New mega-alliance calls on UK Gov to create a joined-up healthy food & sustainable farming plan

“I hope that the government takes this as a sign of how seriously [our] organisations take food policy and the transformational effect we know it will have,” said Sarah Wakefield, executive director at the Eating Better Alliance yesterday as she launched an “alliance of alliances” that will push this government harder than ever so it makes “brave” decisions to introduce truly progressive food and farming policies.

Five food and farming alliances – Eating Better, Sustain, Obesity Health Alliance, Wildlife and Countryside Link and the Plant-based Food Alliance – have joined forces to form a mega-alliance. Together, they represent over 160 food and farming organisations in the UK, spanning health, animal welfare, conservation, food production, farming, and social justice. 

This week they made their first move: an open letter to Emma Reynolds, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA), calling on her to hold firm on the promising proposals outlined in the government’s food strategy. Her top priorities should be to:

• Create a joined-up healthy food and sustainable farming plan – backed by legislation 
• Put nature and climate friendly farming and growing at the core of the Food Strategy 
• Make healthy, sustainable, culturally appropriate diets affordable and accessible to everyone in the UK. 

That is not easy – you are essentially talking about upending the way in which food is produced, processed, marketed, and consumed. The supermarkets and large food brands will also have to be confronted head-on with painful new policies that will test their commitment to things like regenerative agriculture, providing healthier food, and ensuring their suppliers are financially secure.

However, it marks  an “exciting” opportunity, the alliances said – one which will bring the economic growth this government craves and which is being held back by poor diets and plummeting confidence across the food chain.

Research shows farmer confidence is at an all-time low, while a survey just published by the Food and Drink Federation across its food manufacturing members shows confidence falling again in the latest three months of polling. Foodservice companies are also suffering, with the problems in school meals and hospital catering clear for all to see as budgets are squeezed and healthy, sustainable food is the first thing to be cut.

Much therefore rests on the government’s ability to put flesh on the bones of the food ‘strategy’ it set out in July. The thrust of where the government wants to head has been widely welcomed: moving from a ‘junk food cycle’ to a ‘good food cycle’ and tackling environmental degradation head on were music to the ears of those who have been lobbying on this front for decades (many of whom are in the 160 groups who have signed this week’s letter to Reynolds).

“We know that the public backs food policies that support health, animal welfare, and the environment; now is the time for the UK Government to act to make their good food cycle vision a reality,” said Rebecca Sunter from Eating Better.

Eating Better research shows 66 per cent of us are open to the idea of reducing our meat consumption, with animal welfare, money, and concern over where meat comes from being the top motivators. Meanwhile, according to the Obesity Health Alliance, 81 per cent of Brits believe businesses put profit ahead of public health, and most of us are desperate for clear and consistent food labelling (84 per cent) and further marketing restrictions on unhealthy food (69 per cent).

New policy announcements or implementation plans are yet to come to fruition – and some have been continually delayed. The Food Foundation’s flagship State of the Nation’s Food Industry report, also published this week, for example shows how food companies have ramped up their advertising spend in advance of a forthcoming ban on TV and online advertising. McDonald’s is the worst offender having increased outdoor advertising spend by 71% between 2021 and 2024. 

In January 2026 a ban on adverts for food and drink that are high in fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) on TV before 9pm and online will be introduced, after long being delayed due to lobbying. Indeed, the foundation’s report shows corporate lobbying to be “rife”, with the number of food industry meetings with ministers dwarfing the number of meetings with NGOs – there were  10 times as many meetings for industry in the first year of the new government, for example.

Supermarkets and major manufacturers are also supremely adept at using shock tactics to scare politicians into maintaining the status quo. You may have read in newspapers that labour costs, rising national insurance contributions, and new rules to curb the amount of unrecyclable single-use packaging are fuelling inflation here in the UK ahead of Europe. 

But research by experts at the London School of Economics last month showed we are actually experiencing higher food inflation not because of some uniquely expensive labour market – it is mostly because our consumption patterns (on average more weighted towards sweet treats than in Europe) are more exposed to climate-stressed supply chains. 

This new mega-alliance could therefore not be more timely in helping the government and its policymakers see the wood for the trees. Indeed, the asks being made by the alliances align with the government’s vision, so in effect they have done Defra’s homework.

The number one ask is for a joined-up healthy food and sustainable farming plan, backed by legislation in a new food bill. Nature- and climate-friendly farming and growing should also be at the core of the government’s food strategy, with farm support accurately reflecting this, they explained. 

Parts of the chain that have for too long been forgotten will also be recognised and supported in this new look system. The government must for example “implement a strategy that invests in horticulture as a key green growth sector for UK agriculture, creates a strong home market for British organic and agroecological horticulture, and enables a government-backed renewal programme which must be introduced in 2026.” Meanwhile, public sector food would be overhauled, with less and better meat – for example that from organic and agroecological systems – and clear environmental and nutritional targets that are monitored and enforced.

This mega-alliance certainly means business, and the companies who lobby hardest to maintain the status quo along with their astronomical profit margins, must take note.

“Anyone who has been involved in collective letters and work knows how much it takes to bring organisations together for a united message,” said Wakefield. “This group is designed to give clarity to government on what progressive organisations will support on policy and enable brave decision making.”