Better Food Traders (BFT) will deliver a powerful message about the urgent need for alternative food retail solutions at this week’s Labour Party Conference. 

The ethical food retailer network has co-authored – with the charity Foodrise – a new policy paper on How Alternative Food Retail Can Make the National Food Strategy A Success, which it will launch today alongside a lively panel discussion as part of the Labour Party Conference fringe.

Posting on LinkedIn ahead of the event, BTF executive director, Julia Kirby-Smith, said: “We know our current corporate-dominated food system isn’t working – for public health, our environment, or for community wellbeing. So why are we looking to the same handful of corporations to fix it?

“If the current Labour government are looking to enact the promised Food Strategy, create the ‘Good Food Cycle’, and ultimately deliver the mission of the ‘Healthiest Generation of children ever’ – should they be looking beyond the corporate regime and focussing on the successful examples of local food projects?”

Panellists will explore the solutions that already exist, from small businesses to local council interventions, and how policymakers at all levels can get the best results out of alternative food retail and community-first food solutions.

Speakers:

Kerry McCarthy MP (Member of Parliament, Bristol East)

Julia Kirby-Smith (Executive Director, Better Food Traders)

Sunita Ramani (Campaigns Manager, Foodrise)

Beth Bradshaw (Policy Lead, Feeding Liverpool)

Moderator:

Lucy Antal, Senior Project Manager and Lead for Food Justice at Foodrise. Founder and director of Alchemic Kitchen in Liverpool. Winner of the BBC Food & Farming Community Champion 2021.

Image: Better Food Traders member Better Food, Bristol