At HVM we are delighted to be working with the National Food Strategy on their public dialogue workshops supported by Sciencewise and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The HVM team are designing and facilitating a series of dialogues in five locations across England, with a diverse and inclusive cross-section of the public to deliberate on the priorities and outcomes of the forthcoming National Food Strategy. This first major review of England’s food system in 75 years is being led by Henry Dimbleby and will aims to ensure that our food system:

delivers safe, healthy, affordable food, regardless of where people live or how much they earn
is robust in the face of future shocks
restores and enhances the natural environment for the next generation in this country
is built on a resilient, sustainable and humane agriculture sector
is a thriving contributor to our urban and rural economies, delivering well paid jobs and supporting innovative producers and manufacturers across the country
delivers all this in an efficient and cost-effective way

Our public dialogue process will allow the priorities and values of the public to be understood and heeded in the development of the food strategy as we bring together subject-matter experts and a wide range of citizens together to discuss the food system in a collaborative, informed process.

We began our lively and fruitful discussions back in February 2020, running the first of our two workshops in all locations. Due to the current restrictions on social gatherings due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our second round of dialogues have been postponed. However, this has provided HVM with a new and exciting opportunity to retain the fantastic participants who took part in the February workshops and allow us to engage with them in an online space as we continue our discussions and share how participant food experiences have changed since we last met. This will allow the HVM team, facilitators and participants to stay in touch and keep the discussions we had at the beginning of the year fresh in our minds until we can meet again.

We are very excited to have launched the HVM: National Food Strategy online space for participants this week and look forward to bringing together almost 150 participants from across England to reflect on topics from our first workshops and contemplate how things have changed in recent months.

If you’d like to find out more about this research or learn about how we have moved our discussions online please email grace@hopkinsvanmil.co.uk, take a look at our news and blog pages or follow us on Twitter @HopkinsVanMil for regular updates on all our projects

The National Food Strategy Public Dialogues are (temporarily) going online…