OFC 2025: Campaigner to shine a light on food poverty

The Oxford Farming Conference returns in January , with Farmers Weekly as the media partner. Here we talk to speaker, food poverty campaigner Dominic Watters 

Dominic Watters © Oxford Farming Conference

Dominic Watters lives in Canterbury, Kent – one of Britain’s most beautiful and historic cities.

But despite being surrounded by some of the country’s finest produce, the food-poverty campaigner, known as Single Dad SW on social media, struggles to find fresh meat, fruit and vegetables in his council estate community.

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Apples and cherries, berries and beans, asparagus and oysters, cobnuts and marsh lamb are all grown in the county.

Then, there is the long tradition of hop growing and beer brewing going back to Tudor times. 

“Yet my high-rise council flat on the outskirts of Canterbury is in a food desert in this so-called Garden of England,” says Dominic.  

“I’m sure that farmers will be interested to hear what it’s like raising a child in poverty and food insecurity, where all that’s available is the lowest quality of processed food.

“Online trolls sometimes say I should be growing my own food if I’m so worried about fresh produce.

“I already do this, with tomatoes and herbs, but in the real world on a small council flat balcony, you can’t grow enough to actually feed a family.”

Speaking slot

Dominic says he wants to use his slot at the Oxford Farming Conference to explain that, in his community, people don’t have access to even the most basic fresh food such as potatoes or chicken.

“Larger supermarkets do cheaper things like wonky veg, but we don’t even have that in our one food shop,” he adds.

“It’s all tinned hotdogs and white bread. Also, there have been times when I just haven’t had the money in the meter to be able to turn the oven on to cook properly – so I can understand how people end up using micro meals.” 

Dominic was emboldened to speak out on the issue during the Covid pandemic, when famous footballer Marcus Rashford raised awareness of child hunger in the UK. 

“Shame and the snobbery of others had made me keep quiet about using food banks, but it was such a blessing when Marcus Rashford spoke up about children going hungry and I wanted to try and help change attitudes and raise awareness,” he says.  

Induced coma

Being hit by a car while crossing the road and placed in an induced coma for six weeks meant Dominic didn’t get to take his GCSE examinations.

That hasn’t stopped him from founding the Food is Care community interest company and writing a book collating the pandemic observations of social workers, Social Distance in Social Work: COVID Capsule One.

He has also appeared on television programmes such as BBC Newsnight and Sky News, as well as giving evidence in the House of Lords to the Food and Drink Select Committee. 

The fact that his neighbours on the council estate have a lower life expectancy than those living in more affluent districts of the city is a key driver for Dominic.

He is also determined to explain that “food poverty” and “food insecurity” are not the same things. 

“Food insecurity is the lived experience of food poverty, which has an impact on a person’s whole wellbeing and ability to engage in society. It can make someone unable to function, let alone flourish,” says Dominic. 

“With farmers having a passion for the food they produce, I think they’ll be shocked and interested to learn about the people where I live, where your entire world is the estate and the opportunities to leave it just aren’t there.  

“There will be a great many children who don’t know milk comes from a cow or how bread is made.

“Their lack of access to fresh food is a national disgrace and it’s hard not to wonder whether we live in a system that’s designed to keep us in our place – silenced and dying 10 or more years earlier than people who have access to fresh food.” 

In the face of this deprivation, Dominic remains committed to bringing about change, adding:

“Real sustainable change to the system can only take place if the voices of those in food poverty are included in discussions, and the OFC platform can be a vehicle to achieve this.” 

To book your ticket to OFC, visit the conference website.

This article has been published as part of the OFC-Farmers Weekly partnership