Theme Development for the Feeding Dorset National Lottery Climate Action Fund Bid Survey

Work to develop a collaborative National Lottery Climate Action Fund (CAF) Food Systems bid for Dorset has reached an exciting new stage, with partners bringing together a substantial evidence base to help shape the proposal. You can read about our approach here.

Over recent months, Help and Kindness, through the Feeding Dorset Partnership, has been working with partners to analyse and consolidate information gathered from our recent Food Systems Survey alongside evidence collected through previous Dorset Local Nature Partnership (LNP) and Feeding Dorset Partnership (FDP) workshops and events.

The combined evidence has been carefully reviewed and aligned with both the Sustainable Food Places framework and the aims of the National Lottery Climate Action Fund. This has enabled us to identify the issues that consistently matter most to people and organisations working across Dorset's food system.

Seven cross-cutting themes emerging
One of the most encouraging findings from the analysis is the remarkable consistency across the different consultations. Although each engagement activity involved different people and organisations, many of the same priorities emerged time and again.

From this work, seven cross-cutting themes have been identified. These represent the areas that appeared most frequently across the evidence and have the greatest potential to create positive, long-term impact across Dorset's food system.

The themes are:

Farming transition and nature-friendly land management
Local production, markets and supply chains
Healthy food access and dietary change
Community growing, skills and participation
Governance, policy, funding and resilience
Food waste, circular economy and redistribution
Evidence, storytelling and behaviour change

We would like to gather your thoughts and ideas in relation to these themes, which will now provide the structure for the next stage of developing the Climate Action Fund bid.

Please fill in the survey below with your comments.
CLOSING DATE for contributions is 23rd August 2026.
Thank you so much for your help.

If you have any questions, please call us 01305 59 59 58 or email feedingdorset@helpandkindness.co.uk

1.Names

First Name

Last Name

Organisation, Company, or Group Name

2.How can we get in touch with you?

Phone

Website

3.Where are you based?
[Village/Town/County]

4.Cross-Cutting Themes.
Which of these themes relate to your work or describe your interest in Dorset's food ecosystem? We have included ideas for workstreams that were suggested in the responses as relevant to the themes. They may already be underway.

Farming transition and nature-friendly land management
Participants consistently recognised the importance of supporting farmers and growers as they respond to climate change, nature recovery and changing patterns of food production. Many highlighted opportunities to strengthen regenerative farming, improve soil health, increase biodiversity, develop agroforestry, improve water management and support resilient farming businesses.

Potential workstreams that have been suggested emerging from the evidence include demonstration farms, farmer learning networks, peer mentoring, practical training, collaborative research and stronger links between farming, health and nature recovery.

Local production, markets and supply chains
Across all three evidence sources there was strong support for strengthening Dorset's local food economy by improving opportunities for producers to sell locally, increasing public procurement of local food, developing local food hubs and improving routes to market.

Potential workstreams that have been suggested include producer collaboration, food hubs, local branding, seasonal marketing, procurement initiatives and investment in local food infrastructure.

Healthy food access and dietary change
Participants frequently linked food systems with health, wellbeing and inequality. Affordable healthy food, cooking skills, nutrition, food education and community meals were all seen as important elements of a resilient food system.

Potential workstreams that have been suggested include healthy eating programmes, community kitchens, affordable food initiatives, school food education, behaviour change campaigns and projects that improve access to nutritious locally produced food.

Community growing, skills and participation
Many contributors emphasised the importance of enabling people to become active participants in the food system rather than simply consumers. Community gardens, allotments, orchards, volunteering, education and intergenerational learning were all seen as opportunities to strengthen communities while improving food resilience.

Potential workstreams that have been suggested include community growing networks, volunteer programmes, cooking and growing skills, neighbourhood food projects and support for community-led initiatives.

Governance, policy, funding and resilience
The evidence consistently highlighted the importance of effective leadership, long-term collaboration and sustainable investment. Contributors recognised that achieving meaningful change will require organisations to work together, share learning and coordinate resources more effectively.

Potential workstreams that have been suggested include strengthening partnership working, developing shared investment approaches, aligning food with wider climate, health and nature strategies, and improving long-term resilience planning.

Food waste, circular economy and redistribution
Reducing food waste was identified as an opportunity to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits simultaneously. Participants suggested a range of initiatives to improve redistribution, composting, local processing and the reuse of surplus food.

Potential workstreams that have been suggested include food redistribution partnerships, circular economy initiatives, community composting, improved storage and processing infrastructure and public education around reducing waste.

Evidence, storytelling and behaviour change
Many participants recognised that successful food system change depends on helping people understand why change matters. There was strong support for sharing evidence, celebrating success, communicating positive stories and building public confidence in local food systems.

Potential workstreams that have been suggested include shared monitoring and evaluation, communications campaigns, community champions, storytelling, research partnerships and a Dorset-wide evidence and learning programme.

5.What opportunities are "almost - but not quite - in reach" that could be achieved with additional support?
Think about things that aren't happening yet, that may be too big for one organisation to fix, but could be tackled if we had some resources and were able to work together to address the issues(s). Let us know which theme your comments relate to.

6.Your involvement
Which theme could your involvement bring most value to? (Don't worry, you can contribute to any or all of them. We'd just like to get a sense of who has the expertise around these themes.)

Farming transition and nature-friendly land management

Local production, markets and supply chains

Healthy food access and dietary change

Community growing, skills and participation

Governance, policy, funding and resilience

Food waste, circular economy and redistribution

Evidence, storytelling and behaviour change

7.Are there any other people or organisations that you think we should contact to involve in this work?

8.What examples of good practice do you know about that should be considered in this work?

Thank You
If you'd like to discuss any of your answers directly with us, we'd love to hear from you. Call us on 01305 59 59 58 or email feedingdorset@helpandkindness.co.uk We will use your answers to help us structure the county-wide bid for the National Lottery Climate Action Fund. Our progress will be shared on our website and you can follow our latest updates here.

You can also follow the progress of this work by subscribing to our Feeding Dorset Partnership Newsletter here.

Thank you so much for filling in this survey. We really appreciate the time and effort you have put into this.
With warm wishes,

This work is being developed collaboratively by:

Help and Kindness (Feeding Dorset Partnership)
Dorset Climate Action Network (DCAN)
Bridport Food Matters (Sustainable Food Place)
Dorset Local Nature Partnership
One Health Enterprise Network (OHEN)

Together, we are working to develop a Climate Action Fund proposal that builds on Dorset's existing strengths, connects organisations with shared ambitions and creates lasting benefits for climate, nature, health, communities and the local economy.