25 July 2025

Last week the government announced a set of key outcomes it will aim for in its National Food Strategy (NFS), named the Good Food Cycle. We wrote an all-you-need-to-know about the National Food Strategy, and shared some further analysis from our Policy Champion, Ali Morpeth.

But what about the question of justice?  Dr Rounaq Nayak, our Just Transition & Citizen Engagement Champion, has the below analysis.

A just transition? How the National Food Strategy shapes up

DEFRA’s newly published National Food Strategy offers an ambitious and wide-reaching vision: a healthier, more affordable, sustainable, and resilient food system fit for the 21st century.

There is much to welcome, including recognition of food system complexity, the importance of place-based action, the interdependence of health, environment, and economy, and the ambition to transition from a “junk food cycle” to a “good food cycle.”

But as someone working at the intersection of food governance and social equity, I couldn’t help but ask; What might this strategy look like if viewed through a JEDI lens – Justice, Equity, Decolonisation, and Inclusion? (See below for what this is)

👀 What I noticed

• There is real effort to move toward systems thinking, and to acknowledge the role of government, business, and civil society in shaping change.
• Yet, questions remain around whose voices are meaningfully included in shaping the future food system.
• While the strategy rightly calls for business confidence to invest in transformation, bottom-up models – led by smallholders, tenant farmers, community food networks, and global majority producers – are less visible.
• The repeated use of the word “patriotic” to describe food system engagement raised questions for me: How do we ensure that patriotism, pride, and heritage are inclusive concepts that reflect the contributions of all communities?

🙏🏻 3 ingredients for delivery

This is a promising and necessary strategy. But to fully deliver on its vision, we may also need:

1. Clearer accountability for delivery, not just shared responsibility
2. Stronger recognition of marginalised actors and grassroots innovations
3. Mechanisms for co-designing policies with those most affected by systemic inequities

🤔 Final thoughts

Food system transformation is a long-term and complex undertaking. This strategy is a meaningful milestone, and also a reminder that embedding justice and equity in food policy requires continual reflection, inclusion, and adaptation. I’d be keen to hear how others (especially those working on food justice, land use, or community food resilience) are reading this. How do we ensure that food system change works for everyone?

What is JEDI? (Spoiler, not Star Wars)

JEDI refers to a framework that foregrounds Justice, Equity, Decolonisation, and Inclusion as essential principles for guiding sustainable transformations. It recognises that structural inequalities, often rooted in historical, political, and socio-economic systems, must be actively addressed in how transitions are imagined, governed, and implemented. Rounaq recommends this work on JEDI by the University of British Columbia.

More about Rounaq

Dr Nayak is a Senior Lecturer in farming systems at UWE Bristol and a member of the UK Food Standard Agency’s Advisory Committee for Social Science. His work focuses on systems thinking and systems mapping to support inclusive, evidence-informed governance and strategy in agri-food policy. He brings particular expertise in embedding lived experience evidence and expertise in policy processes and researching how to deliver equitable transitions across food systems.

Between 2023 and 2025, he was an ESRC Policy Fellow at the Wales Centre for Public Policy, where he supported the What Works Network on integrating lived experience expertise into policy research and knowledge mobilisation. His research explores just transitions in agro-ecology, carbon markets, and food governance, with an emphasis on EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) and the co-production of knowledge. He is the Just Transition and Citizen Engagement for the AFN Network+ and a trustee at Food Matters. Connect with Rounaq.