BY ANTONIA FILMER
At the end of June the Cherry families hosted their ninth Groundswell Festival on their mixed farm in North Hertfordshire, this is the only UK event that encompasses the soup to nuts of regenerative farming and conservation agriculture. The point is to aid farmers and those curious about regenerative agriculture to discover more, and to build relationships with likeminded people; it had a very genial and pleasant atmosphere.
Caroline Cherry
Over a 50 acre site about 150 stands, excluding the delicious miscellany of food purveyors, collectively tell the story of how to transform farming practices to improve soil functionality, related eco-systems and how to increase carbon sequestration. This year Groundswell welcomed 8,000 visitors including The Prince Of Wales and the Duchess Of Edinburgh.
Regenerative farming is the antithesis and alternative to monocultures and industrial farming practises; it is good for the soil, the environment, biodiversity, food production and us, the goal is to enrich the soil in a sustainable way for future generations.
Presently ‘Conservation Agriculture’ (CA) is a globalised term by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, which is universally applicable to all agricultural landscapes and land uses with locally adapted practices. The FAO describes CA as “a farming system that can prevent losses of arable land while regenerating degraded lands. It promotes maintenance of a permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance, and diversification of plant species. It enhances biodiversity and natural biological processes above and below the ground surface, which contribute to increased water and nutrient use efficiency and to improved and sustained crop production.” So far “Regenerative Agriculture” (RA) has no definitive or regulatory interpretation, it is estimated that about 15% of British farmers currently farm regeneratively. RA focuses on soil health and biodiversity, achieved by keeping the soil surface covered for three months of the year with roots in the system or planting a legume cover Crop or mulch, increased diverse rotation such a mob grazing livestock for short periods, limited physical disturbance of the soil such as no tilling and no digging.
Groundswell presented 175 sessions/panels with topics that covered a mind boggling diversity of issues, resistance to change, the future for small abbatoires and butchers, soil compaction, forestry and woodlands, regenerative viticulture, heritage grains, flooding, spontaneous fermentation in beer, wool markets, the impact of toxins on health, the risks and rewards of gene editing, poultry, pigs, dairy, composting and anti-microbial resistance, you name it and there was a conversation about it.
A group of attending farmers described some of the 300 international speakers as the ‘who’s who’ in the global ‘regen ag’ community, these included John Kempf, Joel Williams, Odette Ménard, Josef Holzer and Andy Cato.
A panel that attracted particular interest was the “What should the new government do in the first 100 days to support regenerative and nature friendly farming”, Becky Speight CEO of RSPB chaired a panel with Holly Purdey Tenant Farmer, Harry Bowell Director of Land and Nature at the National Trust and Anthony Curwen Estate Manager at Quex Park, Kent. Various suggestions for Steve Reed the new Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs were proposed.
- Current practices create waste and other problems, this could be limited by the appointment of a “Farming Ombudsman”.
- A collaborative, localised, bottom-up “Land Use Framework” would be useful not just from a food security and environmental perspective, often both are relevant on the same piece of land. Farmers feel strongly that reverting all land to nature/rewilding is not the answer, nor are large scale developments on prime agricultural land. Farming works on a seven year regenerative cycle which is longer than a parliamentary cycle.
- It is thought that government does not have enough special advisors with farming experience/knowledge.
- More collaboration is needed with Sustainable Farming Incentives (SFI).
- Food security needs to be considered longterm, by 2025 food chains need to be climatically, economically and environmentally resilient. More diverse farming practices and processes that are not onerous on the farmer are required, such as fertiliser that is not from overseas. There are warnings that within 50 years there may not be enough soil left to grow enough food to feed the world.
- Farmers need to develop water storage methods/facilities during the wet winters.
- It seems the UK is self-sufficient in cereals and dairy, but we need more protein crops, more fruit and veg farms, and it is hoped the new government will incentivise production of food from small farmers direct to consumers.
- Most concerningly big business is blocking new entrants to farming, 67% of farmers are over 60 years old, it was suggested that the government needs to incentivise salaries as new entrants cannot afford to buy land.
There were practical demonstrations and walks covering every aspect of agroecological and regenerative farming practices: from mob grazing to hedgerow, pond and dung beetle safaris, an early morning bird walk, truffle hunting and soil water infiltration demonstrations. For followers of fashion there were sessions on growing indigo for British jeans, natural dyes for wool, British fashion fibres and leather from regenerative cattle herds.
The Groundswell team offered camping facilities and charming evening entertainment in the Earthworm Arms, the “Twilight Zone” showcased musicians from classical traditions, India Bourne and The Big Skins, Smith and Brewer, George Cosby, Oliver Pash and to contrast blues band Kasper and the Swamp Dogs, and last but not least DJ Andy Cato from the band Groove Armada.
Groundswell is a movement that is growing especially amongst the younger generations, for everyone interested in a sustainable rural future the Groundswell Festival 2025 takes place on the 2nd and 3rd of July.
Antonia Filmer is former British Vogue Fashion Editor, Home Furnishing Design Director of Laura Ashley Ltd, producer of Garden Operas for 10 years to benefit a children’s charity. Antonia is an inveterate traveller and is currently the London correspondent for The Sunday Guardian of India.