the good work that is being done already, advocate change, encourage cross-sector collaboration as well as the development of an ambitious food plan for the future.

In its first year, the partnership’s Steering Group will focus on developing its governance structure and strategy paper which will be built on the following strategic objectives:

1. Promote healthy, sustainably produced and affordable food to the public

2. Tackle food poverty and diet-related ill-health

3. Build community food knowledge, skills and resources

4. Promote a diverse and vibrant food economy

5. Transform catering and food procurement

6. Reduce waste and the ecological footprint of the food system

In the autumn of 2023, the Kent Food partnership hopes to be admitted as a member of the Sustainable Food Places community, which represents over 80 regional food partnerships in the UK and was set up in 2015 by the Soil Association, Sustain and Food Matters. The Medway Food Partnership, working along the same aims as the Kent Food Partnership and sitting as an observer on the Steering Group, became a member in 2022.

A Kent Food partnership website is in development. Until its launch, enquiries about the Kent Food partnership can be directed to: info@producedinkent.co.uk.