ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED. LIMITED SPACES: 12

The mainstream food system needs to be turned on its head and replaced with one that is good for growers, easy on the planet and great for all our futures. Join Better Food Traders for three train-the-trainer sessions and become an ambassador for Know Better Food, a peer-learning method that supports behaviour change for a better food system.

If you are a UK delegate who is part of…

Nitrogen is a challenge that requires international action. Hear from the international experts on the grand challenge we face, and from activists seeking to put nitrogen at the top of the climate agenda in the build up to COP26.

Nitrogen is a grand challenge for agriculture. The climate impact of nitrogen has been overlooked for too long. Meeting the aim to feed the human population adequate diets along with the ambition to keep global warming…

Smallholder farmers in the global south represent some of the world’s most financially underserved communities. Often these farmers struggle to balance subsistence farming with the desire to invest in cash crops that would allow for increased income. By contrast, institutional and other private ethical, social and impact investors find it difficult to identify and support investment-ready smallholder farmer pipelines, primarily using private debt and private equity. Consequently, the tendency has been to invest in mid-sized…

ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED. LIMITED SPACES: 50

The conditions imposed by COVID-19 have acted as a magnifying glass on our societies and food systems, laying bare existing dysfunctions and inequalities but also sites of resilience. From the early months of the pandemic, we have seen an impressive response on the ground from food producers to retailers, communities and neighbours, who got food to where it was needed in immediate reaction to shock. Against the backdrop of longer-term…

The discovery of bacteria as a cause of disease ushered in a 'sterile' era - giving us a century in which medicine and agriculture killed off germs, insects, weeds, and other perceived pests in hopes of improving life, without understanding that all living systems are nested, and that we cannot kill off parts of the biological workforce without threatening the whole. This 'get rid of bad things' approach now sneaks in everywhere, even with the…

China’s agroecological and organic farming sector is developing rapidly as increasing numbers of consumers have the economic means to consider the safety and health of their food. The market potential is huge, but many challenges remain including educating the consumer and building trust, supporting new entrants, recovering damaged ecosystems and creating viable market conditions for ecological food producers.

Join this session to learn more from a panel of speakers who are all major influencers in…

ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED. LIMITED SPACES: 55

This is a closed session for Black people & people of colour, including those from African & Asian diaspora, Latinx & indigenous peoples.

LION is part of a growing movement of Black people & people of colour (BPOC) returning to land work, addressing issues of food inequalities and disconnect from nature. In this session we invite ORFC BPOC attendees to discuss two intertwined threads of repair: of the land…

To change the world you need to tell a story which will inspire change and that is exactly what Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer have done at La Ferme du Bec Hellouin. Described by Eliot Colman as the ‘United Nations of all the best sustainable farming ideas’, Perrine and Charles have drawn their inspiration and knowledge from so many different sources; they incorporate the modern techniques of bio-intensive ‘micro-agriculture’ into the broader context of permaculture, but…

The globalised trade system has been caused tremendous problems for land rights, focusing on the consolidation of land for mono cropped export crops which have undermined diverse localised food systems across the world. However, some models of trade, rooted in solidarity, can be a force for good- supporting traditional farming and forestry systems, creating livelihoods and economic power for marginalised communities. We will learn from the Zaytoun cooperative's partner Canaan Palestine which exports olive oil…