Bridging the Gap: UK-wide Workshop

On the 5th March this year, Nourish NI joined the Bridging the Gap pilot leads from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at a workshop hosted by Sustain. It was a chance to share challenges, spark new ideas, and ask some of the big questions facing food systems at a local level.

Bridging the Gap — a pilot programme bringing together projects across the UK working to create fairer, healthier, more sustainable local food systems.

What’s Holding Us Back? (And What’s Pushing Us Forward?)

It was no surprise to hear that many of the challenges in Northern Ireland are shared right across the UK. From farmers to food co-ops, projects are battling with:

·       A lack of small-scale supply

·       Unreliable logistics

·       Short-term funding pots

·       Staff burnout

·       And a food supply chain that often feels built for supermarkets, not people.

But just as clear were the things that are working — the enablers helping good food projects not just survive, but thrive.

Across the pilots, success was driven by:

·       Partnership working (especially when local food partnerships are involved)

·       Knowledge sharing between projects

·       Trust within communities

·       Supportive policies (where they exist!)

Northern Ireland’s own experience reflects this: when people work together — from growers to educators to local councils — good food reaches more tables.

Why Local Food is About More Than What’s on Your Plate

One of the most exciting parts of the day was hearing early findings from research into the true value of organic and local food.

Yes, there are big environmental wins — from reduced carbon emissions to healthier soils and more pollinators.

But there are also huge economic and social benefits, like:

·       More local jobs

·       Stronger local economies (with money sticking in communities)

·       Better mental and physical health

·       Opportunities for learning and volunteering

·       Spaces that bring people together

In other words: investing in good food is investing in thriving places.

What This Means for Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland group at the workshop had some frank conversations about what’s needed here.

→ Capacity is a challenge. Our good food movement is growing, but we need more hands, more resource, and more joined-up working.

→ Procurement is a huge opportunity. Belfast City Council is developing a new procurement strategy that could change how school food is delivered — focusing on what’s served, even if not yet on where it comes from.

→ Place-based action works. Big national strategies are important — but so is rolling up our sleeves and working from the bottom up.

→ We need a plan. The NI Food Strategy Framework is a start, but we’ll need ambition and action to turn that into real change.

Building Community Wealth Through Food

One of the most exciting ideas for NI is linking local food to Community Wealth Building — a way of designing local economies so that wealth stays local, circulates, and benefits the people who live there.

Could local food procurement be part of this? Could councils commit to buying from local SMEs, supporting agroecological farmers, and growing food justice alongside food production? The potential is there — but it will take collective will.

Final Thought: The Seeds Are Already Sown

Across the Bridging the Gap programme, from Scotland’s Good Food Nation plans to Rose Vouchers in England, the same message came through: small-scale projects create big-scale change when given the right support.

Here in Northern Ireland, that change feels possible too. We already have passionate growers, inspiring educators, dedicated community groups and a growing food movement.

Now’s the time to back them — with policy, with procurement, with investment, and with trust.