From Farm to Family: Digital Inclusion for Equitable Access to Local Food is a project working to expand access to healthy local food, support local economies, and generate evidence on digital inclusion and food access. Awarded £216,298 in funding from the UK Government Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund, it is led by Coventry University working in partnership with the Open Food Network UK and Tamar Grow Local, home to Tamar Valley Food Hubs.

Running between November 2025 and March 2026, the project will work to empower small producers and low-income households by providing devices, digital skills, and a technical interface for welfare cards on the Open Food Network. It aims to expand access to healthy local food, support local economies, and generate evidence on digital inclusion and food access for future replication.

Who and what is this project aiming to support?

This project addresses two intertwined challenges: many small producers lack the digital skills, tools, or confidence to sell online, and many low-income households face digital barriers to accessing affordable, nutritious, locally sourced food.

Currently, households eligible for welfare support—through Healthy Start and Best Start Foods prepaid cards—struggle to use these benefits beyond supermarkets. The project seeks to bridge this divide by combining digital training, device provision, and creating the first technical interface that enables welfare cards and secure digital vouchers to be used on the Open Food Network (OFN UK).

In doing so, it aims to expand equitable access to healthy food, channel public funds into local economies, support small producers, and contribute to the national evidence base on digital inclusion linked to local food access.

What will be delivered through this project?

• Software development to enable Healthy Start and Best Start vouchers to be used for online shopping via the Open Food Network UK
• Provision of tablets for producers and households to facilitate software use
• A series of in-person and online workshops for producers and householders to build digital skills and confidence around selling and buying food online
• Development and dissemination of a toolkit that can be used in the future to replicate this model for food growers, producers and households across the UK

About the workshops

As part of the From Farm to Family project, Open Food Network UK is set to deliver two sets of online workshops across January and February 2026: one set helping food producers to start selling online and another set designed to support individuals taking their first steps towards buying food online. At the same time, Tamar Valley Food Hubs will be facilitating face-to-face workshops in Devon and Cornwall. Producer workshops will run in the Tamar Valley and Totnes, whilst householder workshops will be held in community spaces in and around the Tamar Valley and Plymouth. With support from Coventry University, workshop participants will undertake baseline surveys and follow-up evaluation activities in order to assess the impact of the workshops on digital upskilling and confidence-building, informing the research elements of the project. All workshops are absolutely free to participate in, with additional incentives available for those attending in person workshops with Tamar Valley Food Hubs.

Have a question about the From Farm to Family project? Please email Nick Weir for further information about the project here at Open Food Network UK.