Our latest news, blogs, ideas, tips and opinion pieces
Offering your shoppers store cupboard items at wholesale prices
The full Essential catalogue is now available on the Open Food Network (OFN), updated six times per year in line with product and price updates from Essential.
Business Model Blog Cockermouth Country Market
In this series of 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 fourth blog of the series, Lynne introduces Cockermouth Country Market.
Business Model: Blog Sole of Discretion
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 third blog of the series, she introduces Sole of Discretion. Sole of Discretion is a radically...
Interested in a career in ethical marketing? We are hiring!
We are currently looking for one Junior Marketing Team Member to join The Open Food Network for an exciting new project where we will be supporting inspiring food enterprises with their marketing. The Open Food Network is a community and software backbone for food...
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...
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...