2010 - 2024

Hear from members of the Farming and Land Use Network (FLUN) on their thoughts regarding progress to date on a transformation in agriculture to regenerative practices and agroecological systems and what more still needs to be done to support farmers, particularly ahead of a general election, to help them deliver the UK’s commitment to meeting key environmental and biodiversity targets by 2030 while producing healthy and sustainable food.

Members of the Pasture for Life-led, four year, Innovative Farmers field lab on bale grazing come together to share their insights into this outwintering strategy, including costs, benefits, impacts and lessons learned after several years of testing the approach. If you're a farmer currently trialling this approach and needing assistance for this current season or someone planning for next year, this will be an in depth and informative session on the subject.

In 2018, the UN general assembly voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas (UNDROP). This was a major achievement for La Via Campesina, as the movement had been working for 17 years to get there. The adoption process of UNDROP proved the capacity of the global peasant movement to negotiate within UN spaces and with governments towards a new legal tool. Strengthened by…

This session will highlight the huge potential hidden in public procurement for delivering healthy and sustainable food to communities, creating routes to market for agroecological farmers as well as the role of food partnerships in joining the dots between procurement and other local agendas. The session will kick off with an outline of the opportunities as well as common barriers in sourcing more local and sustainable food in public procurement. It will be followed by…

This session will explore how tapping into the spiritual aspect of nature can support food system transformation and improve the wellbeing of farmers, communities, and the land. Hear from experts and farmers on how reconnecting with our innate wisdom and rekindling our sacred relationship with nature can impact crop resilience, soil health, and community cohesion. Listening to nature connects the farmer to the land and guides the farmer’s decisions, such as when and where to…

At a time when farmers are increasingly hearing about the benefits of diversification, enterprise stacking and land sharing to secure the future of their farms, we look at three very different farms which have broadened their offering to attract visitors and spread the word about agroecology.

A discussion on using a whole landscape approach to soil fertility. Harnessing the relationships and interactions between trees and crops can help manage organic nitrogen more efficiently, growers can use ‘mobile’ green manures, by harvesting nitrogen rich leaf matter from elsewhere and applying it to cropland in a targeted manner. Much like the fertility-building clovers and vetches long-used by farmers, nitrogen fixing trees and shrubs such as alder and gorse work with bacteria in the…

Please note that this is a BPOC only community and solidarity space. Join Dawn Dublin and Dee Woods from the African and Caribbean Heritage Food Network for an exploration of ancestral knowledge and cultural practices in African, Afrodescendant and global majority food systems.

In September, organic veg box company Riverford sent an open letter to the CEOs of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl. This letter warned that British farming is “on its knees“ and called for supermarkets to #GetFairAboutFarming. The supporting petition written in partnership with Sustain, rocketed to over 75,000 signatures from the public within weeks, and has high-profile supporters including Deborah Meaden, Rick Stein, and Chris Packham. The petition calls for the Government to…