About Procurement for Good
Project Background
Transforming food systems in the context of climate change, biodiversity loss, soil fertility depletion, water pollution, food insecurity, and diet-related diseases requires the socially just development and implementation of new ideas, practices, or technologies that can address the drawbacks of our 'broken' food system.
Within this context, the aim of Procurement for Good, a £1.9 million ESRC-funded project [grant number ES/Z502807/1], is to critically evaluate the conditions in which place-based public food procurement networks, utilising open-source socio-technical innovations, can scale to deliver the transformative changes needed for socially just transitions in food systems in different geographical settings within the UK.
Over four years (2024-28), the project will examine how to improve opportunities for food buyers in schools, hospitals, and other public sector organisations to include sustainable, locally sourced food in their menus.
It will use a combination of knowledge exchange, peer-to-peer learning, and technical innovation to help establish new place-based food procurement networks and monitor their impacts.
The research will deepen understanding of how the public sector can procure efficiently from local producers in a way that benefits the environment, local communities, and economies. The project will work with four pioneering food hubs across the UK: the Cambridge Food Hub and Growing Communities - Better Food Shed in England, Cultivate Food Hub in Wales, and Propagate/Galloway Food Hub in Scotland, while also reaching out to food hubs in Northern Ireland.
Project Objectives
Identify the opportunities and challenges faced by small-scale producers and public procurers in building place-based public food procurement networks.
Identify the characteristics, opportunities and challenges relating to the application and further development of open-source socio-technical innovations for place-based public sector food procurement involving small-scale producers.
Critically evaluate the role of place-based governance frameworks in creating an enabling environment for place-based public procurement networks involving small-scale producers.
Identify and apply the most appropriate indicators to monitor and communicate the sustainability impacts, climate resilience, and social value of open-source socio-technical innovations for place- based public sector food procurement from small-scale producers.
Enhance collaboration between small-scale producers and procurers through open-source socio-technical innovations, market dialogues, and policy recommendations.
Impact Statement
The PFG project aims to generate new applied knowledge for scaling open-source socio- technical innovations required for just transition to sustainable food systems, including on local agricultural productive potential, use of climate-resilient crops in local public food menus, technical improvements to open-source dynamic food procurement platforms, aligning the supply and demand expectations of farmers/suppliers/procurers, and the role of multi-scalar governance and group certification.
It will develop new empirical data on the sustainability impacts and social value of place-based public procurement, addressing a recognised need for accessible, open-source methods that can generate robust data to evidence the impacts of public sector procurement from local small-scale producers primarily using agroecological or similar production methods. This new knowledge is crucial to evidence the sustainability impacts for public sector buyers to support their purchase decisions, and practitioners and advocates of food system re-localisation.
It will make a significant contribution to academic knowledge within three interconnected areas. First, embedding our work in the frame of quintuple helix innovation theory, we contribute to broad debates about the role of socio-technical innovations in facilitating just transitions in food systems.
Second, our research advances understanding of the types of collaborative governance mechanisms that are required to achieve transitions to sustainable food systems. Third, our research contributes to work about the role of ‘market devices’, such as novel digital technologies, group certification and market standards in transforming relations between market actors. The research will also develop theorisation of alternative place-based models of economic growth that prioritise diversity and resilience by focusing on ‘scaling out’, ‘scaling up’ and ‘scaling deep’.
The direct beneficiaries of this project will be: community food hubs, farmers/producers, local authorities, chefs/caterers, public consumers, academics.
Our project aims to catalyse change. Our vision is that by fostering place-based public food procurement networks using socio-technical innovations, we not only empower smaller-scale agroecological producers but also create new markets for local businesses. This approach doesn’t just enhance sustainability, it tackles inequalities, contributes to community development, and aligns with the UK’s broader sustainable development goals.
Outputs
Academic papers and conference presentations.
Scoping review and mapping of current policy landscape.
Multi-media support pack on strategies for developing place- based public food procurement partnerships for public sector agencies, practitioners, and other stakeholders. This will include animations, infographics, and video clips.
Open access web-based toolkit for assessing and enhancing the sustainability impacts and social value of place-based public sector food procurement.
Public procurement functionality for the Open Food Network that will be available in perpetuity under open-source licence for use by public sector food procurers to access local supply.
A food hub mentoring programme.
Articles and blogs in farming and trade magazines.
Co-produced ‘sound bite’ videos for social media from stakeholders and case studies to share project outcomes.
Four policy briefings for practitioners and policymakers, specific for each policy environment.
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