Patrick Holden is one of the pioneers of the modern sustainable food movement who, during his period as Director of the Soil Association, between 1995 and 2010, played a leadership role in developing the UK organic market. Closely involved with standards development, producer cooperation, Patrick’s extensive engagement with the public through successive media campaigns, played a key role in winning public trust in the products from sustainable agriculture. In 2010 he stepped down from the Soil Association to address a newly emerging challenge - the need to develop strategies for sustainable food systems which have wider application, for the whole of agriculture. The mission of the resulting organisation, The Sustainable Food Trust, is to promote international cooperation between all those involved in sustainable food production.
Homage to soil
By Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food Trust
I believe this situation is applicable to the majority of the world’s farmers – in front of us is a monumental task, we need not only to maintain but to build soil fertility, which we must and can do by commencing a new relationship of the soils under our management, harvesting and growing the body of experience and evidence of the pioneers of soil building both historic and living.
Feeding Britain one farm at a time
By Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food Trust
Namely, if we switch from chemically dependent agriculture to biologically based farming systems operating in harmony with nature and within planetary boundaries, how much food could we produce on an acre, from a region, a country or the entire planet? And would this be enough to nourish us all?
Using farms as educational platforms
By Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food Trust
If it is true that we only have 10 years or so to bring about the great transition towards regenerative and sustainable farming systems, then our need to create an informally coordinated network of beacon farms, hopefully working collectively to become more than the sum of their parts in the educational process, becomes absolutely imperative.
Why the Climate Change Committee have got it wrong on land, food and farming
By Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food Trust
I gained the impression, perhaps unfairly, that none of the so-called experts who were presenting had any practical knowledge of, or insights into, regenerative farming.
Farms – the new frontline for restoring biodiversity
By Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food Trust
I have the feeling that we are on the threshold of a transition to more sustainable practice which, if it could be made economically viable, could quite quickly become mainstream.
If We Want Sustainable Food Systems, it’s All About the Money!
By Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food Trust
Essentially, we have a dishonest food pricing system and if this was corrected, sustainable farming methods would more than hold their own economically.
Land Sharing and Land Sparing: We Need Food in Harmony with Nature
By Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food Trust
I am firmly of the land sharing community. I take the view that if we are to reverse the relentless decline of biodiversity and natural ecosystems, which I was fortunate enough to witness in abundance as a child before major agricultural intensification took place, we need to change the way we farm.
A Light at the End of the Covid Tunnel?
By Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food Trust
So, will the apparition at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel actually represent an oncoming train that heralds the re-establishment of the globalised industrial model? Or might it be the beginnings of a renaissance of food systems which truly serve the public interest?