Our latest news, blogs, ideas, tips and opinion pieces
Business Model Blog: Bowhouse Link
In this series of blogs, Lynne Davis, CEO of the Open Food Network, describes the business models of some of the food hubs and producers in their community. Here, in the second blog of the series, Lynne introduces Bowhouse Link. Bowhouse, based in the East Neuk of...
Business Model Blog: Tamar Valley Food Hub
In this series of blogs, Lynne Davis, CEO of the Open Food Network, describes the business models of some of the food hubs and producers in their community. Here, in the first blog of the series, Lynne introduces Tamar Valley Food Hub. Tamar Valley Food Hub is an...
What does it look like to have a right to food?
In this blog, Cobi Akinrele suggests that it is the imagining of poverty as something which affects ‘others’, that has contributed to much of the inertia to food justice in Britain. “Feed the World! Let them know it’s Christmas again”. These are the famous...
OFN Platform updates
Development Explained! The Open Food Network is a platform cooperative - a software platform running with cooperative principles. Our goal has always been that the community of food enterprises using the Open Food Network are co-owners, designers and creators of...
Technical infrastructure to enable an agroecological transition
Online food retail has exploded in response to COVID-19. This shift to online represents a huge opportunity to transform sales and logistics so that agroecological farming can regenerate our world. In this article I explore technical infrastructure that can support...
Building food equality means investing in communities
In our Building Food Equality project, OFN UK are working to demonstrate the important role that community food enterprises play in addressing systemic inequality in our food system. In this blog Lynne Davis gives a background to the work. High quality food is...
A video showcase of how community food enterprises work
There are many wonderful and different approaches to creating and running a community food enterprise. In this blog, we explore some examples from a webinar in which we invited Locavore Glasgow, New Dawn Traders, Helston Local Food Hub and Y Pantri Glas to talk...
How to build amazing customer relationships
What’s one advantage you are likely to have that supermarkets and big retailers don’t? The opportunity to build great relationships with your customers on an individual basis. And if you make the most of this advantage to develop an ongoing relationship with your...
All card payments through Stripe will require Strong Card Authorisation (SCA) as of 31st December.
To help make card payments more secure the UK Government is rolling out new legislation. In this blog Louise explains how to make sure you are prepared. What is SCA? SCA- Strong Card Authorisation- is an additional security measure, which protects...
How community food enterprises work towards food equality
Community food enterprises are part of a movement to address systemic issues in the food system in a way that is dignified and redistributive. In this blog, Joe McCrohon explores practical steps some food hubs are taking to address food affordability. The Open Food...
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...
Procurement For Good project begins
We are extremely excited to announce that we have started work on the Procurement For Good (P4G) project as of the beginning of October 2024. Procurement for Good (P4G) is a £1.9m research project led by Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and...
Celebrating nature and following its rhythms
Can you hear the birds chirping outside your window? This is the sound of Spring! The days are getting longer - finally! We will soon be leaving the dark half of the year and embracing the early spring rays of the Sun! Soon, it will be time to celebrate the Spring...
Open Food Network wins the award for digital innovation in the European Social Economy Awards
There were more than 500 nominations for this award from all over Europe. Open Food Network Europe gets the prize in the section about social economy initiatives operating in the digital economy or with an important focus on technological innovation and/or working...
Hybiau Caffael Bwyd Cynaliadwy yng Nghymru
Dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf, mae'r Open Food Network UK wedi bod yn gweithio ar gynllun peilot arloesol i ddangos dichonoldeb cyflenwi bwyd lleol ar blât cyhoeddus Cymru. Gan weithio gyda phartneriaid o Ffermydd a Gerddi Cymdeithasol, Cultivate, Cymdeithas...