On 12th May 2022, Dawn Lyle from Wellbeing Economy Wales facilitated an “open mic night” for the sustainable food movement across Wales, bringing together people, projects, enterprises and organisations who are working in diverse ways to transform Wales’ food system. This work is an essential component of building a wellbeing economy for Wales – an economy that serves the wellbeing of people, places and the planet.
It’s clear that our industrialised food system, dominated by large global corporations, has had a terrible impact on our collective wellbeing – not just a catastrophic impact on biodiversity, natural ecosystems and climate change, but a disastrous impact on the wellbeing of our communities, on our health, on the social fabric, as we drive to shop in supermarkets and buy food that is low in real nutrition and sourced from who-knows-where around the world.
Conversely, locally grown food has the power to reconnect us with our wellbeing, to bring communities together, to make us happier, healthier and better connected to nature. The transformative potential of food is immense, and this meeting brought together inspiring stories of change happening across Wales, as well as connections to organisations that can support projects and businesses in this space.
The meeting opened with a presentation from Duncan Fisher, co-founder of Wellbeing Economy Wales and co-founder of Our Food and “the 1200 project”, promoting the mainstreaming of regenerative farming in Monmouthshire and the Brecon Beacons.
Following Duncan’s presentation, the meeting heard from people and projects across Wales, who shared their updates, challenges and questions with the group in a lively and diverse conversation.
The full event notes are included here:
Collaborative map
