Join us to explore how to transform publicly-funded research for agroecology and help broaden the coalition – initiated at ORFC 2019 – pressing for scientific, technical and socio-economic research and innovation to prioritise the transformation towards a biodiverse, food sovereignty-based, agroecological food system.

Now, with many recent reports and heightened awareness about the climate/ecosystem/nutrition crises, we need to claim our definition of agroecology as the basis for a research agenda fit for real food and…

Livestock farmers are facing significant challenges - the loss of CAP payments, the threat from imports produced to lower standards, and the general decline in meat-eating. In many cases these farmers could improve their position by adopting different business models, based on making the best use of all the opportunities the farm offers, including its location, the landscape, the quality of the grazing and the range of products that can be obtained from the animals…

A former agricultural scientist, Alfredo Cunhal practices the ancient art of silvopasture, combining livestock with productive trees and shrubs on his farm Herdade do Freixo do Meio in Southern Portugal. This system which he calls “the new montado”, not only produces a great variety of food – 600 different products – but can withstand long periods of drought; build soil; resist fires; soak up carbon and produce water from deep underground.

Alfredo’s approach is backed…

Though UK farms have reduced their use of antibiotics by 40 percent in the past five years, resistance to antibiotics continues to rise – a threat to the health of both livestock and people. This session features a farmer who makes no use of antibiotics at all; a “technical clinic” led by a vet who will discuss preventive husbandry; and reports from a number of practical projects for better targeting of treatment, alternative treatments, and…

The Landworkers’ Alliance LGBTQIA+ group will host a discussion by and for LGBTQIA+ landworkers and allies. This interactive session aims to create a welcoming space in which to share personal experiences, successes and challenges that we face in our land-based work. LGBTQIA+ folks hope to build a sense of solidarity and support for each other and to begin building a base from which to make LGBTQIA+ folks more visible within land-based work.

Genome editing is a profoundly transformative technology. It is being pushed by the research establishment, government, media and industry as the smart way to achieve sustainability.

The agroecological/organic movement has been complacent and myopic in response to claims that genome editing is compatible with their principles. This technology will affect every aspect of production, but farmers and growers are either unaware of it or ignoring it.

This session will cover where we are with current…

Small-scale farmers and growers face significant planning barriers when establishing rural businesses, which lead to huge financial and emotional costs. These range from struggles to gain permission for agricultural workers’ dwellings, to enable them to live on their farm, to having to compete with the elevated prices of farm buildings brought about by Class Q Permitted Development Rights, which allow a landowner to convert barns into up to three market dwellings. This session will look…

Planning for the future can be a daunting process, especially in farming where we are experiencing so much economic, political and social change. Managing a farm business is challenging enough but trying to keep it sustainable and profitable in the face of adversity can have a negative impact on the wellbeing of farmers and their families. This session will provide useful tips and guidance about how farmers can build their own personal and business resilience,…

On a farm where the land is alive, and the animals peaceful, the people too are happy. Depression is not simply a problem that resides within an individual, but a symptom of environ(mental) health, an indicator that we are on the wrong path. Storyteller, Georgia Wingfield-Hayes, tells the true story of Charles Ellet now happily herdsman of the Ethical Dairy, once herdsman on a 1500 cow intensive dairy farm where his mental health crashed. Through…