21 May 2025

This briefing is based on a webinar discussion with Charlie Taverner and Mhairi Brown, given to the AFN Network+ community on the 20th March 2025 and in collaboration with the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC).

Citizens are frustrated with the extreme imbalance of power and profit in the food system, and want political leaders to bring radical change. That was one of the conclusions from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC)’s engagement with citizens up and down the UK as part of The Food Conversation.

Who holds the power in the food system and who is profiting? What is the impact of this inequality and corporate control on farmers and growers, our health, nature, and ability to tackle climate change? What can be done about it?

In this joint webinar with the FFCC, our speakers share insights from their latest research, which the organisation undertook following concerns raised by citizens in The Food Conversation – and explain why questions of power and profit need to rise up the political agenda.

We explore the headlines from two major reports by the FFCC: The first, Tim Jackson’s The False Economy of Big Food, found that unhealthy diets were costing the UK £268bn a year, but the investment for everyone to eat well was far smaller. The second, Paying the Price, by Charlie Taverner, looks at the impact of the push for cheap calories on farming businesses, the agri-food chain, and on communities, nature, food security and resilience.

This briefing is collated and written by Nina Pullman, food systems writer for AFN Network+, who has also lightly edited the transcript to paraphrase in parts. The briefing is edited by Jez Fredenburgh, knowledge exchange fellow at AFN Network+. You can also watch the webinar.