Initiatives led by grassroots organisations and community projects in Brighton & Hove are filling in the gaps left by failing welfare and food systems, according to new research released today.
The new research, from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), found that initiatives which emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide marginalised communities with dignified access to food have the potential to play a much larger role in shaping a fairer food system.
Ali Ghanimi, Senior Manager, Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, said:
“As we launch the new Brighton and Hove Food Strategy Action Plan 2025-2030, collaboration between local food organisations, universities, businesses and communities is crucial in realising our vision of a city where everyone has the opportunity to eat healthy food from sustainable sources and those who produce our food are treated fairly.
“Studies like this play a key role in ensuring that healthy, sustainable, fair food is embedded in policy and planning and has a high profile across the city.
“The Brighton & Hove Food Partnership will continue to collaborate with research institutions, like IDS, to ensure food policy is evidence-based and informed by the latest research and innovations—including social innovations emerging from within communities we serve.”
Lídia Cabral, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, said:
“Our research with local food initiatives in Brighton & Hove shows that grassroots innovations can drive meaningful social change towards food justice.
“These initiatives have a powerful role in working with marginalised communities to exercise their rights to decent food and to help challenge an inequitable food system, which makes it harder for many people to access fresh, local produce. To make a broader systemic change to our local food system, these initiatives need the support of the government, for example in terms of local food distribution of storage infrastructure, and that is what we are hoping for in the future.”
Breaking barriers in access to fresh and nutritious foods
Researchers studied three initiatives in Brighton & Hove – Brighton Food Factory (BFF), Chomp, and Rock Farm and Florence Road Market, both run by One Church Brighton, to understand their operations and priorities in addressing immediate needs of people experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic. The research reveals that these initiatives not only addressed immediate food needs, but they also broke barriers in access to fresh and nutritious foods in deprived communities.
While these initiatives emerged in response to Covid-19, their services have continued to combat food insecurity amid the cost-of-living crisis and rising food prices, despite having fewer resources. The lessons from these initiatives are integral for the local council and food organisations to help marginalised communities in Brighton and Hove access affordable and nutritious food in a dignified way.
BFF scaled up its operation to meet the demands where weekly emergency food parcel deliveries increased from 400 to 4,900. BFF delivered 120,000 worth of fresh produce from supermarkets and local farms to emergency food hubs in its first year in 2020.
With innovations such as Buy 1 Give 1 (B1G1) fruit and veg box scheme, introduced by Florence Road Market, a farmers market located in a well-off neighbourhood, the Chomp initiative delivered 1,227 food boxes that included craft kits and educational tools to low-income families between March and September 2020.
Innovation beyond food to community engagement
Both Rock Farm and Chomp contributed to broader change by facilitating community engagement through volunteer programs and horticulture training courses. Chomp organised outings for families to Rock Farm during the pandemic, providing an educational and outdoor space conducive to social distancing. By involving Chomp families in the growing process through visits to Rock Farm during the pandemic, Chomp challenged the notion that local organic food is reserved for a certain demographic.
These experiences are part of a gradual city-wide transformation of the local food system by working to ensure that people from marginalised communities can access fresh, organically produced and locally sourced food. They disrupted class divisions in food access, and the idea that high-quality local food is not for everyone. They strengthened community networks and helped affirm the right to decent food for all.
While these initiatives emerged at a time of national crisis, they now have faced new challenges following the pandemic, in dealing with the decline in volunteers and funding opportunities and rising food prices.
