fbpx
Limited edition ORFC t-shirts available! Order by 28th March

ORFC Global 2021

Full Programme

This seven-day programme offers over 150 sessions that have been programmed with partners and farming communities from across six continents.  It includes a mix of talks, panel discussions, workshops and cultural events on everything from farm practice to climate justice to indigenous knowledge. Please take some time to explore!

Please note that although workshops are free to all registered delegates, separate, advance registration is required for all workshops, and spaces are limited. Workshop registration opened to all registered delegates from Tuesday, 29 December 2020 and was sent via email. Register early to avoid disappointment!

View a PDF of the full programme here

View a printable PDF programme here

Please note the times in the online programme below should display in your local time zone.

Panel Discussion

Speakers

Stefanie Swanepeol

David Otieno

Chair

Dee Woods

Languages

English, Français

16:00 - 17:00 GMT
Thursday, 7 January

Food Justice not Food Aid

Access to fresh, affordable, nourishing, locally produced and culturally appropriate food (as well as the fuel to cook it and time to prepare it) should be the guaranteed right of every individual and household. However, global food systems are increasingly dominated by an ‘industrial diet’ where highly processed and low nutrient foods are widely available and most easily accessible. Many countries, including the UK, have shameful levels of food insecurity and diet-related ill health, and…

Panel Discussion

Speakers

Jo Lewis

Chris Howe

Xavier Poux

Ben Andrews

Chair

Sue Pritchard

Languages

English

16:00 - 17:00 GMT
Thursday, 7 January

Farming for Change in UK Nations: Mapping a Route to 2030

The Food, Farming Countryside Commission is launching new research looking at how future farming systems based on agroecological principles could be feasible for UK nations – removing the need for artificial inputs whilst producing healthy food to feed a growing population, contributing to net zero targets and making more space to restore nature.

In this session, the panellists will explore some of the details of this research, and talk about the questions that it…

Farm Practice
Workshop

Speakers

Lizzie Clough

Liz Genever

Pete Douglas

Chair

Kate Still (co-chair)

Keith Halstead (co-chair)

Languages

English

16:00 - 17:30 GMT
Thursday, 7 January

Getting the Most Out of Livestock Enterprises: Delivering Public Goods and Ensuring Viability in the UK

ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED. LIMITED SPACES: 500

Hear from three farmers who have adapted and innovated to ensure their livestock enterprises survive beyond subsidy by getting to grips with their financial management, optimising forage utilisation and responding to market demand.

Many livestock enterprises in the UK have been reliant on income from the Basic Payment System under the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) to improve their farm business turnover. This session considers novel ways for livestock to…

Panel Discussion

Speakers

Michael Fakhri

Chair

Kerry McCarthy MP

Languages

English, Español

17:00 - 18:00 GMT
Thursday, 7 January

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food: A Vision for the Future of the World’s Food Systems

At last year’s World Food Day, UN Secretary General António Guterres announced that he would convene a UN Food Systems Summit in the fall of 2021. Little did anyone know that the stakes would become so acute so fast. The COVID-19 pandemic has quickly become a hunger crisis. At this moment of upheaval, what gets decided in the next few years will determine the path for global food governance for decades to come. Guterres‘s goal…

Panel Discussion

Speakers

Gertrude Pswarayi-Jabson

Amadou Kanouté

Nada Trigui

Chair

Million Belay

Languages

English, Français

18:00 - 19:00 GMT
Thursday, 7 January

What Kind of Food System Does Africa Need?

Africa faces multiple challenges related to our food systems, including hunger, malnutrition, obesity, noncommunicable diseases, the climate crisis, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, cultural erosion, and other climate related shocks, such as pest and disease outbreaks and escalating prices of external inputs. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the weaknesses of current food systems to meet the needs of African peoples.

These interconnected challenges demand a holistic response, with African civil society and institutions…

Farm Practice
Panel Discussion

Speakers

Professor Andrew Neal

Dr Felicity Crotty

Chair

Fidelity Weston

Languages

English, Español

18:00 - 19:00 GMT
Thursday, 7 January

Life in the Soil Under Pasture

Biodiversity is critical to sustainable farming. Evidence from long-term field experiments (50 – 170 years) suggest that the central relationship between microbes, organic carbon and soil structure determines soil system performance. Detailed work at Rothamsted led by Prof. Andrew Neal is demonstrating the strong relationship between organic carbon, structure and the hydrodynamic behaviour of soil. Among other sources, farmyard manure plays an important role in managing soil systems. The experiments also demonstrate significantly higher levels…

Workshop

Chair

Nina Moeller

Colin Anderson

Languages

English

18:00 - 19:30 GMT
Thursday, 7 January

Financing Agroecology: From Tweaking to Transformation…!

ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED. LIMITED SPACES: 500

This interactive session is aimed at anyone interested in strengthening agroecology, especially farmers, activists, donors/funders, researchers and policy makers.

Agroecology promotes radical transformation of food and agriculture based on ecological principles, guided by visions of justice and led by farmers and citizens. It is increasingly embraced as a response to converging socio-ecological crises. However, almost all funding continues to flow to projects that undermine agroecology and strengthens the global,…

Farm Practice
Keynote

Speakers

Rebecca Hosking, MBE

Chair

John Vidal

Languages

English

19:00 - 20:00 GMT
Thursday, 7 January

Sharing the Land with All Life

Staggeringly, “humanity has wiped out 68% of global wildlife since 1970”, according to the WWF (2020). If that stat wasn’t terrifying enough, it's also been concluded that the annual rate of destruction is increasing. In other words, the eradication of the remaining 32% of global wildlife is speeding up! And the biggest cause cited is agriculture.

Urgent action is needed, and a growing number of voices in international conservation are demanding that humanity should…

Panel Discussion

Speakers

Rikke Grand Olivera

Edie Mukiibi

Chair

Daniel Moss

Languages

English, Français

19:00 - 20:00 GMT
Thursday, 7 January

Moving Money into Agroecology: A Conversation among Donors Supporting Agroecology

Too much investment flowing into agriculture is perverse – shoring up inequitable food systems that grow an ever narrower range of foods and exacerbate climate change. Massive public and private investments in agroecological food systems and agroecological movements are urgently needed – investments that align with agroecological principles and don't serve to greenwash investor portfolios. This session will explore why and how philanthropies and bilateral and multilateral development agencies invest in agroecology, both the challenges…