Co-founder of the Dynamic Food Procurement National Advisory Board awarded in New Year Honours

Christine Storry, former Procurement Manager at Bath & Northeast Somerset Council and co-founder of the Dynamic Food Procurement National Advisory Board has been publicly and nationally recognised for her pioneering work in public sector food procurement by being awarded in the King’s New Year Honours as Medallist of the Order of the British Empire for services to sustainable and local food procurement.

This recognition of Chrissie’s pioneering work to transform food procurement in Bath & Northeast Somerset and beyond is incredibly well-deserved, and testament to her vision, perseverance and dedication to sustainable food throughout her career.

Despite facing significant resistance and challenges, Chrissie led the way in utilising dynamic food procurement technology to enable the local authority catering service cooks in B&NES, who were producing 35,000 primary school meals a week, to source direct from local producers. Within two years of this trailblazing work starting in 2016, it was heralded a success as more and more local producers – including 20 new farms - were supplying the local authority with fresh vegetables, meat and dairy. The pilot demonstrated a 6% real saving on the previous contract (after inflation) and more than 6 tons of CO2 emissions saved per year.

The Dynamic Food Procurement National Advisory Board that Chrissie went on to co-found is flourishing with members representing Defra, Crown Commercial Service, caterers, producers, certifiers, researchers, supply chain actors and campaigners. The board is currently active in advocating for how dynamic food procurement should be an essential part of the solution to achieving the current government pledge of procuring 50% of public sector ingredients from local or sustainable producers.

As well as her work in B&NES, this award recognises Chrissie’s work in voluntarily chairing and coordinating the West of England Sustainable Food Procurement Group and from 2019-2021, Chrissie’s work as a voluntary Director of “Dynamic Procurement Food CIC”, where she reached out to dozens of local authorities and public sector institutions right across the UK with a message for how to procure food more sustainably. This has resulted in many now applying learnings from this approach to direct more of the £5Billion of taxpayer money spent on food and catering in the public sector.

It is particularly poignant that this award coincides with the 10 year anniversary of when Chrissie first started this work with a Local Food Strategy presentation to farmers at Farrington’s Farm in Somerset.

Well done Chrissy Storry, we are all incredibly proud of you!

The Dynamic Food Procurement National Advisory Board is a coalition of food policymakers, procurement practitioners, and food producers united to promote sustainable and inclusive food procurement inspired by the Bath and North East Somerset Dynamic Food Procurement pilot in 2018. Members include representatives from organisations such as The Soil Association, Sustain, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), and the Pasture-Fed Livestock Association. It also features experts like procurement consultants, supply chain managers, and government leads from DEFRA. Together, the Board develops guidance and tools to transform food systems through dynamic procurement strategies.