The roadmap for resilience: A UK food plan for 2050

This Roadmap, developed with input from over 150 experts through the AFN Network+ (UK Agri-Food for Net Zero Network+), offers practical pathways to transform UK's food system by 2050. National net zero commitments and material pressures mean changes within the broader food system are required, but the goal isn’t just to meet climate targets – it’s to futureproof the UK’s food system while boosting public health, protecting the environment, and strengthening the economy and national security.

Their analysis shows that by orchestrating three interconnected transformations – in what we produce, how we use land and what we eat – the UK can build a food system that is healthier, fairer and more resilient. These transformations reinforce each other, creating a dynamic cycle of benefits far beyond emissions reduction, including healthcare costs, rural and national economies, biodiversity, water quality, and food security. The pathway is technically feasible and economically beneficial, but success depends on acting now with the coordination and ambition the challenge demands. They propose ten priority actions: Reform agricultural subsidies, set targets for dietary change and animal numbers, require major food businesses to publish food system transition plans, create a National Food System Transformation Committee, develop more effective food systems data, introduce measures to protect and strengthen food security, take advantage of emerging opportunities to offset emissions and inset within supply chains, develop integrated ‘Food and Land Strategies’, use citizens’ assemblies and other deliberative tools, and expand interdisciplinary research.