Strengthening local food diversity and resilience through urban–rural relationships

A vibrant local organic food system - where producers, processors and consumers meet directly - brings major benefits to a city. It enhances urban attractiveness, strengthens biodiversity, improves food security in times of crisis and creates job opportunities for people with different kinds of skillsets. Such food systems also carry unique local cultures that often become hubs for innovation and creativity.

However, in many European cities, access to locally grown organic food is limited. Entire product categories may be missing, making it difficult or impossible for residents to assemble a complete diet from local sources. Some cities are surrounded by highly specialised agricultural landscapes dominated by a single crop, creating ecological strain and economic vulnerability—especially if energy, fertilizer or other input costs rise in ways that cannot be offset by higher product prices. In such situations, farmland can quickly be abandoned.

The aim of the project is to demonstrate how cities, building on their local conditions and objectives and in collaboration with regional stakeholders, can help to build a robust and sustainable food system – one that works in everyday life and holds up in a crisis.

Södertälje has a municipal Food Supply Strategy, Farming Strategy and a Meal Policy guiding efforts in these directions. Södertälje municipality runs a regional hub (Matlust Development Node) offering business support to food SME's in the Stockholm region since 2015. We work closely with the public meals' organisation of the municipality serving 17 000 portions per day according to the meal concept Diet for a Green Planet (www.dietforagreenplanet.se/en). We innovate public procurement to secure local organic products in season and to support the development and increase of production of food that is sparsely grown in our area, such as pulses, vegetables and fruit. We run a test bed for new and sustainable food products.

We are looking for partners that have a strategy/action plan or similar and experience within one or more of these areas:

- active promotion of urban-rural relationships,

- active promotion of local organic food production and consumption,

- promoting the of use of circular, wild or plant-rich foods,

- using public procurement as a tool to reach sustainability and resilience targets, and/or

- mobilising support among decision makers and consumers.