Thomas Slattery
I work with farmers, funders and policymakers on how we build a fairer, more resilient food system - and who gets to own it.
I’ve come to see land stewardship, food and farming as the foundation of more resilient economies and stronger places. So most of my work comes down to understanding what’s holding change back, bringing the right people together and helping new ideas take root.
Day to day, I lead engagement for the ADOPT Support Hub, part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, backing farmer-led innovation and the facilitators who make it work. I also helped found the Place Finance Lab with Tamara Giltsoff and Matteo Vanzini, to get the right finance and investment into local and regional food systems. And I’m always looking for ways to get people from farming, food, finance and policy talking to each other.
I live between the Wye Valley and London, and travel across the UK a lot.
Owning it Together
John Oldacre Foundation
Study Overview
Who owns our food chain - and does it matter?From farm to plate, ownership decides a lot: what farmers get paid, what ends up on our plates, and whether a place can feed itself in a crisis. I’m looking at the whole chain, from co-operatively owned farms to community shops and restaurants, focusing on the middle: the abattoirs, mills, dairies, packhouses and markets that have shrunk and consolidated.Farmers, growers, community groups and local businesses are already doing brilliant things on the ground. The question is how we help more of it join up, so more is owned together, more value stays with farmers and local economies, and towns and cities have a stake in their food.I’ll look at how it’s done elsewhere: farmer co-operatives, community ownership and partnerships between farmers, eaters and businesses. That means the governance that keeps them fair and lasting, the blended finance (grants, loans and investment) that gets them built, the people who hold them together, and why some failed.I’ll bring back practical models and what government, funders and buyers can do to help them grow here.A huge thank you to the John Oldacre Foundation for making it possible.