Experts appointed to help shape Wales’ new national food strategy

Nation.Cymru staff

A panel of food and farming experts has been appointed to help draw up a new national strategy aimed at making Wales’ food system more secure and sustainable.

The Welsh Government has announced the membership of the Expert Working Group which will develop the National Food Strategy for Wales, with early work focusing on school food, horticulture and the meat supply chain.

The group will be chaired by Simon Wright, owner of Wright’s Food Emporium in Llanarthne, who was appointed in July when plans for the strategy were announced at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show.

Its work will be built around four areas – health and wellbeing, food security, the economy and rural development, and the environment.

The Welsh Government says the strategy will take a broader approach to food policy, covering production, retail, health, education, public procurement and the circular economy.

Joining Mr Wright on the group are Ian Rickman of the Farmers’ Union of Wales, Sarah Gould of Lantra, Professor Tim Lang of City University London, Deiniol ap Dafydd of Blas ar Fwyd and Hybu Cig Cymru chair Catherine Smith.

Other members include Sue Pritchard, chief executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission; Sam Kemp of Torfaen Food Partnership; Shea Buckland-Jones, head of policy and advocacy at WWF Cymru; and Dr Rhian Hayward, a Wales board member of the Food Standards Agency.

NFU Cymru will also have a representative on the group, while one further independent member is still to be confirmed.

Members have been selected from different parts of the food system, including agriculture, horticulture, retail, hospitality, meat processing, public health, food poverty, environmental policy and food safety.

The group will identify challenges and opportunities and recommend measures that could be introduced before the final strategy is completed.

Three sub-groups are being established to examine food in schools, expanding edible horticulture and the security of the Welsh meat supply chain.

At least one of those areas is expected to produce recommendations before January 2027, with draft proposals for the wider strategy due next summer and a final report to Welsh Ministers expected by autumn 2027.

Ambition

Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability Llyr Gruffydd said: “I want to thank all those who have agreed to serve on this Expert Working Group.

“Their breadth of experience, from our farms and fisheries to our schools and communities, reflects the scale of ambition we need to transform our food system for the better.”

Mr Wright said: “I’m pleased and excited that so many respected voices from across Welsh food and farming have agreed to join this work.

“We will be working with stakeholders and communities across Wales in a national mission to achieve a more prosperous, healthier, environmentally friendly and secure future for Welsh food.”

Final decisions on whether to adopt the group’s recommendations will remain with Welsh Ministers.

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.