Policy/Systems

Unlocking land for CSA in the North of England: Challenges and Opportunities

Hosted by Community Supported Agriculture Network UK with perspectives from a panel of experts.

How can we access more land for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms and other small-scale regenerative agriculture in the North of England? Why is it so difficult to access land and what can we do to unlock more?
Hear from a fantastic panel of speakers coming at the topic from a range of angles. Panelists are Kate Swade (Shared Assets); Helen Woodcock (Kindling Trust); Graeme Willis (CPRE) and Guy Shrubsole (Environmental Campaigner) and the session is hosted by the CSA Network UK.

Speakers/hosts:

Kate Swade is Shared Assets’ co-executive director. She has over 15 years’ experience helping local authorities and communities collaborate in stewardship of their environments and neighbourhoods. She has designed and delivered qualitative and quantitative research projects at a variety of scales, and is an experienced trainer and facilitator. She has experience as a consultant to as well as an employee of land based social enterprises, supporting the creation of numerous business and governance models, and the crafting of business plans and strategies. She works across the full range of Shared Assets work including policy, research, consultancy and advocacy, and leads on organisational development and culture. Kate is a trustee of Toynbee Hall, a social justice charity in East London.

Graeme Willis is farming lead in the Rural Economy and Communities team at CPRE, the countryside charity. He joined CPRE in 2006 and launched new tranquillity and intrusion maps. He went on to manage research on local food webs across England. More recently he has written on farm diversity (New Model Farming, 2016), the loss of smaller farms (Uncertain harvest, 2017) and on agroecological management of soils (Back to the land, 2018). His current interests are: promoting better use of county farms and changing land use to address the climate emergency. Graeme was previously a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and tutor and research officer at Essex University where he gained an M.Env in Environment, Science and Society. He grew up in Cheshire where he regularly worked on family farms.

Helen Woodcock is a founding member of Greater Manchester’s Kindling Trust – working to create a fairer, more sustainable food system for Manchester and beyond. Over the last 13 years Helen has helped establish Kindling’s practical initiatives including our FarmStart programme, to encourage and support a new generation of organic growers; Woodbank Community Food Hub; and Kindling’s sister co-operatives Manchester Veg People and Veg Box People, to create fairer markets for organic growers and make local organic food accessible to all. Helen is currently focused on establishing the Kindling Farm, a 100+ acre organic agroforestry farm for the Northwest.

Guy Shrubsole is an environmental campaigner and author of Who Owns England? (William Collins, 2019), a book that delves into the secrecy surrounding land ownership, why it’s so unequal, and why that matters for how we use land. Guy helped co-author a recent report, Reviving County Farms, about the sell-off of council-owned farms, with NEF, Shared Assets and CPRE; and he’s currently campaigning to get a ban on moorland burning by grouse moor estates, coax landowners into investing more in natural climate solutions, and extend Right to Roam.

Suzy Russell has worked in environmental and arts-based community development for over 20 years and has skills and experience in relationship building, strategic management, leadership and income generation. She started out organising an environmental arts festival and running a community environmental centre in the North East before living in Spain for six years where she worked with a community street theatre group and set up an environmental community development project. More recently she’s been CEO at participatory arts organisation in West Yorkshire, building skills and knowledge in health and training and alongside this learning to teach mindfulness. She’s always had a patch to grow on, albeit with a wide range of growing conditions. She’s passionate about local food, wellbeing, creativity, nature, community and the magic of everyday life.

Scottish Agricultural Policy: Where it’s at and where to go from here

Hosted by the Landworkers Alliance, Nourish Scotland, WWF Scotland and the Scottish Crofting Federation.

The past year has seen huge shifts in agriculture policy across the UK. This session will provide an update from key campaigning organisations on the development of Scottish agricultural policy in 2020 and look to what campaigns we should be focusing on to promote agroecology and food sovereignty in Scotland.

Speakers/hosts:

Russel Smith has worked on his family croft in Sutherland for over 20 years, with sheep and poultry plus a caravan site and holiday cottage. He is a Director and former chair of the Scottish Crofting Federation, and former chair of his local farmers’ market.

Vicki Swales is Head of Land Use Policy at RSPB Scotland and has had long-term involvement in the Scottish Food Coalition.

Stephanie Mander is Policy and Campaigns Officer for Nourish Scotland and coordinates the Scottish Food Coalition and their campaign on the Right to Food.

Sheila George is Food & Environment Policy Manager at the World Wildlife Fund for Scotland and develops and delivers their programme of policy and advocacy around post-Brexit environmental protections and governance, with a particular focus on sustainable food and land use policy.

Roz Corbett, Landworkers Alliance

 

Exploring the links between farming and other rural enterprises: Could Brexit make or break the chain?

