Finding land for growing local food, nature restoration and carbon capture is a huge challenge. The Apricot Centre has been given an opportunity to trial an innovative approach, with a tenancy on land owned by the local Exeter Diocese.

The urgently needed transition to agroecology begins with seed and soil. This transition is only possible with policies and efforts to support and recognise native seeds.

In the spectrum of services farmers can access to help them transition to regenerative practices, where does mentoring fit? Often overlooked or poorly executed, does mentoring have a place alongside other services farmers access to support their practice?

For the first time, UK policymakers are actively researching the potential for agroecology to help deliver net zero. In Spring 2022, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) commissioned the University of Aberdeen to review a range of agroecological farm practices – such as reduced and minimum tillage, leys, extensive livestock systems and cropping approaches – and assess their impact on GHG emissions, vegetation and soil carbon stocks, and changes to yields.

What’s the state of UK food security and should we be growing more food in the UK? In December 2021, the UK government published the first of its new triennial Food Security Reports. This painted a picture which could either reassure or concern us.

The ORFC is full of great initiatives demonstrating agroecology and nature-friendly farming in action. But at a national and global level, progress is still too slow and we need to understand why.

Join us in a conversation with three entrepreneurs working in food and farming and two funders exploring alternative financing models.

Many people are interested in deepening or enriching their own connection to land, place and the nonhuman as part of a wider rejection of extractivist, capitalist modes of being in the world. They seek more traditional forms of knowledge, which might involve some elements of ritual or ceremony. But how can this be achieved without appropriating yet again from other cultures?

The Emergent Generation is a new ecosystem of young regenerative thinkers and agroecological champions. It is facilitated by the FarmED team. In this session you will hear about our process of co-design, and the diverse range of outcomes, inspiring successes and lessons learnt from our three-day launch event held in September 2022.