Doncaster Food Network

A healthy and sustainable food system for people, places, and planet.

The Doncaster Food Network (DFN) is a collaborative endeavour by public and private organisations to ensure everyone in the City of Doncaster has equal access to nutritious food which contributes to their health and wellbeing, and which supports both the local environment and economy. The network was originally launched in 2017 but was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have now reached out to all former members as well as new partners to invite them to the relaunch of the network, which is taking place in October 2025. 

If you are interested in joining the network, or if you have any questions, please do get in touch with Kirstie Lamb at Kirstie.Lamb@doncaster.gov.uk 

What are Food Networks?

Transforming the way an area engages with food and building a food system that works for everyone requires a collaborative effort. Food networks, also known as Local Food Partnerships, bring together stakeholders from across the food system in an area to develop cross-sector solutions to make food fairer, healthier, and more sustainable for all. Food networks seek to join the dots between numerous food-related issues, including food poverty, climate change, local economies, and food-related ill health, ensuring that a whole systems approach to food is taken. 

 

Purpose and Scope of the Doncaster Food Network (DFN)

The DFN aims to bring together people from various sectors across Doncaster working together to create a support system and offer opportunities and knowledge on many food related areas. The network’s vision is:

‘For everyone in Doncaster to be able to access and use a range of nutritious and sustainable foods in ways that enable people, places, and the planet to thrive.’

 

Aims and Objectives

• To create a network of all food related or adjacent organisations to enable easier and successful communication and working relationships between members
• Work in partnership to deliver on the vision and aims of the Doncaster Food Plan (2025-2030). This includes:

1. Building residents' food-related knowledge and skills through increased opportunities for cooking, nutrition, and food growing education, training, and skill-sharing and accessible and realistic resources and campaigns
2. Addressing food insecurity by supporting residents to access affordable nutritious food and promoting food support assets across the City
3. Creating a supportive food environment by addressing commercial determinants of health that influence food-related behaviours and by improving access to nutritious and sustainable food where we live, work and play
4. Tackling food waste where we live, work, and play, and improving the redistribution of surplus food
5. Supporting and promoting locally produced food by building relationships with local food producers and businesses and facilitating food growing in our communities.

• To further efforts to combat climate and biodiversity emergencies through sustainable food and farming practices
• To work towards achieving a Bronze Sustainable Food Place Award; Sustainable Food Places is a social movement that brings together pioneering food partnerships across the UK that drives innovation and best practice on all aspects of healthy and sustainable food (more information of Sustainable Food Places can be found below)
• Identify and share funding opportunities and useful information/resources, e.g. policy changes, food-related news, training/webinars, between members

 

Membership and Meetings

Membership is open to all food related and adjacent organisations that work in some capacity within the food system in Doncaster.

The current intention, awaiting feedback from wider membership, is to host a meeting every 2 months (6 meetings over the course of the year). Each meeting will focus on one of the 5 main aims of the Doncaster Food Plan, with opportunities to share updates on activities, make calls for support, and identify new actions. The venue of each meeting will be determined in advance, but the hope is that different members will have the opportunity to host the network.

 

Sustainable Food Places

Doncaster Food Network were the 50th member of the Sustainable Food Places (SFP) network. The SFP network brings together pioneering food partnerships from towns, cities, boroughs, districts and counties across the UK that are driving innovation and best practice on all aspects of healthy and sustainable food. Sustainable Food Places is a partnership programme led by the Soil Association, Food Matters, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, Food Sense Wales, and Nourish Scotland. The SFP framework for action identifies 6 key issues that should be addressed together to achieve fundamental food system change:

1. Food Governance and Strategy: Taking a strategic and collaborative approach to good food governance and action 
2. Good Food Movement: Building public awareness, active food citizenship and a local good food movement  
3. Healthy Food for All: Tackling food poverty, diet related ill-health and access to affordable healthy food 
4. Sustainable Food Economy: Creating a vibrant, prosperous, and diverse sustainable food economy 
5. Catering and Procurement: Transforming catering and procurement and revitalizing local supply chains 
6. Food for the Planet: Tackling the climate and nature emergency through sustainable food and farming and an end to food waste. 

More information on Sustainable Food Places can be found here.