Join voices from across the sustainable food and farming movement to celebrate the knowledge, creativity and leadership that people from the global majority bring to food systems.On Tuesday 10 February 2026, from 12 - 1:30pm, Sustain's Diversity Outreach Coordinator, Sareta Puri, will host a panel that looks beyond the supply chains and policy in the food system - to the people, culture and joy that underpins it.During this 90-minute webinar the panel will explore what becomes possible when food movements centre belonging, care and culture. Speakers will outline the relevance of culture, creativity, and belonging to a progressive food system for all. They will offer provocations to inspire those working in the movement to centre this work. Joining the panel are:Mallika Basu: a writer, presenter and commentator on food, drink and hospitality, known for her belief in food as a force for good. Betty Vandy: a chef and founder of Gather at The Table in Liverpool. Her work celebrates connections through food and is rooted in joy.This webinar is part of the Culture Roots Collective series, this panel celebrates and uplifts people from the global majority working across the UK sustainable food and farming sector.

Join Sareta Puri and Danila Ardé from Sustain and Roots to Work in a webinar to explore how to make recruitment more inclusive and equitable in the sustainable food and farming movement.In this one hour webinar, Sustain and Roots to Work will share how inclusive recruitment can boost diversity and equity in the sustainable food and farming organisation. The session will include positive practices from within our organisation and across the sector to support organisations with staff, trustee and volunteer recruitment and induction. This will cover values, application processes, policies, and much more.We are striving for a sustainable food sector that represents every voice and experience - and we know that our sector has one of the least ethnically diverse workforces. We want to support organisations to reflect the communities and groups they campaign for and engage with through positive recruitment practices.Who is this event for?This session is aimed at people involved in recruitment within sustainable food and farming organisations.It is open to Sustain alliance members, as well as other non-profit organisations working in the sustainable food and farming sector. If you are not part of a sustainable food and farming organisation, this session is not bookable to you.Who are the hosts?Sareta Puri, Diversity Outreach Coordinator, and Danila Ardé, Head of HR and Operations, at Sustain and Roots to Work.

Food loss and waste (FLW) accounts for an estimated 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions—nearly three times those of the aviation sector—yet remains one of the most underutilised levers in climate mitigation. In this talk, Richard examines the financial, social, and environmental imperatives for accelerating action on FLW, positioning waste reduction as a critical component of food system transformation.Drawing on evidence from cities and countries across the world, the talk explores what works in practice to reduce FLW, scale surplus food redistribution, and embed circularity across food supply chains. It assesses the relative effectiveness of policy interventions, voluntary and regulatory approaches, fiscal measures, and citizen behaviour change, highlighting lessons learned from diverse governance contexts.Against this backdrop, Richard reviews global progress toward UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, which calls for halving food waste and reducing food loss by 2030. Despite the clear climate benefits—including significant reductions in carbon dioxide and methane, a potent greenhouse gas—only around 30 countries currently address FLW in their nationally determined contributions. This omission is both surprising and concerning given that FLW reduction is often regarded as one of the “low-hanging fruits” of climate action.The talk concludes by arguing that minimising food loss and waste should be a core operating principle of the global food system. It outlines practical pathways to achieve this shift and suggests that, in an increasingly polarised world, tackling food waste represents a rare opportunity for collective action with substantial benefits for both present and future generations.About Richard: Dr Richard Swannell FRSA is an internationally recognised expert on resource efficiency, with particular expertise in food loss and waste and its role in addressing climate change. An environmental scientist by training, he has spent over two decades translating evidence into practical action across food systems, packaging, plastics pollution, recycling, and wider sustainability challenges.Richard began his career in the UK scientific civil service and at AEA Technology plc before joining WRAP in 2004. During his 21 years at WRAP, he led major programmes that have become international exemplars of effective food system intervention. He headed the team that created and delivered the pioneering Courtauld Commitment—the first voluntary agreement of its kind between a government-backed body and UK supermarkets—driving ambitious reductions in packaging and food waste across the supply chain. He also helped develop and lead the influential Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which reshaped public engagement with food waste.Together, these initiatives have helped reduce food loss and waste across the UK supply chain by over one million tonnes per year. Richard has since advised governments and international organisations including the FAO, World Bank, UNEP, the European Commission, and the governments of Australia, South Africa, and Mexico. He was an active member of the EU Food Loss and Waste Platform from 2016 to 2025 and has contributed to key global publications, including the Food Loss and Waste Protocol, multiple Champions 12.3 reports, and the World Bank’s work on the economic and climate case for tackling food loss and waste.Richard is now Principal Partner at the environmental consultancy Intent to Impact LLP, supporting governments and businesses to accelerate the transition to more resource-efficient and climate-aligned food systems.

In this Food Thinkers seminar, Professor Jennifer Clapp explores how growing corporate concentration has become a dominant trend in food systems, including the farm inputs sector. The talk will highlight the complex drivers of concentration as it has unfolded over the past century, as well as the types of power that concentration confers to the dominant firms in the agrifood sector, including policy, technology, and economic advantages. The social and ecological impacts of corporate power, including implications for justice and wealth distribution, and the kinds of policy responses that are required to address them, will also be outlined.The talk will be followed by an online Q&A session.Jennifer Clapp is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo. She is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). From 2019-2023, she served on the Steering Committee of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and was Vice-Chair of that body from 2021-2023. Her latest book is Titans of Industrial Agriculture: How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why it Matters (MIT Press, 2025).

