--- title: "Groundswell 2026: Year 2 reflections on a broken food system" date: 2026-07-08T12:31:59Z modified: 2026-07-08T12:32:58Z permalink: "https://empower.agency/insights/climate-change/5593/" type: insight status: publish excerpt: Two ends of a broken food system, supply chains and policy at one end, connection and belonging at the other, and Groundswell 2026 sharpened my sense of both. wpid: 5593 insight_cat: - Climate Change - Food and Nature featured_image: /wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_4533.jpeg featured_image_alt: Jaz Cummins Groundswell 2026 author: Jaz Cummins --- ![Jaz Cummins Groundswell 2026](https://empower.agency/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_4533-600x450.jpeg) ### Jaz Co-Founder 08 July, 2026 • Reading time: 5 minutes # Groundswell 2026: Year 2 reflections on a broken food system Two ends of a broken food system, supply chains and policy at one end, connection and belonging at the other: Groundswell 2026 sharpened my sense of both. - [ Climate Change ](https://empower.agency/insights/climate-change/) - [ Food and Nature ](https://empower.agency/insights/food-and-nature/) Since my [first Groundswell in 2025](https://empower.agency/insights/climate-change/diversity-grows-resilience-lessons-from-groundswell-for-climate-communicators/) I’ve deepened my regenerative agriculture interest, through studying Food Systems at Cambridge, and getting stuck into a handful of local regenerative projects and farms, and just a year of listening, reading, thinking and eating. I did the Cambridge course to strengthen my basic understanding of the food system, partly becato offset coming in purely at the regenerative end. But the relentless message on the course, even from business: **the food system is broken.** It isn’t working for the health of any living being or eco system, for nature, climate and planet, or for the farmers growing our food. Even the corporates know it isn’t sustainable. Widespread failure, the alarm bells are ringing, but as an optimist, Groundswell and its positive vibes continue to fill me with excitement at the opportunity. Maybe humans need a crisis to make a change… _**> My food systems work: [From agency to farm gate: why nature, food and farming is personal](https://empower.agency/insights/climate-change/nature-food-farming/)**_ _**> A [Funeral for the Food System during London Climate Action Week](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7475541366505156610/)**_ ## Two ends of a broken food system Digesting my days there, I’m drawn to two ends of a spectrum when it comes to fixing the broken food system. **The structural stuff, supply chains, particularly local ones, and food policy.** Getting commercial interest out of the food we feed the most vulnerable people in our society feels like one of the biggest levers we have. Making good food affordable and convenient. “Regenerative agriculture is never going to fix a degenerative system” as ADHB chair Emily Norton said during her panel. **At the other end, another biggie, how do we rebuild connection.** With food, with farming, with nature, and create a genuine sense of belonging in the countryside for communities who don’t currently see themselves reflected there. ![IMG](https://empower.agency/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_4587-600x450.jpeg) ## Groundswell 2026 learning points for me **A connection, diversity and inclusion gap:** Only a small fraction of children under fifteen have ever set foot in the countryside. Data from [The Country Trust](https://countrytrust.org.uk/) backs this up starkly, 47% of participating pupils had never visited the countryside before a residential trip, and in some inner city schools fewer than 15% of children have ever experienced the outdoors or a farm at all. How can we begin to engage the wider public with an improved food system, and nature more generally, if millions of people are growing up without even seeing it. When you combine this with the school food crisis, this feels like a crucial foundation we’re not investing in for the future. (Session: Through The Farm Gate, Removing Barriers, Building Belonging, and I was sorry to miss [this session on school food](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/local-produce-for-local-schools-and-driving-ugcPost-7478800132642115584-ZX50/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAChsLUBBVtPYEwPh9S7FKG6PU6iQLDZw_M).) **The devastating scale and harm of “commerciogenic” food** Chris van Tulleken aligning the interests and patterns of big food with the tobacco industry was chilling, equally challenging was the debate over the good in a regenerative KitKat led by Dolly Van Tulleken. Big food is working from the tobacco industry playbook, straight into our homes, schools and hospitals. In the UK, 60% of our food is ultra processed, 25% of UK kids are living with obesity by 11, up 700% since 1990, and these impacts cost us £268bn a year. Not to mention what they cost farmers, nature and climate. Strategic litigation as the next chapter after tobacco is worth watching closely. (Sessions: The Van Tulleken double bill, with Chris on Ultra Processed Food Systems, and Dolly on Soil To Supermarket) ![IMG](https://empower.agency/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_4577-600x450.jpeg) **Junk food is bad for nature in the UK and right across the world –** Vicki Hird of the [Wildlife Trusts](https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/). Monocultures, pesticides, commodity crops, all propping up a demand side that pulls us toward a junk food cycle instead of a real food system. And underneath all of it, farmers currently see only around 10% of the value of the food they produce. (What Do Recent Strategies Mean For Farming In 2050) **Business as usual is the biggest threat to food security we’ve got,** said Jimmy Woodrow of [Pasture for Life](https://pastureforlife.org/), whose work with farmers is deliberately on economic resilience over premium, being in control of your costs rather than chasing a top price. And for consumers affordability is key too, Ali Morpeth of Planeatry Alliance made the case for it being a core metric. This is about resilience for all: farmers, household budgets, nature. Everyone should be able to buy good food without the stress of choosing between cost and quality, to be able to eat nutritionally rather than just cheaply. (Food Security Is National Security, Is UK Farming Ready) ![IMG](https://empower.agency/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_4569-600x450.jpeg) ## What next? Two years into this shift and Groundswell keeps sharpening rather than settling my sense of where I want to focus. Supply chains and food policy at one end, connection and belonging at the other, and increasingly I can see how much they need each other. I’ll keep learning, through client work, through the local regenerative projects and farms I’m lucky enough to be part of, and through my own purchasing and trying to be a thoughtful consumer. **Sessions referenced:** **Through The Farm Gate: Removing Barriers, Building Belonging** Hannah Jones McVey (Country Trust), Nisbah Hussain (Equalinks), Jonty Brunyee (Emergent Generation). **Ultra Processed Food Systems, The Most Urgent Threat To Human And Planetary Health** Chris van Tulleken, UCL **What Do Recent Strategies Mean For Farming In 2050** Vicki Hird (The Wildlife Trusts, standing in), Craig Bennet (The Wildlife Trusts, CEO), Richard Benwell (Wildlife and Countryside Link, CEO), Helen Browning (Soil Association, CEO), Holly Purdey (Organic Farmer at Horner Farm). **Food Security Is National Security, Is UK Farming Ready** Emily Norton (AHDB, Chair), Daniel Zeichner (Defra, Farming Minister), Jimmy Woodrow (Pasture for Life), Ali Morpeth (Planeatry Alliance). **Putting Regen Farming At The Heart Of Climate Action** Sue Pritchard (CEO Food, Farming and Countryside Commission), Katie White OBE MP (Climate Minister), Rachael Orr (CEO Climate Outreach), Ian Wilkinson (Founder, Farm Ed). **Soil To Supermarket, What Regenerative Farming Really Means For Value And The Food We Buy** Tony Greenham, (Chief Impact Officer Food, Farming and Countryside Commission) Dolly van Tulleken (Policy Consultant at Dolitics), Ed Horton (Director, Natural Capital Investment, Savills, Fay Cooke (Chief Impact & Financial Officer at Yeo Valley Production) [More info on sessions here via Groundswell.](https://www.groundswellag.com/sessions-2026#/seminars) ![IMG](https://empower.agency/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_4563-600x450.jpeg) ## Further insights More articles from the Empower team - 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