We're thrilled to share some huge news: Oxfordshire has been awarded the Sustainable Food Places (SFP) Gold Award, the highest national accolade for food sustainability in the UK.

This is a genuinely rare achievement. Only seven food places across the whole country have ever won Gold, and Oxfordshire is one of just a handful to do so as a combined city and county. It's recognition of years of work by farmers, community groups, councils, businesses, and researchers across every corner of our region.

This award reflects the work of the 230+ organisations in our network—councils, farms, businesses, charities, and community groups all pulling in the same direction. It's proof of what's possible when a whole county decides that good food isn't just a "nice-to-have," but something worth building policy, partnerships, and infrastructure around so everyone can access the food they need to thrive.

"Good Food Oxfordshire has shown what a mature, trusted food partnership can achieve. The sheer volume of care they have invested in building participative, cross-sector governance is immense.

That invisible work of holding relationships together pays off when it matters most: ensuring Oxfordshire has an active, resilient network ready to activate whenever opportunities or challenges arise."

— Chloe Smee, Sustainable Food Places Partnership Lead and Gold Award Assessor

What the Gold Award Means

The SFP Gold Award celebrates places that have woven food into local policy and taken genuine cross-sector action to tackle the big, tangled issues around food: environmental impact, health, social justice, and economics.

Good Food Oxfordshire (GFO), the county-wide food partnership behind this work, applied for the award earlier this year, building on our Silver Award win in 2023. Going from Silver to Gold marks a huge milestone and confirms Oxfordshire as a national leader in building a food system that's fair, healthy, and sustainable for everyone.

"This achievement showcases gold-worthy sustainability work being done in all corners of Oxfordshire, from grassroots community projects and local farms to academic research and local government policy. This award belongs to everyone who has grown, served, and advocated for better food in Oxfordshire.

Winning the Gold Award is an incredible validation of the years spent weaving together local businesses, councils, community groups, and farmers across Oxfordshire. It shows what happens when a whole county commits to working as a team."

— Jenny Ekelund, Good Food Oxfordshire CEO

What Set Oxfordshire Apart

As part of the rigorous application process, GFO highlighted two areas of exceptional achievement that set Oxfordshire apart: the community-centred research via the Oxfordshire Living Lab (FEAST) project and its collaborative solutions-led approach with Oxfordshire County Council (OCC), City and District councils as well as its pioneering project OxFarmToFork.

With only 1% of the food grown in Oxfordshire eaten locally, OxFarmToFork was launched by GFO in 2023 to better connect local agroecological producers with local institutional buyers (such as Oxford University colleges), boosting the local economy while drastically cutting food miles. Since its launch, it has generated hundreds of thousands of pounds in income for local farmers.

In 2024 alone, OxFarmToFork saved 686 tonnes of carbon in food miles, which is roughly equivalent to the amount of CO2 absorbed by planting 686 trees over their lifetime or taking over 150 cars off the road for a year.

By building secure, direct relationships with institutional buyers, the initiative gives local growers—such as Worthy Earth, Traditional Garden Growers, and Blackland Organics—the commercial security needed to take risks and test new ecological practices that boost local biodiversity and climate resilience.

Regarding the cross-European FEAST project, GFO used collaborative community-focused workshops and innovative digital tools to engage diverse voices across the county in identifying and overcoming barriers to healthy eating.

Another key pillar of Oxfordshire’s success is its strong partnership with local government public health and food insecurity teams – ensuring all policy-related work is tailored precisely to the needs of each community.

"Good food is about much more than what is on our plates. It is about supporting local producers, reducing our impact on the environment, helping communities to thrive and making it easier for everyone to access healthy, affordable food, particularly communities and individuals who are most vulnerable to food insecurity.

We are proud to work closely with Good Food Oxfordshire and partners across the county. Together, we are showing what can be achieved when councils, communities, businesses, farmers and the voluntary sector work towards a shared goal."

— Councillor Kate Gregory, Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health and Inequalities

A County-Wide Win & Heartfelt Thanks

GFO extends its heartfelt thanks to the entire Oxfordshire community and our network members. We thank the County, City, and District Councils for their support, and the countless partners without whom our work would be impossible. To the Sustainable Food Places team: thank you for your guidance from Bronze to Gold and everything in between. We would also like to extend a special thank you to our previous CEO, Fiona Steel, for pushing us each step of the way—this win is for you, too! Finally, to our Board and everyone who follows and supports our work, thank you.

We'll be marking this milestone with a celebratory event in Oxford this autumn, bringing together the community food network and policy makers who made this Gold Award possible. More details coming soon.

Press Enquiries: Press release and hi-res images can be found here. For any specific press enquiries, please email mail@gfo.org.uk 

About Good Food Oxfordshire

Good Food Oxfordshire is a network of 230+ organisations working together to ensure a healthy, fair, and sustainable food system for the county. We operate as an independent non-profit, running regular campaigns and sharing resources on sustainable food. Learn more about us.

About Sustainable Food Places

Sustainable Food Places is led by the Soil Association, Food Matters, and Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.