Practical steps towards making Wales a sustainable food nation

Food has always been a defining characteristic of Wales, its economy and environment. Our food culture and the systems that support it also lie at the heart of some of the greatest challenges facing our country today, from an epidemic of obesity and diet-related ill-health to the ever-burgeoning threats of climate change and resource depletion. The papers collected here provided a background briefing for the conference Wales: a sustainable food nation, held in Cardiff on 4 June 2013.

This event was initiated by an approach to the IWA by the Waterloo Foundation and we are grateful for its support for the conference and for the work in producing these papers. We are grateful, too, to Cardiff University for its ready collaboration in organising the conference.

One motivation for this project is the effort underway to create a Food Council for Cardiff which is providing the energy and direction to help make the capital an exemplar sustainable city within the UK. The project has been fortunate in obtaining the collaboration of the following organisations:

  • Cardiff City Council
  • Cardiff Food Council
  • Cardiff Riverside Market
  • Cynnal Cymru / Sustain Wales
  • Organic Centre Wales
  • Public Health Wales
  • Natural Resources Wales
  • School of Planning and Geography, Cardiff University
  • Soil Association
  • Welsh Local Government Association

Leading representatives from most of these organisations are contributors to these briefing papers and we are grateful for their involvement.

Click here to download Practical steps towards making Wales a sustainable food nation