🚨As both The Big Issue piece and the Citizen Advisory Council’s work show, the biggest challenges and opportunities lie in creating healthy food environments where good choices are easy and genuinely within reach.

👉Full article: tinyurl.com/yhv4f4hd

➡️More from Citizens: ffcc.co.uk/food-strategy

In their recent report, the CAC highlight the pull of cheap and unhealthy food and the difficulty of affording good food when other bills are rising. Their message to policymakers was clear: “get to the root of the problem.”

🍏This tension echoes messages from the Citizen Advisory Council (CAC), which spent the summer working with Defra on developing the new Food Strategy – and is currently conducting What Works Here Inquiries around the country.

But as the article points out, the drugs only work when you take them: they don’t change the commercial food environment or economic realities that influence what people eat.

🍔People are often relying on weight loss medication while living in places where healthy food is expensive, cheap ultra-processed foods are everywhere, and advertising pushes the quickest, unhealthiest option.

🐝Around 1.5 million people in the UK are now using treatments like Ozempic or Mounjaro. For many they can offer real relief. But Isabella McRae’s latest Big Issue article also draws attention to the many tensions behind these numbers.

👉Hear more about what citizens want from food: ffcc.co.uk/so-what-do-w...

➡️ See more from the British Ecological Society: www.britishecologicalsociety.org

The conversations in the room and recommendations that emerged were clear - we know what is needed for a fairer, more just food system that works for biodiversity and people.”

🗣️Reflecting on the day, Georgia said: “It was motivating to see the evidence in farms like Denise Walton’s and Nikki Yoxall’s that demonstrate benefits for nature and farming can go hand in hand...

✨What stood out was the collective sense of possibility: when farmers work with nature, the land responds, and communities benefit.

🌳Speakers from across the sector - including Roy Neilson @hutton.ac.uk, Denise Walton @nffn.bsky.social, Nikki Yoxall (Pasture for Life) and Richard Cunningham (organic farmer) - shared what they’re seeing on the ground.

⚖️ When it comes to adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change, local people know what works best for themselves and their communities. COP30 is an opportunity for leaders to listen closely and prioritise the health of people and planet over the endless pursuit of profit.

🌿 As John Cherry says, farmers are on the frontline and are often the first to feel shifting weather patterns. Rural communities – both here in the UK & around the world – are also already living with the realities of climate change, as challenges like flooding become more common and serious.

❓At the same time, concerns are growing around the corporate capture of the COP process, with Big Food and Big Ag lobbyists out in force – and community and citizen voices sidelined.

🔗Tap here to watch the full segment: www.itv.com/watch/lorrai...

👀Find out more about what citizens really want from food: ffcc.co.uk/so-what-do-w...

💬 We know through our work with citizens in #TheFoodConversation and the Citizen Advisory Council that this is something people really care about: they know good food can give children the best start in life.

💡It’s good to hear the Prime Minister recognise how important it is to make sure all children get healthy and nutritious food in schools – both to reduce food related ill health in young people and address the inequalities around that.

🍎 Food and health were back in the spotlight today, during a discussion with Keir Starmer and Dr Amir Khan on ITV's Lorraine - about school meals, breakfast clubs, and what children really want to eat.

Read the Independent article 👉 www.independent.co.uk/news/busines...

And the DHSC's latest press release 👉 www.gov.uk/government/n...