This session will focus on the benefits and challenges of a co-operative approach to organising in the food industry. It will look at examples: Suma, a worker-owned wholesaler of sustainable and responsibly sourced food distributing across the UK; Unicorn Grocery, a worker co-op retailer selling natural, quality food and drink; and Tyddyn Teg, a worker-owned farm growing and distributing veg in Wales. Alongside stories from each of the co-ops, the session will look at some…

This workshop explores the importance of creating new narratives for understanding, conceiving, and reshaping food systems. Narratives are performative; what we communicate has effects in the outside world. Therefore, narratives that tell a different story about food systems are crucial for the transformations themselves. By exploring the new narratives of ecologies of food, we seek to shift from a linear and fragmented idea of food systems to a holistic universe where non-human lives also play…

This panel explores how different aspects of food resilience — usually considered in isolation — can be connected. Farmers are natural experts in embedding resilient approaches on-farm. Food resilience is rising up national and local government agendas, in the face of food supply shocks and stresses. Those ultimately impacted — the public — rarely feature in discussions. What lessons from farm risk management and diversification could help inform approaches to embedding resilience? How can we…

Organic farming is the system that most effectively delivers our universal aims for food quality and health, genuine sustainability and environmental management, personal welfare and animal health. Despite being backed up by robust science, Government support and a well-developed market, organic production is static in the UK. This session will hear from people successfully involved throughout the food chain, telling what organic has done for them, and provide the basis for a challenging discussion on…

The Roots and Rhythms project at Lopemede Farm, in collaboration with multi-generational farmer Eddie Rixon, focused on restoring biodiversity and creating opportunities for deeper nature connection. Through life-centred practices, the project supported a shift from egocentric to ecocentric ways of working and being. This workshop invites you to experience one of these practices: the Interspecies Council. Inspired by Joanna Macy’s work, the session cultivates empathy for the living beings and systems that share our landscapes,…

Where is the cross-over between regenerative agriculture and rewilding? Within Permaculture we have Zone 5 — the land you leave to ‘nature’ — but a 'set aside' nature reserve is no longer enough in our current times. Zone 5 for wildlife/biodiversity needs to permeate all Zones, and also us. We explore how Permaculture and Holistic Decision Making can create biodiversity, meet our human needs, farm productively with nature, restore ecosystems, and build community. What do…

This is the first part of this movement strategy series which will bring together those working and organising in the movement for land and food justice in the UK, to explore how we can work better together to achieve the changes we want to see. We will explore what draws people to this movement and identify our common vision; explore what it might look like to have a movement-wide strategy. Using a movement ecology framework,…

A soft space for conversations about working towards liberation through tending the land. Recovering a more reciprocal relationship to the land through farming and gardening can be nourishing on many levels. But what is needed to make all experiences working the land a liberatory act? Can flowers liberate as much as food? This session is inspired by new farms and growing projects emerging from urban centres, which take an inclusive, intersectional approach, prioritising meeting each…

Lowland carbon peat soils are precious — from storing vast amounts of carbon to being a key wildlife, food and hydrological resource. Yet they are severely degraded, leading to soil and nature loss and greenhouse gas emissions. This is partly due to major horticulture, arable and livestock production which needs to change or move elsewhere. This session is led by the Wildlife Trusts, Soil Association, and Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership. A panel of practitioners and…