Hosted by researchers at Newcastle University.

A team of researchers from Newcastle University have undertaken research to investigate how potential post-Brexit structural adjustments in the farming industry will affect local and regional industries in the north of England, beyond farming. We are also interested in the multiplier effects of these potential structural changes. Using interviews, we spoke to enterprises based in Northumberland, Yorkshire and Cumbria who are linked to agriculture but are not primary producers themselves. We discussed with them the risks and the opportunities their businesses and communities face following the changes in farm support post-Brexit.

Preliminary findings indicate that there is a great deal of concern about the impact of changes on produce quality, the environment and the fabric of rural communities. However, we also note a high degree of ‘business pragmatism’ and a willingness to ‘roll with the punches’, as well as some optimism around opportunities for innovation, both within participants’ own businesses and within agriculture more generally.

This session involved a facilitated discussion. We spent 5-7 minutes introducing our research and findings, and then used the remainder of the session to engage participants with a range of activities. We aim to co-produce knowledge with session attendees, with the goal of identifying key challenges and opportunities facing (northern) rural regions post-Brexit and post-Covid, and discussing solutions to these, based on best practices and local strengths and weaknesses. A better understanding on how Brexit will affect farming and the wider rural community and how we, as a community, might respond to these changes in the north would allow for the identification of more viable solutions to support sustainable and vibrant communities.

Speakers/hosts:

Adrienne Attorp is a PhD Researcher in Sociology and Social Policy at Newcastle University (Teagasc Walsh Scolar). She is currently studying agriculture policy and land use on the island of Ireland. Prior to returning to academia, Adrienne spent 6 years working in the charity sector, first with urban farming charity ‘Growing People Project’ in Milton Keynes, then with horticultural social enterprise ‘Cultivate London’, in west London. She is broadly interested in agriculture policy, sustainable food systems and food sovereignty.

Katie Aitken-McDermott is a PhD Researcher at Newcastle University’s Centre for Rural Economy. Her research focuses on why and how individuals and groups establish and manage rural social enterprises.

Dr Carmen Hubbard is a senior lecturer in rural economy at Newcastle University. Her major research interests are in the economics and policy analysis of EU rural areas. She has also extended her expertise to other countries such as Japan, Brazil, South Korea and Vietnam. Recently, she led a major national project on ‘Brexit and Agriculture’. In 2014, she was awarded a prestigious fellowship by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Since 2015, she has been an appointed member of the (Farm) Animal Welfare Committee. She also sits on the North East Farming and Rural Advisory Network steering group.

You can read the session outcomes here.

From research to action: Supporting food, farming and health transitions to a greener and fairer society for all.

Hosted by Hannah Field, Sue Pritchard and Julia Aglionby, Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.

The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission are turning the recommendations from the ‘Our Future in the Land’ report, developed over 2 years of participatory research, into practical actions with our partners in governments, businesses and communities. This is being supported through 6 place-based inquiries – 3 in England, and 1 in each of Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, with funding from Esmée Fairburn Foundation. The recommendations are, at their core, focusing on connecting food, farming and the public’s health for a just transition to a greener, fairer economy in response to the climate, nature, health and now Covid-19 emergencies. To enable these actions, we are helping to convene collective leadership and collaboration across sectors and stakeholders.

Cumbria is our Northern England inquiry, focusing on upland contexts. This session was an excellent opportunity to engage with stakeholders and gain valuable input and collaboration to support this 3-year implementation, action-focused phase. There will be an overview of the inquiries nationally and then a focus on Cumbria to explore how we might implement some of the recommendations. The recommendations we discussed could include (subject to change at this early stage of the inquiry):
• a National Nature Service to support young people from different backgrounds to experience meaningful land-based work to kickstart the regenerative economy
• a roadmap to support the transition into agroecological farming practice
• supporting equitable distribution of the health and wellbeing benefits of access to landscapes and nature connection.

Participants received a summary report of the session and next steps in the inquiry.

Find out more about the work and reports at ffcc.co.uk

Speakers/hosts:

Sue Pritchard is Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, a newly independent charitable organisation working across the UK and funded by Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Its mission is to help implement the recommendations contained in its reports in June 2019, accelerating the transition to a fair, sustainable food and farming system and a thriving countryside, reversing climate change, restoring nature, and improving public health and wellbeing. Sue runs an organic, permaculture livestock farm in Wales, home to the Silver Birch Foundation, a charity providing education, training and development for disaffected young people, in partnership with local schools.

