Food industry leaders are stuck in a system that rewards volume and short-term profit. Only collaboration can help them escape, says Kate Cawley.
This summer, we have been leaning into learning at Future Food Movement (FFM), hosting hosted over 100 senior leaders from across the UK food industry for an off-the-record briefing, led by City analyst Clive Black.
It was a rare mix: board-level decision-makers, farmers, retailers, foodservice, policymakers, investors, commercial and ESG teams, all in one room. What followed was an evening of refreshing honesty and sharp conversation about the deep tensions shaping our sector and the scale of the challenge ahead.
What stood out was not just the diversity of voices, but the willingness to speak plainly. As an industry, we are not always honest enough with ourselves or with each other. But in that room, the usual filters dropped. People named what’s hard. Shared what feels stuck. And left energised, not deflated, because the candour felt like progress.
What united the group was not alignment, but frustration.
ESG is stalling. Investor appetite is cooling. Reporting burdens are exhausting. And commercial targets still compete with environmental responsibilities. Meanwhile, the gap between what we say and what we do on climate, health and resilience, is widening.
This is not about isolated missteps. It is structural. There is a rift running through the food system; a gap between ambition and delivery, and between those making decisions and those managing the consequences.
The system also isn’t designed to meet the pressures leaders are being held accountable for. It rewards volume, not value. Short-term profit, rather than long-term resilience. Which has left even the most forward-thinking leaders feeling stuck, held back by out-dated incentives, operational pressures and the fear of getting it wrong.
As Clive Black put it: “There are some quite big challenges out there for society and the food system. And you are only going to solve them through collaboration.”
That call for deeper collaboration came through clearly. But so did something else: a desire for capability. Many of the leaders in the room were not short on commitment, but admitted that alignment between commercial, finance, buying and sustainability teams is missing. They need the tools to navigate trade-offs, not just commit to targets, and the space to think together and act with clarity.
The food system does not lack strategies. It lacks delivery confidence, shared context, and the practical capability to move from intent to impact. Tensions surfaced during our event but divergence was welcomed. That is what modern food leadership looks like – less about optics and more about operational honesty.
The system might be cracking, but those cracks are also letting the light in.
And if we choose to step into that light with clarity, courage and collective intent, something better can begin.
Kate Cawley is founder of Future Food Movement.
