Local councils in England awarded Defra funding for local procurement 

Date Published: 4th May 2026

Councils including Middlesbrough, Brighton and Hove, Bristol and Cambridge have recently been awarded £155,000 each from Defra to improve how food is procured, increase the provision of healthier and more sustainable food options, and support local and small food businesses to understand better how to supply to the public sector. 

According to Better Food Traders, £5bn is spent on public food each year. The Labour Party is aiming for 50% to be local or produced to ‘higher environmental standards’ by 2029. The current government has funded 5 councils in England to improve public food procurement. We see an opportunity here for CSAs who are interested and able to contribute to public procurement in their area. That could be selling produce to local schools, the local authority, local hospitals etc.

Better Food Traders have put together a ‘Procurement Toolkit – a simple guide to supplying the public sector’ designed specifically for smaller wholesalers and producers who want to explore selling into public institutions for the first time. See more here.

If your CSA is located in any of the 5 councils awarded funding we have reached out to you but please do get in touch if you have any questions or would like support. Similarly if you are elsewhere in the UK interested in finding out more about public procurement we recommend getting in touch with your local Sustainable Food Place.