The nature of the UK rural social economy is described as an appropriate context in which rural food hubs develop. Through an empirical study of Local Industrial Strategies of the English Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), local area policies are found to provide a sympathetic social economy framework for such development. Rural food hubs are described. A distinction is drawn between producer and community hubs as a means of exploring the second of these more fully. Community hubs are found to address a number of market failures of the growth economy in the areas of community cohesion, voluntary effort, locality, the environment, food waste, health and food poverty. Despite some positive policy signals, dominant national economic policy in the areas of rural GVA productivity, the reform of the LEPs and a national rural strategy, is considered to limit the potential of rural community food hubs because of its ‘growth’ orientation. In this context, conclusions are drawn about survival strategies for such hubs.

英国农村社会经济的性质被描述为农村食品中心发展的适当背景。通过对英国地方企业伙伴关系（LEPs）的地方产业战略的实证研究，发现地方政策为这种发展提供了一个有同情心的社会经济框架。描述了农村食品中心。生产者和社区中心之间的区别是为了更充分地探索其中的第二个。社区中心可以解决增长型经济在社区凝聚力、自愿努力、地方性、环境、食物浪费、健康和食物贫困等领域的许多市场失灵问题。尽管有一些积极的政策信号，但在农村 GVA 生产力、LEP 改革和国家农村战略领域占主导地位的国家经济政策，由于其“增长”方向，被认为限制了农村社区食品中心的潜力。在这种情况下，得出了有关此类枢纽生存策略的结论。