Author: Rosy Scholes
The UK is currently only 40% self-sufficient in apples and just 9% in pears, despite having a favourable climate for top fruit production. At the same time, over 80% of traditional orchards have been lost since the early 1900s, and nearly half of those remaining are in declining condition. Orchards sit at the intersection of food security, biodiversity, culture and rural livelihoods, yet they remain marginal in policy and public imagination.
A recent session at ORFC, led by Forum for the Future’s Kat Zscharnagk alongside Kath Rosen from The Orchard Project, explored visions for a thriving and resilient future for UK orchards.
Visioning and storytelling
The session centred on the presentation of a multi-stakeholder project that used workshops, storytelling and even a wassail to collectively vision a future for UK orchards. Five ‘visions’ were created, including growing all the apples and pears we consume, protecting and funding traditional orchards, numerous accessible community orchards, sufficient skilled orchard workers and jobs, and a globally recognised premium English cider culture, akin to that of French wine. The visions covered commercial, traditional and community fruit production and the benefits of each were discussed. The visions showed us the power of imagination in food systems work; without dreaming of what we want to be, how could we mobilise the energy needed to get there?
Three videos were then shown, which captured the stories of three contrasting traditional, commercial and community enterprises. The videos certainly showed the idyll that orchards can provide, whilst also showing some interesting new technologies in commercial orchards. However, there was some criticism from the audience that maybe they overlooked some very important realities of worker wellbeing, technology injustice, precarious incomes, mental health, severe water scarcity and climatic risks to orchards.
Discussions at, and between, tables explored these concerns which were absent from the films, and there was a beautiful element of knowledge sharing amongst the audience. This also included a lively debate about cider standards, with many questioning why commercial cider can legally contain just 35% apple juice concentrate, and how we can rebrand this to a ‘cider-flavoured product’, re-levelling the playing field for craft and traditional ciders.
From visions and stories to collective action
One of the strongest aspects of the session was the rich discussion it generated, and the relationships that were formed amongst attendees. People shared their own experiences of working with, and struggling with, other organisations to try and support orchards. Stories ranged from a positive experience of Welsh schools procuring local fruit from traditional orchards, to a particularly comedic yet sobering story about a community orchard blocked by the local parish council due to concerns about ‘wassailing’ and ‘fornication’!
What was missing, however, was time to collectively discuss how we actually move towards systemic change to achieve the outlined visions. The opportunity now is to turn this discussion into joined-up action. The session brought together a niche group of people who care deeply about the future of orchards, and as such one attendee suggested people having a shared group to continue discussions in the area, and I do hope that this is ‘fruitful’!
While the session itself did not include any calls to action, the accompanying report does, and these take a fantastic systems view as is known of Forum for the Future – from supporting surplus fruit schemes to supporting the campaign for basic income for farmers. The full report and more details about the project can be found here.
The visions are there. The knowledge is there. The relationships are forming. What’s needed now is the courage, support, and coordination to act.
About the author: Rosy is a soil scientist and systems thinker from the University of Reading, passionate about bridging the link between practitioners and researchers. She is currently working on a four year PhD project measuring soil health and climate resilience in arable agroforestry systems, as well as a project with the Museum for English Rural Life looking at different visions for the future of farming. You can find out more about what she is up to on LinkedIn.
To learn more, check out this session in the ORFC archives.
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