Since its launch in 2015 the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund has enabled ninety-eight groups of farmers and land managers to develop shared plans, coordinate action to improve land quality, and help restore wildlife and natural systems for all our benefit. At the heart of the initiative is the transformational approach based on cooperation across holdings, addressing evidence-based environmental priorities, helping overcome isolation, depression, fragmentation and upskilling farmers and land managers. Additional groups starting in January…

A session exploring existing education and training opportunities in agroecological farming, featuring discussion and Q&A on traineeships and Schumacher’s BSc Sustainable Food and Farming Business & Practical Residency in Sustainable Horticulture.

Research by a global team of scientists, including members of the Oxford Martin School and IPCC authors, provides a new way of relating the impacts of methane to carbon dioxide, and suggests how ongoing ruminant methane emissions could still be compatible with ambitious climate targets seeking to limit further temperature increases.

In November 2020 the UN COP will meet in Glasgow. This will be an important opportunity for civil society to influence global debates on the role of food and agriculture in addressing climate chaos. Come along to find out more about what is planned for COP, both in shaping discussions within COP and fringe events and activities outside of the meetings, this is primarily an information session on what has been organised so far. There…

Working with land and animals is proven to be therapeutic, particularly for those with additional support needs, mental or physical disability or those in recovery. Social farming, in the context of this project Social Crofting, promotes green care in some of the most remote and rural areas of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Gaining Ground project focuses on crofters and smallholders who currently provide such services; and looks, in detail, at their voluntary…

Despite the recognition of the climate and biodiversity emergencies, business as usual continues. This workshop will look at some of the thoughts coming out from Inquiries around land use, food and farming in the UK, as well as encouraging participants to explore their own context using a range of change theories.

Moving beyond the barriers of politics, this week’s to do list, this year’s harvest and even this subsidy cycle, what can our landscape…

There are many justifications for farming, including ethical obligations to the wider world; and personal fulfilment, significance and dignity. Spiritual justifications are increasingly cited. Spiritual language has always had a place in farming, but in the machine age it became unfashionable and embarrassing to use it.

This session examines questions such as: ‘What should you feel about your land, your animals and your crops, and why?’ ‘Should scything and muck-spreading be ecstatic religious experiences?’ ‘The…

Following the session The Wonders of Woodchip on farmer-led research into woodchip in the Assembly Room, this session is an opportunity for a more informal conversation. Join this discussion-focused workshop for a chance to ask more in-depth questions and to collectively unpack some of the innovative uses for woodchip in agriculture.