FarmEd

Members of the Oxford and London branches of the Hospital Catereres Association gathered at FarmEd for a farm tour led by Jonty Brunyee. Jonty has 25 years of experience in the sustainable farming and environmental sector as an award winning organic farmer and as a senior academic at The Royal Agricultural University. He has won the National Trust Farming with Nature Award. He is passionate about regenerative farming, sustainable food and knowledge exchange, and is an active member of the Pasture Fed Livestock Association. He is a Nuffield scholar and has studied sustainable farming around the globe.

After the farm tour, everyone gathered for lunch and a working discussion led by Phil Shelley, National Lead for Net Zero Food, NHS England and Alexia Robinson, Director Love British Food Hospital and Care Caterers Working Group.

Everyone was asked to do a quick exercise first, writing down where their current main food ingredients come. This initiated very interesting discussion afterwards as some people did not know where many of their ingredients come from whereas others were surprised when they went through the exercise by how much is already British. An open floor discussion was then held where people spoke about the challenges they face and the opportunities they see in sourcing more nutritious British food. Particular topics included:

• How to engage Trust CEOs with the work of their catering teams.
• How catering teams can influence more easily the tender process and wording.
• What scope there is to flex menus around seasonal products.

“I would like to echo feedback on the visit and add my own. Really great day – very interesting & inspiring, great to get outside and see the farm – we get so used to just buying products as commodities – It really showed us how we should support British farming.  Thank you so much for organising the day.” 

Steven Hall, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust