Feeding Ourselves 2025 Champions Local, Resilient Food Systems

Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Ireland – The Feeding Ourselves 2025 gathering brought together a vibrant community of local food producers, researchers, policy-makers, and community advocates to co-create a future where food systems are just, resilient, and rooted in local economies. Held annually since 2011, this unique event has become a cornerstone for Ireland’s growing movement toward agroecological and regenerative practices.

This year’s gathering took a major step forward by hosting the second Irish Living Lab Multi-Actor Workshop, co-organised with the EU-funded EU4Advice project. This collaborative workshop, titled “Food Systems Transformation – Multi-Actor Workshop / Community Resilience – Strengthening Local Food Economies”, was an essential moment in the event, dedicated to tackling the question of how we can empower local food economies fairly and sustainably.

Cultivating Change from the Ground Up

The workshop convened approximately 60 participants from across sectors (agroecological farmers, short food supply chain (SFSC) advisors, academics, and policy-makers). Together, they explored solutions to deepen the roots of local food resilience.

Key focus areas included:

  • Supporting community food hubs as local distribution and support networks
  • Developing a basic income model for local producers
  • Creating training and support structures for SFSC advisors
  • Co-designing transformative food policies that prioritize local needs
  • Mapping the Future with the Three Horizons Framework

The session employed the Three Horizons framework (3H) (a participatory method for envisioning and planning systemic change). It encourages reflection on where we are today, where we want to go, and how we can bridge the gap between the two.

  • Horizon 1 (H1): Acknowledging today’s dominant food system and its flaws, including long and vulnerable supply chains, poor returns for farmers, and reliance on ultra-processed foods in institutions.
  • Horizon 3 (H3): Identifying emerging innovations like food cooperatives, local farmers’ markets, and school-linked food networks.
  • Horizon 2 (H2): Exploring the pathways, policy and innovation needed to bridge the gap between the current system (H1) and the future (H3I an enable a future where local food systems are recognised and supported.

This interactive structure allowed participants to situate practical solutions within a broader vision for long-term transformation.

Voices for Action

One of the most urgent themes to emerge was the need for Local Food facilitators / trained professionals who can support producers in navigating policy landscapes, accessing markets, and managing logistics within the short food supply chain.

The workshop emphasized that transformation isn’t just about policy or practice in isolation (it’s about community empowerment, shared learning, and building infrastructure that values people and the planet).

As the Feeding Ourselves Community of Practice continues to grow, the 2025 gathering reinforced its core mission: to strengthen local food economies and ensure that the transition to a sustainable food system is fair, inclusive, and grounded in agroecological values.

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