Transformations to regenerative food systems—An outline of the FixOurFood project

Abstract

This paper provides an outline of a new interdisciplinary project called FixOurFood, funded through UKRI's 'Transforming UK food systems' programme. FixOurFood aims to transform the Yorkshire food system to a regenerative food system and will work to answer two main questions: (1) What do regenerative food systems look like? (2) How can transformations be enabled so that we can achieve a regenerative food system? To answer these questions, FixOurFood will work with diverse stakeholders to change the Yorkshire food system and use the learning to inform change efforts in other parts of the UK and beyond. Our work will focus on shifting trajectories towards regenerative dynamics in three inter-related systems of: healthy eating for young children, hybrid food economies and regenerative farming. We do this by a set of action-orientated interventions in schools and the food economy, metrics, policies and deliverables that can be applied in Yorkshire and across the UK. This article introduces the FixOurFood project and concludes by assessing the potential impact of these interventions and the importance we attach to working with stakeholders in government, business, third sector and civil society.

A Scoping Review of Food Systems Governance Frameworks and Models to Develop a Typology for Social Change Movements to Transform Food Systems for People and Planetary Health

“…Recent work has described efforts to transition and transform current food systems to become more sustainable and regenerative [54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. Transition involves "incrementalism that suggests moving from one place or state to another" whereas transformation refers to reinventing or reshaping to create a "deep, rapid and radical global systems change" [61] (p. 787).…”

Sustainable soil management in the United Kingdom: A survey of current practices and how they relate to the principles of regenerative agriculture

“…While regenerative agriculture lacks a consistent definition, it is nonetheless being recognized as a potentially important pathway to greater sustainability of agri‐food systems. This is shown by the peer‐reviewed awards to major UK Research and Innovation‐funded projects in the United Kingdom which explicitly explore regenerative agriculture (Doherty et al, 2022; Jackson et al, 2021), and by the mentioning of regenerative practices as an element of the forthcoming UK Environment Land Management scheme for England (Defra, 2020). The Scottish Government goes further, with an explicit focus on regenerative agriculture in its current vision for agricultural development (Scottish Government, 2022).…”