2010 - 2024

Who controls the food we eat and grow? Deep power asymmetries in food system governance are blocking the transformation we need. For decades, the institutions and policies that affect decision-making about food systems have been captured by corporate overreach, undermining the public good and the rights of people and communities to engage in food system decision-making on their own terms. This event will reveal who really controls agri-food policy and regulatory decisions and how, exposing…

Perennial veg has been taking off for years with home gardeners and allotmenteers but, whilst some classic examples, such as artichokes and asparagus, may be produced by commercial veg growers, uptake remains limited. Hear from Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson on what’s caught his attention about the potential of perennials, expert perennial grower and founder of Incredible Vegetables, Mandy Barber, revealing the diversity of options perennials present, and get a debrief on micropropagation as a possible…

After almost a century of industrialised agriculture, we’ve found ourselves in a precarious position. We’ve ended up with a food and farming system based on just a few varieties of specialised crops and animals; but with this specialisation comes great risk. Now, in the face of intersecting environmental crises - from global warming to soil degradation and biodiversity loss - we need to (re)build diversity to build resilience. This session will hear from landworkers, food-makers…

This session will explore the vital role local governments play in driving food system change across the UK and examine how local government drives food system change through planning policies and regulations, promoting sustainable agriculture and building opportunities to share knowledge and local buy-in for new technologies. It will also look at how local governments can create opportunities for new routes to market, supporting local food economies and the relevance of food partnerships to support…

The accumulation of land and wealth in Britain was made possible through the colonisation of peoples and lands across the globe; through the profits generated through enslavement; and through the creation of an economic system that was built on exploitation, violence and extraction. Land as reparations to communities who are directly affected by these systems and their fallout is one way repair can be attempted and healing and transformation towards something better made possible. This…

From “climate-neutral beef”, to nature-friendly pesticides, big ag’s powerful PR machine spreads influential narratives – and employs underhand methods – to maintain the polluting status quo. Drawing on examples from the UK, EU and global context, in this panel the investigative journalism outlet DeSmog – and friends – will put corporate tactics under the spotlight. The session will be an insight into the misleading narratives used by big business and will equip ORFC participants to…

Two women will share their families' colonised and colonising experiences with their traditional foods and the traditional foods of Indigenous people on the land they settled. Jessica Milgroom's grandfather grew up as a descendant of settler families from mixed European heritage on Ojibwe reservation land in Northern Minnesota. He was instrumental in commercialising wild rice that Indigenous people in Minnesota held sacred as food and ancestral relatives. Jessica will share how that influences her life's…

The Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming Programme (APCNF) is a highly successful government-led initiative involving millions of farmers and eight million hectares of land in India. It revolves around nine key agroecological principles, including the use of indigenous seed, cover crops and keeping soil disturbance to a minimum. Probably most importantly it offers a viable alternative to using chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. In 2020, members of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa…

Applying soil health principles at scale is a challenge, with many farmers looking to stop ploughing but still relying on chemical weed killers and those unwilling to use chemical weed killers still relying on ploughing. We will explore this very complicated subject in an intelligent and positive way with two passionate soil enthusiasts. We will then hear the neutral perspective from the Environment Agency’s soil expert, who witnesses and has to deal with the end…