The Food Foundation’s Investor Coalition on Food Policy is working the power of investors to engage with policymakers on issues related to food systems in the United Kingdom. The Coalition allows investors to engage with policymakers on food policy issues, supporting regulations that will lead to a healthy, sustainable, and affordable food system.
The Food Foundation created the Coalition to help ensure that investors had a voice in the development and implementation of policy after realizing that England’s National Food Strategy (NFS) did not incorporate investor perspectives.
“There is a general perception that investors only get involved in policy development when it’s directly related to the finance sector,” Sarah Buszard, Responsible Investment Engagement Lead at the Food Foundation, tells Food Tank. “Perhaps both policymakers and investors themselves haven’t traditionally thought of the investment community as a key stakeholder in these wider economic policy matters.”
But Buszard explains that investors have a crucial role to play in food systems transformation because of their unique influence over businesses and the economy. “As a result of that influence and the longer-term, birds-eye view that investors have of the challenges and opportunities facing companies and the wider economy, they have a unique perspective of what is needed…in order to create a sustainable and healthy food system,” Buszard says.
The Coalition has already made significant progress in its advocacy since its start in 2021. They advocated for the NFS recommendations around mandatory reporting for large food companies. They also worked on the UK government’s Food Data Transparency initiative, which aims to improve the availability, quality and comparability of data in the food supply chain.
Buszard explains, however, that the Coalition’s work has not been free from challenges. “It has been disappointing to see rollbacks in scope and the decision to make the requirements voluntary…so far, voluntary reporting standards have proven inadequate at driving the necessary scale of change.”
Despite these difficulties, the Coalition continues to engage in the policymaking process. In addition to holding meetings with cross-party parliamentarians and presenting evidence to the House of Lords, “Coalition members, alongside more progressive voices within the food industry, have also spoken out publicly about the need for government to take a more proactive role in helping them deliver on their health and sustainability strategies,” Buszard tells Food Tank.
In the coming years, the Coalition hopes to continue to engage with food policy in the UK and begin to establish an international focus as well. They also plan to continue working to ensure that investors are recognized as important stakeholders in the food policy landscape.
“It’s powerful when leaders in the investment community come together in collaborative initiatives,” Buszard tells Food Tank. “It helps to amplify the investor voice to proactively advocate for long-term, joined-up policies that will help create genuinely sustainable future economies.”
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Photo courtesy of Veronica White, Unsplash
