Dynamic food procurement and cross-sectoral tensions

The practical and contractual complexities of digitizing local school food supply

Bibliographic Data

ID5284043
AuthorsDaniel Keech (0000-0003-4112-9030, University of Gloucestershire, corresponding author), Damian Maye (0000-0002-4459-6630, University of Gloucestershire), Matthew Reed (0000-0003-1105-9625, Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire), Matt Reed (Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire), Matthew J Reed (0000-0003-1308-4824, University of Gloucestershire)
Year2025
Volume33
Issue2
Pages171-192
Publication date2025-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFood and Foodways (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0740-9710 • E-ISSN: 1542-3484
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07409710.2025.2482488
OpenAlexW4408904590
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited35

Localising school food procurement has been the subject of international scholarship for several decades, including in the UK, where examples of isolated good practice have emerged. The benefits of local school food are based on three key potentials - sustainable food system transformation, the special market agency of public authorities, and the cultural benefits of localising school meals. A new technological innovation called Dynamic Food Procurement (DFP) has recently enabled the efficient bundling of local produce for school catering buyers. Using a cross-sectoral Living Lab methodology in the English county of Gloucestershire, this article describes a governance experiment to apply DFP technology to optimise local procurement for a school meals service feeding over 18,000 pupils daily. While the Living Lab created an iterative, transparent and inclusive structure to plan the introduction of DFP, the experiment faced entrenched commercial practices, policy inconsistency and legal complexities to reveal the limited leverage of the work at a large territorial scale. The main contribution of the article is to review the potentials of purchasing power of public food with finer-grained practical experiences of local authority school procurement policy

Agricultural economics · Business · Economics · Food processing · Food supply · Procurement · Food Science · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Marketing · Organic Food and Agriculture

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