As public sector organisations face growing pressure to meet environmental and social targets, a new procurement framework is helping buyers make more informed, sustainable choices - through improved data, transparency, and support.  

Moving Beyond Averages: A Smarter Approach to Food Environmental Reporting

Understanding the environmental impact of food has significantly progressed in recent years. Proxy or average data has played an important role - helping caterers estimate the carbon footprint of their menus and make more informed ingredient choices. But to deliver meaningful financial, social, and environmental change, public sector buyers need to go further. 

Food production’s impact on biodiversity, water, and soil health varies widely depending on farming methods. However, collecting farm-level data can be complex, time-consuming, and expensive. As a result, procurers have relied on proxy data, which, while useful for broad comparisons, doesn’t always reflect the real differences between agricultural practices - or incentivise farmers to adopt sustainable or regenerative practices. 

The Buying Better Food and Drink framework, developed by Crown Commercial Service and operated by Entegra, aims to change this via AgileChain technology - taking a phased approach to delivering greater transparency across the food supply chain.

Proxy Data and Farm-Level Data: Complementary Tools for Better Decisions

Proxy carbon data has played a key role in helping caterers estimate their environmental impact, and it will continue to be an essential benchmarking tool. However, it doesn’t capture the full sustainability picture, particularly for soil health, biodiversity, and water impact. 

That’s why the Buying Better Food framework is evolving to integrate farm-level data where available. This will allow public sector buyers to go beyond category-level carbon estimates and better understand the sustainability of the specific food they purchase. It will also encourage SME food producers to measure and share their environmental impact, creating more opportunities for sustainable sourcing.

Putting Buyers at the Heart of Food System Transformation

Through the Buying Better Food and Drink framework, public sector buyers can: 

• Support regenerative farming, helping improve soil health, protect water resources, and enhance biodiversity.
• Shorten supply chains, reducing dependency on global imports and increasing food security.
• Boost social value by enabling SME participation and strengthening economic resilience. 

As Luke Dale-Harris from Farm Wilder puts it: 

"Carbon data from farms is important, but it’s only one measure of sustainable farming. Equally crucial is how farmers support biodiversity, improve soil and water health, and enhance ecosystems." 

By enhancing supply chain transparency, the Buying Better Food framework is helping caterers make a real impact - not just on their menus, but on the future of food sustainability.

The Buying Better Food framework is free to join for both buyers and food producers.