The Food Assembly Vision
The Food Assembly’s vision is to create a better way to eat, where everyone has access to the pleasure of local food, and is connected to the people who make it.
Community is at the heart of The Food Assembly – we connect neighbours to farmers, neighbours to each other, and everyone to their food.
Starting in France, and now a movement across Europe, we believe in value-led innovation and are constantly seeking to sharpen our tool that connects people to local food producers.
Bringing power back to producers and consumers, our vision is a world with shorter supply chains where people connect to their food in a better way. By combining technology and sustainable agriculture, our vision is to support a healthier world where everyone can thrive.
Agriculture is an industry that has run out of steam: it needs to be reinvented and relocalised by giving the power back to the consumer and food producer. We dream of an agricultural economy generating employment, social and environmental wellbeing – a paradigm shift that enables everyone to say Yes to Local!
GUILHEM CHÉRON, co-founder of The Food Assembly
The Food Assembly Mission
Empower people in creating a better way to eat, by:
- Enabling farm-to-neighbourhood access to fresh local food.
- Creating tools that enable producers to sell directly to consumers.
- Giving access to local, fresh, quality food to as many people as possible.
- Supporting ecological and economic transition to a better, sustainable future.
- Supporting the growth of meaningful, fairly-paid jobs in the food and agricultural sector.
- Revaluing food and its role in fostering community and wellbeing.
The Values that Sustain Food Assembly
Transparency
The Food Assembly enables everyone to know where their food comes from. By putting the producer at the heart of our model, we enable producers to set their own prices, ensuring that they are remunerated in a fair way.* It’s this transparency that inspires cooperation, and we care deeply about taking the time to share our aims, plans and ideas with our Network.
Cooperation
Cooperation is the collective heartbeat of The Food Assembly. Everyday, we harvest and nourish this cooperation within our Network, by sharing questions, concerns and ideas for moving forward. Being decentralised, it takes our collective Network to succeed, and to build trust and give the autonomy to those that work in the field.
Transition
Through The Food Assembly’s activity, we bring thousands of producers and citizens together, which links to the transition of finding new ways of producing and consuming food.
As a company, we wish to be an economic, environmental, and social asset in the communities where we operate, connecting people together and helping them achieve more than they could alone.
Entrepreneurship
We believe in the capacity of entrepreneurship to serve the public interest. The entrepreneurial spirit must seek the common good, and put the social and environmental success on par with economic success.
Creativity
It is difficult to find new solutions with old ideas. Through creativity, we design new solutions to the challenging problems facing food production. Innovation is key to the success of creating a better food system for everyone, and is at the heart of The Food Assembly’s mission.
*Producers receive 80% of the income from produce orders. The remainder is split between The Food Assembly and the local Host.
Llanelli Food Assembly
Farm Fresh — Welsh — Local!
Shop Fairer! Eat Better! Feel Better!
What is Llanelli Food Assembly?
Llanelli Food Assembly is a Welsh Farm and Food Produce Market. It regularly offers a choice of over 300 items of food produce, direct from Carmarthenshire farms and food producers from throughout Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Swansea.
Welsh food, direct from Welsh farms
Farm Fresh Food, direct from these Carmarthenshire farms:
- Organic Vegetables — from Banc Organics, Bancffosfellen
- Award-winning Meats, from Rhosyn Farm, Blaenycoed
- Free-range Chicken and Quail eggs, from Fforest Isaf, Pontantwn
- Fresh Milk (raw and bottled options) and Cream, from Cwm Farm, Cwmffrd.
Plus: Fresh, Local, Ethically-Produced Welsh Food from these Producers:
- Bread, Cake and Savouries, from Middleware Catering, Rhydargaeau
- Sweet and Savoury Preserves, from Oscar’s Kitchen;
- Probiotic Food and Drink, from Sauer Power;
- Activated Organic Nuts and Seeds, from Om Creations;
- Gower Coffee, supplied via Llanelli Food Network
Simply Click-&-Collect
Ordering takes place through our easy-to-use online {Click} & {Collect} shop and smartphone app.
- Members order online {Click} from a large range of locally produced food
- Food is delivered by local farmers and food producers.
- Members {Collect} from a local venue in the heart of Llanelli.
What’s special about a Food Assembly?
We connect local food producers with local people at a local venue. Members browse a range of locally-produced Welsh food. They learn about the people producing their food. Most of our producers are family farms or businesses.
At the Assembly, members meet the food producers. Producers are paid after the orders are collected. As all producers and the Assembly host are local, 90% of what you spend remains in the local economy. This compares to supermarkets, where 50-75% of spending leaves the region.
Can anyone join in?
Browsing and ordering requires a Food Assembly account. This is a simple signing-up process. It’s free and without obligation to order anything. All you need is access to the Internet. A smartphone app allows you to do everything from your mobile!
Participation as a food producer requires a process of registration and vetting by Food Assembly. We ensure producers adhere to standards. And that they are local to an Assembly. (Maximum distance 150 miles. Our average is about 12 miles!).
How did it start and why is it significant?
Food Assembly is a Europe-wide initiative. It started in France and now exists in many European countries.
Food Assembly provides an important alternative to mainstream food shopping. It is helping local food producers succeed. It is providing a more sustainable form of food shopping. We believe it provides a way to shop fairer…eat better…feel better!