The Future of UK Farming Conference

This past weekend I went to a conference organised by the Sustainable Food Trust on sustainable food and agriculture and the direction of UK food and farming over the coming years as Brexit is negotiated and eventually becomes reality. Although I’m not from the UK or currently living there, much of the conference was more broadly relevant to the creation of sustainable food systems globally. I met so many incredible people (like the wonderful Abby Rose, one of the founders of the Farmerama podcast, which I’ve listened to for years back home) and learned so much – I’m still buzzing over a week later!

There were six sessions, on topics ranging from how to actually measure that elusive concept of ‘sustainability’ (with a presentation from Dieter Helm on natural capital); to sustainable food businesses creating new models for local food systems (like Farmdrop, which is similar to My Food Bag, for my Kiwi readers); to soil; to the importance of local abattoirs to small farmers and local food systems and how policy can support, rather than hinder these businesses.

You are not alone

Now, more than ever before, we must remember the irreplaceable value of wilderness and nature. The road ahead will be difficult, and sometimes it will seem hopeless; sometimes we will want to fall to our knees and tear our hair and give up, and sometimes we will feel like our actions and our words are meaningless and that nothing we do can make a difference, but we must always remember that as long as we keep fighting we have not lost. You are not alone. For as long as you stand up, I will stand up with you. You are not alone.

 

 

Enough is enough

Another agricultural myth I’d like to talk about is that sustainable farming systems (that is agroecology, organics, agroforestry, holistic planned farming, etc., or any combination of the above) cannot produce enough food to feed the world.

The industrial agricultural system is based on the concept of growth. Chemical fertilisation, genetically modified crops, the Green Revolution – all have been based on the idea that yields must perpetually increase. Often, this growth-oriented mind-set is justified by the idea that we need to produce more food to feed the global population but, as I have discussed previously, this argument doesn’t hold water. Other times, however, no justification is needed; it’s simply a by-product of the growth-for-the-sake-of-growth economic system and accompanying ‘common sense’ that dominates most global thinking.