Our latest news, blogs, ideas, tips and opinion pieces
The Open Food Network team goes to Hereford
Let’s try to picture the mycelium, billions of intricate connections building nature’s very own communication network. This, for us, is what we see the Open Food Network becoming. A network that connects people to each other to help build inter-connected communities.
As a fully remote team, connecting online can be easy with all the technology at our disposal. But connecting on a deeper level is harder, the same way it is harder for each of us individually to relate to each other and ourselves when we spend a lot of our time behind a screen.
Celebrating the seasonal cycles: between autumn and winter
Can you feel the air getting crisper? We have entered the darker half of the year at Equinox. All the harvests are in and nature is preparing for shorter and colder days. The trees are starting to put on their beautiful red-toned apparel and the animals are starting to hoard food. For us, it is also time to prepare, to reflect on our harvests. We may be feeling a bit of melancholia and nostalgia, but don't worry October is also the month of the fire festival, Samhain… So let's talk about it.
Gain more customers by selling your amazing local food with local hubs
Set up your producer account The open food network platform is a great way for producers to be able to sell their produce to customer. But it also allows producers to broaden their market by linking them to other local food hubs and distributors to sell their...
Find out what we got up to in The Community Garden at Shambala Festival 2022
At Shambala Festival 2022, we hosted The Community Garden - including workshops on non-hierarchical working, open table discussions and activist networking sessions.
A vision and mission for the Food Data Collaboration: commons governance in action
The project's first achievement has been to create our collective vision and mission. So how did we get there?
Celebrating the seasonal cycles: embracing nature’s work and finding new ways to look at food
Midsummer, Summer Solstice: Connecting with the seasons: Introduction to the collection Welcome to the wheel of the year collection. A series of blogs on the solstices and equinoxes that punctuate our lives, seasons, and farming practices. The Wheel of the Year is...
Embracing a seasonal diet: the powerful benefits of eating with the land’s yearly rhythms
IntroductionThere would’ve been a time that eating seasonally was simple. But with a globalised food system and an abundance of unseasonal produce ever-available to us, it’s not always so straightforward. In this blog post, we’ll look at what eating seasonally...
Introducing the Food Data Collaboration: a new food data interoperability project with big potential
A new two-year Food Data Collaboration project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, is starting in March 2022. Project Coordinator Sophie Paterson explains what’s planned, who’s involved and why it’s needed.
Business Model Blog: Cambridge Food Hub
In this series of guest blogs, Lynne Davis from the Open Food Network describes the business models of some of the food hubs and producers in their community. Here, in the sixth blog of the series, Lynne introduces Cambridge Food Hub.Cambridge Food Hub is a...
Business Model Blog: Stroudco
In this series of guest blogs Lynne Davis, from the Open Food Network, describes the business models of some of the food hubs and producers in their community. Here, in the fifth blog of the series, Lynne introduces Stroudco Food Hub.
Meet Field Bakery and Mill at Gothelney Farm
Meet Field Bakery and Mill and discover how and why the Open Food Network UK is part of the story behind this pioneering field to fork collaboration.
Sustainable Food Procurement Hubs in Wales
Over the past year, the Open Food Network UK has been working on an innovative pilot scheme to demonstrate the feasibility of supplying local food to the Welsh public plate. Working with partners from Social Farms and Gardens, Cultivate, Development Trust...
From Just in Case towards local food resilience
Following an inspiring presentation at Groundswell 2025, Open Food Network UK's Nick Weir reflects on Professor Tim Lang's Just in Case report and explores OFN's role in strengthening local food resilience.
Connections and inspiration abound at Groundswell 2025
Open Food Network UK looks back at an inspiring Groundswell 2025, featuring the Procurement for Good project, the Wild Venison Network and more.
A trip to Cultivate, Powys as part of the Procurement For Good project
The Procurement For Good project team visited Cultivate in Newtown and other inspiring community food hubs in Powys, celebrating local sustainable food initiatives, new grower schemes, and the future of public sector food procurement. On a sunny Wednesday in April,...
Visit to Better Food Shed with Procurement For Good
Continuing our series of hub visits as part of the Procurement For Good project, in April we travelled to London to visit the Better Food Shed
Flower Grower Collective: Collaboration. Community. Creativity.
We are very pleased that The Flower Grower Collective (FGC) has been awarded funding through the prestigious Farming Innovation Programme.
Visit to Propagate & Galloway Food Hub
At the end of January the Procurement For Good (P4G) project team travelled to Dumfries for the first of four hub visits.
The Open Food Network has been invited to be an ambassador of the EU Proximity and Social Economy Platform
The Open Food Network is now an ambassador for the EU Proximity and Social Economy Platform! Diesis is a global network of social entrepreneurs supporting the development of the social economy, social entrepreneurship and social innovation. The Network aims to...
Manda Scott joins OFN UK as an ambassador
We are very pleased to welcome Manda Scott as an ambassador. This is what she said about the OFN: "You're being the change we need to see. At a core level, we need total systemic change and shifting our food/farming system to something based in co-operation and...