Local, Healthy Food For All
Scotland can be a place where everyone can afford a nutritious diet, where food does not have to travel far from field
to plate.
Scotland’s agriculture can also work in closer alignment with the natural world so that more of what we eat is produced in a way that works in partnership with our planet, with farms and crofts making important contributions to nature restoration.
The Scottish Greens will tackle food poverty, ensure supply chains are fair, and support food producers to perform their critical role. We will do this by building community food infrastructure, loosening supermarkets’ grip on food policy, and ensuring support schemes pay farmers for the food and other public goods they produce.
Crofters and farmers must be equipped with the skills and tools they need to grow our food sustainably. We will implement a farmer-led education and knowledge transfer system for existing farmers and the growers of the future.
The food we eat is crucial to our future climate, wellbeing and economy. By encouraging plant-based diets and supporting locally-based market gardens to supply a greater proportion of our fruit and vegetables, we can improve people’s health while reducing our climate impact and creating more opportunities for people to enter food production.
- Put nature-friendly farming at the heart of Scotland’s agriculture sector by creating a ‘Transition Insurance Fund’ for farmers so that they have the confidence to shift to sustainable, regenerative food production. This will replace the bulk of the current farming subsidies and shift the payments system so that farmers who produce food in nature-friendly ways receive a greater share of subsidy support.
- Restore funding to Scotland’s internationally renowned agricultural research institutes, so that food producers can adapt in the face of a changing climate.
- Ensure the continued rollout of a national pipeline of farmer-led skills development to support the transition to regenerative and sustainable farming and food production, for existing farmers and new entrants.
- Pilot a scheme for providing direct support to market gardens through the rural payments scheme.
- Make Scotland a friendlier place to work for seasonal agricultural workers by addressing housing and employment issues.
- Call for the UK Government to devolve the Groceries Code Adjudicator, in order to introduce tougher regulation of supermarkets and their supply chains to tackle high food prices and ensure a fair treatment of food producers.
- Ensure the public sector leads the way in driving ethical consumption and encouraging plant-based diets by promoting local, organic and plant-rich requirements into procurement contracts.
- Support public and community-led diners and cafes so that anyone can get a healthy meal at an affordable price.
- Support councils to deliver local Good Food Nation plans which are meaningful, actionable, and ensure all areas of society play their role in making Scottish food more affordable, local and healthier.
- Reduce food miles by creating local food hubs and promoting co-operatives and other collaborative models for small producers such as local veg box schemes.
- Deliver a farm-to-fork plan for ending avoidable food waste including ending perverse incentives that make it cheaper to send edible food for energy or animal feed than to use it to feed families.
- Support the development of a sustainable Scottish wool and textiles sector, through the development of a national Wool Strategy and investment in local producers, designers and processors.
- End the need for food banks by ensuring people can access and afford good food locally, boosting incomes and embedding preventative ‘cash first’ approaches where everyone has the money they need to eat a healthy diet.