Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
For sure, the cow and the deer can easily co-exist. On our farm, there is plenty of wild-life co-existing with our small herd of five mother cows. There are deer, elk, boars, fox, voles, fox, the occasional lynx, a huge number of birds including flocks of geese, and cranes.
Without the need for dedicated land or water, honeybees offer a more stable climate future.
Food is the basis for lifestyle: Food is the connection to our authentic, biological nature as living creatures, sharing the world with a host of other creatures, in a complex global ecology. Get that right, and all the other things are ‘negotiable’.
Will carbon farming be a greenwashing disaster or a real opportunity for farmers and climate change mitigation?
Food is not, should not, primarily be seen as a commodity to be bought or sold. To a large extent food is an expression of culture, solidarity and connectedness with the land. Food is also a human right.
This big vs small debate needs to be sorted out with a more detailed, targeted lens that does justice to the small-medium active farmers, individual or aggregated together in larger organisations.
Climate change is more than a terrifying crisis, it is an opportunity to restore planetary ecosystems and create healthier, more balanced societies.
On 26 January, the future of post-Brexit agricultural policy in England became clearer with the government’s announcement of six new standards under its Sustainable Farming Incentive.
In total some 850 million people are working in agriculture globally of which more than half in lower-middle income countries (e.g. India, Indonesia, Kenya) and just 16 million in high income countries.
Almost 3,000 kcal per person per day is made available for consumers, who “need” in the range of 2,100 kcal per person per day.
By and large there is a far too simplistic debate about the role of livestock in our food and agriculture systems.
This is how a future that includes me was created. This, place-based farming, is wisdom. And, I suspect that, in places like mine, this is the only path that can lead to another future millennium.
