18 November 2025
Newsletter
Round-up – November 2025
This is our round-up for November 2025. Please note that this page is not updated, so deadlines may have passed and links may no longer work. To receive future newsletters, please join our network.
News
Roadmap for Resilience – a UK Food Plan for 2050
If you missed our Roadmap launch event, videos from the day are now available on YouTube. You can watch the launch, as co-leads Stefan Kepinski, Tim Benton, Sarah Bridle and Neil Ward present the report’s key findings, modelling and recommendations. And you can watch the panel discussion, when Neil was joined by Vicki Hird (The Wildlife Trusts), Sue Pritchard (Food, Farming and Countryside Commission), Ali Morpeth (Year 3 AFN Champion, public health nutritionist and co-founder of Planeatry Alliance), and Daniel Zeichner MP (Labour MP and former Environment Minister).
The report has received a lot of encouraging coverage. You can hear Neil Ward on Farming Today, and it was also featured in The Guardian, The Conversation, Farmers Guardian, and The Grocer, among others.
And a reminder that the Roadmap page on our website includes links to all the key documents.
Showcase video – Learn more about AFN-funded Scoping Studies and FlexFund projects
The AFN Network+ has funded over 30 scoping study projects and 24 Stakeholder Flexfund projects over the last 3 years. This video features the presentations from 18 of those projects at our two Project Showcases that took place on 5 and 6 November. It is an edited version of the two meetings and does not include the breakout discussions that took place on the two days. And if you are short of time, there are quick links to take you to the particular projects you are interested in.
Community-scale net zero projects inspire and connect
Still on the subject of Flexfund projects, Three Farm Carbon Toolkit projects have used the funding to facilitate vital community engagement and demonstrate potential for scaling up. You can read more about them in this blog.
Emergent Generation workshop
In another FlexFund project, in September, Emergent Generation organised a workshop in London bringing together young people (18-35 years) from across the food system to tackle the Net Zero challenge head-on. The key speaker was AFN co-lead Neil Ward. Emergent Generation have published two blogs about the event – Making sense of Net Zero with good food and good company and Net Zero – Roadmap and Em Gen Reflections – and you can read more about the project on our website.
Mike Barry: ‘Impact that is worth its weight in gold’
Our next blog is from Mike Barry. Mike is the co-founder of Planeatry Alliance, an advisory service helping companies drive transformative change in the food system. He was previously Director of Sustainability at M&S, where he set up the retailer’s landmark ‘Plan A’ strategy. In the blog, he discusses how important the AFN Network+ has been to him, “As a nation, we tend to drop billions of pounds on big ‘white elephant’ solutions but we’re not so good at funding these small platforms that are worth their weight in gold.”
Events
Webinar: How can we trust the data and computer models shaping our food systems?
Friday 28 November 2025, 1:00–2:00pm
Many decisions about our food system are being made based on data and computer models, including how we should respond to climate change, what subsidies governments should provide, and what changes supermarkets should make. But how do we know if these numbers and models are reliable? When should we trust them, and when should we be asking more questions? Join us for a lively discussion and Q&A with Professor Paul Behrens and Dr Juan Pablo Cordero, chaired by AFN co-lead Professor Sarah Bridle.
News from the wider agri-food sector
Bean Facts
This briefing from the Food Foundation aims to summarise the many benefits of increasing bean consumption and production in the UK. It begins to unpack how many beans the UK eats, and from where, in order to support food system stakeholders to identify where they could act to increase production and consumption. Its publication coincides with the launch of the Food Foundation’s Bang In Some Beans campaign, which aims to double UK bean consumption by 2028
Events
Webinar: Food Supply Chain Sustainability Framework
Monday 1st December 2025, 1:00–2:15pm
This webinar provides more information on the Food Supply Chain Sustainability Framework. The framework has been published by IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) working with the sustainability and procurement leads from Bakkavor, The Billington Group, The Compleat Food Group, Greencore, Premier Foods and Samworth Brothers. It brings together published best practice and guidance for key sustainability priorities and has been informed by consultation with experts at relevant NGOs (WRAP, WWF), standard owners (SBTi, FNET) and topic experts (3Keel).
Webinar: State of the Nation’s Food Industry Report 2025
Wednesday 3rd December 2025, 11:00am
Hear the key findings from the Food Foundation’s 2025 State of the Nation’s Food Industry report, which assesses 37 of the UK’s major food businesses and their progress in meeting climate and health targets. A panel of leading food businesses and investors will then discuss the policy changes needed to support industry in their efforts to create healthier and more sustainable food environments.
Oxford Real Farming Conference 2026
8–9 January 2026, Oxford
Funding
Nuffield Foundation – Strategic Fund
Research grants for original and ambitious projects that confront the scale and urgency of the UK’s biggest social and economic challenges
Funding: £1 million to £3 million per project
Outline application deadline: 16 March 2026
Vacancy
Funded PhD: Bioprocessing local Scottish halophytes to obtain proteins for sustainable aquafeeds
This PhD will explore how the salt-driven biochemical composition of halophytes can be optimised through controlled fermentation to produce protein fractions with improved digestibility, functionality, and antioxidant potential.
Deadline: 15 December 2025