A research group is circulating a survey to gain feedback on a project they are developing to support farmers and relevant stakeholders in navigating holistic farm sustainability. The project is part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between the Sustainable Food Trust (through the Global Farm Metric) and the University of Reading.Sustainability assessment provides farmers, and the wider agricultural sector, with an important opportunity to build and maintain resilience in the face of the climate and nature crises. A growing number of farm sustainability assessment tools are now available. These range from tools that focus on a single aspect, such as carbon emissions, to those that gather more comprehensive data across all three pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic and social. This project is exploring the types of resources that could support farmers and other stakeholders on their journey towards holistic sustainability, meaning progress across environmental, economic and social dimensions. The survey is exploring the questions;How is holistic farm sustainability is understood?What resources could help move from awareness to action?The survey takes 5-10 minutes to complete, all data will be anonymised for analysis and participants will have the option to be entered into a prize draw for a £50 Natoora voucher.Please find the survey at this link.

About the roleSupport Sustain’s Head of Finance and Senior Management Team by delivering accurate, timely and accountable financial and administrative operations that uphold the organisation’s legal duties, organisational needs, ethical and charitable aims.Sustain are seeking a Finance and Administration Officer to support on:Financial OperationsIncome, Expenditure and ControlsReportings and ComplianceStakeholder LiaisonSystems and Process ImprovementAdministrationGovernance and Senior Leadership SupportMembershipPeopleEquity, Diversity and InclusionFundraising and Grant ManagementTimelineApplication closing date: 10am, Monday 2 February 2026First stage interviews will take place (via Zoom) on: Thursday 5 & Friday 6 February 2026Second stage interviews to take place in-person (London office) on Thursday 12 February 2026

Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) is the only charity in the UK focused solely on tackling the problems caused by pesticides and promoting safe and sustainable alternatives in agriculture, urban areas, homes and gardens. It is an independent, non-profit organisation, which works nationally and internationally to eliminate the use of the most hazardous pesticides, reduce dependence on pesticides overall, and to increase the adoption of sustainable alternatives to chemical pest control.Our Head of Policy & Campaigns leads our work in the UK which aims to better protect both the environment and human health from pesticide harms. Through policy work, lobbying, research, media and strategic communications, we aim to influence a range of decision makers, from the UK government and devolved administrations to local councils and the country’s biggest supermarkets. The role also includes working alongside PAN UK’s Director to secure funding to cover the UK team’s salaries, overheads and activities. It is an incredibly varied role, involving everything from leading on strategy development for the UK team while also being intricately involved in writing and editing publications and executing other activities such as events and mobilising the public.The Head of Policy & Campaigns is part of PAN UK’s Senior Management Team (along with our Director, Head of Finance and Governance and Head of International Programmes) which sets the direction of the organisation and ensures it is well-managed and delivering on our mission. The successful candidate will work from PAN UK's office in central Brighton at least two days' per week. 

About the Real Farming TrustThe Real Farming Trust (RFT) runs a number of programmes which bring people together to advocate for a fairer food and farming system based on agroecology. We are looking for a communications coordinator to work across two programmes,  funded by the National Lottery Community Fund: Extended Table and Twinning (see descriptions below). The coordinator will work with the programme managers of each of these programmes, as well as each programme’s partners, to draw out and communicate the learning. A key part of the communications coordinator’s role is to support community members in both programmes to advocate for themselves and their needs. We are a small charity and value honesty, empathy, care and compassion in our interactions with each other in the organisation and with the partners we work with.The two programmes that this role covers are:Extended Table – (3 days per week to September 2030)Extended Table is a 5-year programme of work across the UK with four delivery partners. The Real Farming Trust’s role in the project is to evaluate the work, maximise impact from the evaluation, identify meaning and learning and to communicate this to cause wider change in food systems.Extended Table is about bottom-up community development and self-advocacy. The communications coordinator will be serving the delivery partners to understand and draw out their messages and then amplify them.The partners are the NOW group, Edinburgh Cyrenians, Organic Lea / Hornbeam cafe and Brighton and Hove Food Partnership. They work directly in communities of need, addressing social situations arising from learning disabilities, neurodiversity, homelessness, food poverty and marginalisation. They will offer food activities, such as community cafes, to bring people together and build community cohesion. This project is primarily about social inclusion and agency through food, not primarily about farming. It builds on a previous partnership project with the same partners called Ready Healthy Eat. There is more information about Extended Table here.Twinning (0.5 days per week through September 2027)The aim of Twinning is to use food as a vehicle for fostering connection and understanding between urban and rural communities. The programme links four pairs of twins, each consisting of a community-run farm and an urban community organisation. The urban community organisations are a foodbank, two community organisations working with migrants and refugees and an organisation supporting people with learning difficulties.RFT’s role is to: (1) support the twins and manage the administrative and financial tasks of the programme; and (2) to pull out learning to share across the twins and with other organisations and local and national policymakers working to promote understanding between communities that are geographically and culturally separated from each other. Additional information about the programme can be found here.