What is Good Food Greater Manchester?
Good Food Greater Manchester is a network of people interested in our food future. The group exists to imagine and drive a holistic good food future for everyone in our city region. A “good food future” brings together theory, policy and best practice around the issues of food sustainability, food security, health and accessibility, a thriving and positive food economy, food citizenship and food democracy, and equality and participation in our foodsystem. Good Food GM aims to work with organisations, groups and individuals across the city-region to make the vision for good food a reality.
Who is part of the Good Food Greater Manchester Strategy Board?
Good Food Greater Manchester is a network of interested and experienced people who represent organisations, issues and areas of expertise in food. Together we represent a holistic approach towards a “goodfood” future. We are a mix of policy makers, academics, campaigners, food business owners, and other people who work and volunteer in the food, health and sustainability sectors. We all volunteer our time to support GoodFood Greater Manchester.
What do we do and how do we work?
- We have developed a vision for “good food” in Greater Manchester that brings together the issues of food sustainability, food security, health and accessibility, a thriving and positive food economy, food citizenship and food democracy, and equality and participation in our food system and much more.
- We will use this clear vision document to engage and influence policy makers to set clear targets towards our good food future.
- We will work with a much wider range of groups and people to embed good food policy in a way that supports practical action like more local food growing and healthier diets.
- We will act as an influencing body in areas where a stronger focus on food issues can lead to better policy or action.
- We will analyse what work is already going on around good food in Greater Manchester, and where the gaps are. We’ll champion new areas of work where we believe they need support, for example, in better support for sustainable local food production.
- We will accept that we can’t possibly do it all, so we’ll assess the landscape of food issues and make informed decisions about how the group can achieve the most good and maximise impact, given resources and reach.
- We’ll help to build a good food movement for a range of stakeholders, and try to inspire others to action.
- We’ll try to work out what we can do specifically at the Greater Manchester (city-region) level that will support the 10 boroughs within Greater Manchester towards a good food future, and add the most value.
Our vision for a good food future for Greater Manchester
Creating an accessible, healthy, and sustainable food system for all is a key driving force for positive change. A whole system approach, that recognises the role our food system can play in bringing economic, environmental, social and health benefits, is key.
This vision has been created through engagement with a range of people and organisations across Greater Manchester. It aims to define what we mean when we talk about ‘good food’, set out a vision for a positive food future for Greater Manchester, and start to map out the sorts of actions we might need to take to get there.
Click to view the full vision document
Breaking it down: What is good food?
Our good food future will be achieved through neighbourhood, town, city and city-region food partnerships supported by local and regional economic, environmental, health and social policies that embed all of the principles of “good food” in our daily lives