If someone told you the UK might soon struggle to grow its own food, would you believe them?
On April 3rd, a confidential memo penned by senior insiders from the UK’s largest food businesses was leaked to the press. In it, these whistleblowers deliver a chilling message: “We are reaching a moment of threat to food security like none other we have seen.”
These aren’t activists or fringe voices. They are CEOs, policy directors, operations managers—people who keep supermarket shelves stocked, lorries moving, and supply chains flowing. And they are saying, loudly and clearly, that those supply chains are beginning to crack.
The memo details an interconnected crisis that spans the globe: degraded soil, increasingly erratic weather, drought, flooding, and heatwaves that make food harder—and sometimes impossible—to grow. “Yield, quality, and predictability of supply from many of our most critical sourcing regions,” the authors warn, “is not something we will be able to rely upon over the coming years.”
This isn’t a distant problem. It’s not 2050. It’s now.
Over the past three years, we’ve already seen supermarket shortages of salad, tomatoes, and broccoli. Sunflower oil, cocoa and coffee—staples for many families—have become more expensive or harder to find. And while most of us feel these disruptions as higher prices at the checkout, behind the scenes, food companies are watching entire crops vanish due to droughts and floods across Europe and beyond.
Worse still, the industry’s proposed fixes are flimsy at best. Many businesses claim they’ll just “find new sourcing regions” when existing ones collapse. But when the climate crisis is global, where exactly is left to turn? The memo reveals a system-wide delusion: major corporations are all banking on the same backup plans without stress-testing them. And the truth is, there’s no backup planet. The way we produce and consume food today is simply unsustainable.
So what does this mean for Sheffield? Like every city in the UK, Sheffield is deeply reliant on national and international food supply chains. But unlike many others, our city has something special—a strong and growing network of local farmers, food organisations, researchers, and community groups that are already taking action to make our food system more resilient.
At ShefFood, we believe that local action can drive national change. And if we’re going to survive the shocks that are coming, that action needs to scale up—fast.
In the Moss Valley, Moss Valley Market Garden, Regather and Sheffield Organic Growers are using regenerative, organic methods to restore soil health and grow vibrant, nutrient-rich food. Our Cow Molly, Sheffield’s last remaining dairy farm, is not only supplying the city with fresh milk and dairy products but also working with researchers at the University of Sheffield to understand how farming can be both productive and climate-friendly.
The Institute for Sustainable Food and CHEFS research cluster at our two universities are producing world-leading studies on food security and sustainability right here in our city.
But it’s not just about growing food—it’s about building better systems for sharing it too. Organisations like Food Works Sheffield, Sheffield Food Chain, and the Sheffield Food Bank Network are working together to collect surplus food, reduce waste, and get meals to those who need them most. And that’s just some of our partners, we’ve even more organisations within the partnership and the city that are doing great things for food resilience in Sheffield.
This is systems thinking in action—the very thing the memo says our national food system lacks.
Still, let’s be clear: this isn’t enough. Not yet. While Sheffield’s food heroes are doing incredible work, they’re up against a tidal wave of challenges that no one can solve alone. The changes we need—from how we farm to how we eat—require all of us.
We need local and national investment in small-scale, sustainable farming. We need to teach people the value of eating seasonally and locally. We need to support food entrepreneurs and community kitchens. We need to compost, grow, share and cook together. We need a culture shift.
ShefFood is calling on everyone in Sheffield—residents, businesses, policymakers and community leaders—to act now. That means rethinking how we shop, cook, and eat. It means supporting local food businesses, growers and producers. And most of all, it means showing up. Join us at one of our working groups—whether your passion is growing and composting, community food provision, or building a better food economy. Find upcoming meetings and events at sheffood.org.uk/events and see how you can help.
The problems are real. The warnings are loud. But Sheffield is already part of the solution—and together, we can do more because this isn’t just about food. It’s about our health, our communities, and our future. And if the food system collapses, everything else follows. Let’s not wait until the shelves are empty.
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You can read the full memo at Inside Track: insidetrack.org.uk/foodmemo. ShefFood is Sheffield’s food partnership, bringing together a cross-sector network of organisations to build a fairer, healthier, greener food system in our city. To learn more or to get involved, please contact ShefFood’s Partnership Coordination Team at [email protected] or visit sheffood.org.uk.
