From September 2022 until June 2023 the Open Food Network (OFN) worked on a groundbreaking pilot to demonstrate the feasibility of supplying food from local, small-scale farmers and growers onto the Welsh public plate. Working with partners from Social Farms & Gardens, Cultivate, Development Trusts Association Wales and Foothold Cymru, we aimed to demonstrate that the public sector CAN procure efficiently from local producers using methods that benefit the natural environment and local prosperity. 

The project received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which was funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government, to pilot two new procurement food hubs in Carmarthenshire and North Powys.  

The Open Food Network facilitated the purchasing of over £4,200 of local produce by the public sector over the course of the project, working with 14 suppliers and 12 buyers across the two food hubs.

Find out more

• Read the independent evaluation of the pilot conducted in Carmarthenshire and North Powys.
• Check out the full report published on the project entitled ‘The Role Of Public Procurement In Transforming Wales’ Food System‘. This focuses on the role that the Welsh public sector could play in stimulating a substantial increase in horticultural outputs produced in Wales.
• Take a look at our review of the project, available in English and Welsh