'Rooting community food in an enterprising future' is the fourth of our Making Local Food Work conferences. Expand your thinking around the essential skills required to develop community food enterprises. Our speakers and workshops will look more closely at what these components are and what you can do to enhance your skills within a community food enterprise context.  Explore the key challenges within the sector and the solutions community food enterprises can offer.  

Insprirational speakers on the day include Dr Charlie Clutterbuck from the Centre of Food Policy at City University in London. As well as being a Research Fellow  in food policy at City University since May 2003, he has also been a member and trustee of the Food Ethics Council since 2007.

Delegates on the day will also hear from Julie Brown of Growing Communities, an inspirational social enterprise based in Hackney, London. Over the past 10 years, Growing Communities have created two main community-led trading outlets - an organic fruit and veg box scheme and the Stoke Newington's Farmers' Market. This enterprise has harnessed the collective buying power of a community, helping small-scale farmers and producers to thrive.

Workshop sessions will be:

The enterprising benefits of cross-collaboration: the advantages of community food enterprises working together to achieve joint aims and to create a robust food sector.
A session promoting the vast benefits of collaboration and co-operation for community food enterprises in their shared aim of creating a viable and sustainable local food system.

Simply Governance: practical tools for the effective running of community food enterprise.
Community food enterprises need sound legal structures like all other business. The issue of governance and legal structures for social enterprises can seem confusing, so Co-operatives UK – partner on the Making Local Food Work programme – will run this workshop to provide answers to any questions that may arise from the working out the practicalities of community food enterprises.

Getting your business right:  curing five common business ailments.
With over 90 years’ experience of supporting social enterprises, Plunkett Foundation is well aware of that despite the best-laid business plans, there are common problems that all businesses face. This session explores those and provides clear solutions.

A Flavour of Sheffield:  how mapping and food strategies help put food at the top table.
Sheffield has a thriving local food system and its community has truly embraced local food. This session maps Sheffield’s community food enterprises and explains how having a food strategy in place has helped ensure a more sustainable future for all enterprises involved.

Making the most of volunteers: good for people, good for enterprise.
Many community food enterprises like community-owned shops rely almost entirely on volunteers, who play a significant role in the success of the business, as well as providing diverse social benefits for the entire community. But managing volunteers effectively – from rotas to duties – is essential. This session shares best practice and tips among delegates.

The conference will also see debate panels in the afternoon, providing fantastic opportunities for delegates to have their voices heard. The debates will be on:

• Do you build food enterprises for people or for money? A debate on the balance between business objectives and social motivation.
• Buying food by the book: Can consumers be assured of safe food from small producers?  Are small producers at a disadvantage when it comes to legislation and the open market?
• Can community engagement challenge well-established consumer buying behaviour? What impact can it have on mainstream food culture in the UK?

The day will also hear from a range of local case studies, specialist consultants and advisers, all passionate about supporting the fundamentals of good enterprise within the community food sector to secure an enterprising future.

For more information on the day, the morning and afternoon sessions and to download a programme please click on the following link http://www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk/news/news.cfm/newsid/178.