This month marks two years since I joined Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, and therefore two years of working on Sussex Grazed and Land Use Plus. Reaching this milestone has given me an opportunity to reflect on what I have learnt and what it means to be a young person working in the wild and wonderfully huge world of food systems.
It has also been a busy few weeks. When things are busy, it is easy to jump from one thing to the next, but I am learning how important it is to make time for reflection. It gives me a chance to recognise what has gone well, consider what I could have done better and take those lessons into the next opportunity.
From the moment I started as an intern, I have had the opportunity to learn from people across the food system. Over the past two years, they have shown me that change rarely comes from one person or one big idea, but from sharing knowledge, working together and taking small steps towards something bigger.
I feel especially pleased to be working at the Food Partnership as it celebrates its twentieth anniversary. That is twenty years of food, community and change, a place where small ideas grow into bigger ones; often things that are really tangible. The Food Partnership has helped lead national food campaigns while remaining rooted in Brighton and Hove. To me, that is a pretty big deal.
Being part of the Changing Chalk partnership was an early example of this collective local effort. It brought together people and organisations with different skills and perspectives around a shared landscape. I reflected on this experience, earlier in the year in a blog to mark the end of the project. It showed me that lasting change is built through relationships, trust and shared knowledge.
As my role has developed, I have gradually moved from mainly listening and learning to helping lead conversations myself. Although I am still relatively new to the sector, I have come to recognise that my perspective has value too. Experience matters enormously, but so do new questions, fresh energy and different ways of looking at familiar challenges.
I often come back to a quote from Daniel Tracy ‘you can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when trying something new.’ From speaking at Oxford Real Farming Conference at the start of this year, to chairing my first panel at Groundswell Regenerative Agriculture Festival this summer, there have been plenty of moments when I have felt more nervous than I would like to admit. However, they have helped me understand my position and recognise what I can contribute. Speaking up rarely begins with feeling completely ready.
At the beginning of this month, I was invited by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, which funds Land Use Plus, to an event for young people working in nature. People travelled from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to spend a day connecting and reflecting away from our usual work.
Although we all work across different parts of the nature sector, we shared many motivations and concerns. The day gave me space to step back from my varied day-to-day role and consider its wider context. Food does not exist in isolation. It is closely connected to land, climate and the environment, and I felt privileged to bring food and growing to that conversation.
One of the most thought-provoking sessions explored burnout and climate anxiety. There are days when working towards change feels energising and hopeful. On others, uncertainty about the future makes the work feel heavier. It was comforting to hear those feelings acknowledged and echoed by other young people.
Caring deeply about food and farming is what gets me out of bed and sitting at my desk each morning. However, it also means that decisions affecting the sector can feel personal, particularly when you work with people directly affected by uncertainty. The session reminded me that supporting one another is essential. A sustainable food system also needs people who can sustain their involvement in it.
I left London feeling slightly conflicted, but ultimately grateful to be doing what I can. Two days later, I spoke at the first Brighton Food Story event about the local food economy. It brought those bigger questions back to a local level.
I felt proud to talk about Sussex Grazed and its role in the local food economy. It was grounding and reminded me of what my colleagues and I are doing here, and why local action still matters when wider challenges feel overwhelming.
I was also pleased to see other young people represented throughout the day, including representation of the United Kingdom Youth Food and Farming Forum, which I recently joined. We are not waiting to become part of the food system. We are already working within it, asking questions and helping to shape its future.
So much has changed since I joined as an intern. I am grateful for the people who have trusted and supported me, but I am also proud that I have taken opportunities even when they pushed me outside my comfort zone. I still have plenty to learn, but I feel more confident in what I can contribute.
These two years have strengthened my commitment to food, farming and local action. I want to keep learning, asking questions and making space for other young people to join these conversations, because our perspectives are valuable now, not only in the future.
