Living mulches offer an alternative approach for growing arable crops, with research showing the practice can improve nitrogen availability, reduce runoff, increase biodiversity, promote soil health and improve ecosystem services. However, adopting the practice comes with many challenges and considerations. Join this deep dive session to hear from Mark Lea of Green Acres Farm as he looks back at four years of living mulches work on his farm in Shropshire. Hear about the challenges Mark…

Learn from fully-replicated no-till field trials at Newcastle University and East Durham College. Vegetables were grown in mulched cover crops (crimp rolled or mowed) or transferred mulches of silage or compost and compared with tillage-based controls. The trials include different scales, using both 4-wheel and 2-wheel tractors. Differences in yield and weed pressure have been marked, and monitoring investigates underlying causes, including weeds, soil moisture, earthworms, soil penetration resistance, and the release of nutrients from…

Join us for a lunchtime conversation between butcher Joanna Kudryńska and Marthe Kiley-Worthington, an experienced ethologist and ecologist focused on animal welfare. Marthe has spent several decades studying the epistemology of cattle, horses, elephants, and rhinos, and now runs an ecological farm on Exmoor. Marthe and Joanna will be discussing taboos related to slaughter and directing their attention towards areas that are usually omitted with the aim of improving both animal and human welfare.

Wild deer management is an essential part of woodland management and supports a sustainable approach to meat production. Within properly functioning ecosystems, deer play an important role for biodiversity and habitat quality. However, without any predators, large deer populations can have a devastating effect on their environment. The Forestry Commission supports land managers and farmers to manage woodland sustainably and ensure standards and traceability for a reliable and ethical outlet for the meat as a…

Plum Village is a Zen Buddhist Monastery and Mindfulness Practice Centre in the South of France. Within our Agroecology farm which we call The Happy Farm we centre the interbeing or interconnectedness of food production, sacred ecology and the wellbeing of the farmers. This is expressed as a sacred trilogy of food, ecology and farmer. Our farm exists not just to cultivate seasonal, organic and nutrient-dense food for our community, but to help all those…

Oaks display many fine qualities: appreciation, generosity, stability, resilience, connection, strength, presence, knowledge, wisdom, family, protection, care, meaning and wonder. Benedict welcomes us to envision a bright future, a land of plenty, a vibrant world of loving connection. He invites this by planting oak saplings of known provenance, grown from acorns of some of the oldest powerful veteran and ancient oaks of England. This talk explores Benedict’s oak journey, as he weaves a story of…

What does the latest research on insect sentience mean for our view of the ecosystem services they provide, such as pollination and nutrient cycling? Biodiversity is often valued by society in terms of benefits to humans, however, as we learn more about how insects experience the world, should this reframe our valuation and understanding of the role of biodiversity in agroecological systems? This discussion between those researching, working alongside and conserving insects will be an…

Ploughing and cultivations are coming under increasing criticism, and yet field-scale organic and agroecological farmers are dependent on tillage for crop establishment and nutrient supply, weed control and crop yield. Research shows that far from being damaging, cultivation and plough-based organic systems can maintain or increase soil organic matter levels, ensure good soil structure and increase biological activity. No-till methods have not proved to be commercially viable in the UK. We will hear from farmers…

Ask not what you can do for your pig but what your pig can do for you. Contrary to popular belief, pigs do not uproot everything. This session aims to promote the wide range of behaviours and potential benefits of pigs in nature conservation and regenerative farming systems. Exploring the versatility, adaptability and conservation opportunities of native pigs. A pig will graze, browse and consume berries and fungi, maintain a mosaic of bare ground, and…