The Belfast Way: A Strategy and Roadmap to a Thriving, Fair and Resilient Food System
Belfast’s food system is made up of food produced for the city, supplied from global and local supply chains, and accessed and eaten by citizens across Belfast. It also includes food waste and surplus food. When viewed as a whole system, it has significant potential to drive positive change for citizens, to include improved public health, environmental sustainability, and social justice and equity.
Currently, however, some citizens lack access to adequate nutritious, environmentally friendly and culturally appropriate food.
People are struggling under mounting costs as a result of the cost of living crisis and are vulnerable to further shocks and stresses that threaten the city’s food security over the coming years.
Climate change is increasingly threatening the UK’s food security, as extreme weather events like droughts and floods disrupt harvests, strain supply chains, and drive up food prices.
Unsustainable farming practices—such as excessive use of chemical fertilizers, monocropping, and deforestation—intensify environmental degradation by depleting soil health, polluting water sources, and accelerating biodiversity loss, all while contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Food waste is a major global issue, with nearly one-third of all food produced being discarded— further wasting precious resources like water, land, and energy.
There is an opportunity now to build a fairer and more resilient food system in Belfast, and a cross-sectoral partnership of organisations have come together in the city to work together to deliver a sustainable food system that works for everyone.
A resilient, equitable, and nature-friendly food system
This strategy was developed by the Belfast Food Partnership in 2025 and sets out a vision and a 3 year roadmap for creating a resilient, equitable, and nature-friendly food system for residents and future generations to lead healthy and happy lives in our city, and be resilient in the face of future challenges ahead.
Our priorities in delivering this strategy are to empower and support communities to access growing opportunities, funding, and training, as well as tackle household food insecurity in ways that preserve dignity, choice, and nutrition. We also recognise that sustainable procurement policies have the power to strengthen local and sustainable food production. This can foster trust, relationships and understanding with local agro-ecological food producers so that supply and demand of locally produced regenerative food can build greater food resilience for Belfast.
In achieving this vision, we want to play to our strengths, harnessing the power of our anchor institutions to help us understand where we are as a city and monitor our progress to where we want to be, cultivating collaboration among community organisations, public institutions, universities, and businesses.