Julia Aglionby is the Chair of the Cumbria Inquiry for the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. Julia is Executive Director of the Foundation for Common Land, Chair of the Uplands Alliance, a practicing Rural Chartered Surveyor and Agricultural Valuer and a Professor in Practice at the University of Cumbria. Julia was a Board Member of Natural England from 2014 – 2019. She has worked as an environmental economist on National Park Management in Indonesia and the Philippines. Julia’s PhD research was at Newcastle University Law School and her thesis was entitled Governance of Common Land in National Parks: Plurality and Purpose. Julia lives in the Eden Valley, Cumbria with her family on an organic Care Farm of which she is a Trustee – Susan’s Farm CIO – where she enjoys practical farm work at the weekends.

Hannah Field is the Cumbria Inquiry Coordinator for the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. Hannah grew up in Rochester, Kent and has spent the last 10 years in Cumbria, beginning with her studies at the University of Cumbria gaining a BSc (Hons) in Animal Conservation Science and then, in 2019, her PGDip Ecosystem Services Evaluation. Hannah is currently a PhD Student at the University, researching how diverse perspectives and values in land management can be brought together for social and ecological benefit through place-based decision-making in case studies of common land contexts. During this time in Cumbria, Hannah has worked for Forestry England in communications and visitor experience and runs her own business. She is an artist and tutor in wool crafts, designs and teaches nature-based and regenerative livelihood programmes and helps with horticulture and livestock on a permaculture smallholding. Hannah weaves together practical experience and academic knowledge to inform her research and practice. Building relationships with the land threads Hannah’s life through fell-walking, mountaineering, lake swimming and gardening, always with collie-dog Nova.

You can read a blog post about the session outcomes here.

Moving beyond food aid – how do we change it from a hand out to a hand up?

Hosted by Feedback with Food Works, Sheffield and the Open Kitchen Manchester.

What role does locally-owned redistribution and food entrepreneurship play? A discussion about access and changing environments from food deserts and swamps to food oases.

An opportunity to have a conversation with a wide range of people on the subject of changing the nationalised food system to a more regionally-focused, people-centred one. Is this possible? How can we get locally-based growers and food producers more embedded into the food economy? What are the challenges and what are the opportunities?

The recent Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated how fragile our centralised food supply systems are. Brexit will bring new challenges. Is it time to do things differently? This session will posit various questions and scenarios and invite participants to help co-create an ambitious Plan B that offers a practical vision for food redistribution, both surplus and first harvest, to support a regional food economy and sustainable menus for the north.

We think this may be of interest to: growers and farmers who would like to provide a direct supply to communities; food citizens who want to find out how they can support local supply chains; anyone who eats and cares where it comes from!

Speakers/hosts:

Lucy Antal is Project Manager at Regional Food Economy NW. In this role, Lucy has created the Alchemic Kitchen, a social enterprise using surplus food and turning it into new products, as well as creating the food partnership the Knowsley Kitchen, which seeks to improve access to fresh food for everyone in that borough. She is an active participant in the Sustainable Food Cities Network, Co-founder of the Knowledge Quarter Sustainability Network and supported the creation of the AgroEcoCities European Network. Lucy held the post of Sustainable Food City Liverpool Coordinator for the Liverpool Food People project. She spent 10 years working in food and hospitality within London, before working for 13 years as Operations Manager & Project Developer for environmental charity the National Wildflower Centre. Lucy chairs the Alexandra Rose Voucher project steering group in Liverpool.

Jessica Sinclair Taylor is Head of Communications and Policy at Feedback. Jessica is a communications specialist and has extensive experience of campaigning and communicating on various issues including child poverty, ethical banking, women’s rights, climate change and development, working for the Fawcett Society, Move Your Money UK, the Overseas Development Institute and the Child Poverty Action Group. She was also a Fulbright Fellow. Jessica plans how Feedback can spread the word on the challenge our current food system poses to our environmental sustainability and climate, and our hard-hitting campaigns to tackle it. Spokesperson on: waste in supply chains; supermarket food waste scorecard; misleading labelling; fish farming.

Corin Bell founded Open Kitchen MCR (formerly Real Junk Food Manchester) in 2014. She is a project manager and campaigner who has worked with the community, charity, public and private sectors on projects around sustainability, environment, food waste and plastics reduction for over 10 years.

Rene Meijer joined Food Works Sheffield when it was founded in 2015 as ‘The Real Junk Food Project Sheffield’ and is the current CEO. Food Works is a social enterprise that aspires to create a more sustainable and fair food system in Sheffield. Food Works prevents up to a tonne of surplus food from going to waste every day, working with a small team of staff who support around 200 volunteers. This food is used to provide meals in community cafes, a daily food market, educational programs and public and private events. In total Food Works provides the equivalent of more than half a million meals per year while saving the same amount of carbon as sequestered by 30,000 trees. Rene moved to the UK from the Netherlands in 2004. Before joining Food Works he worked as a project and change manager in education, most recently for the University of Sheffield and the University of Derby.