Revisiting the Nova Scotia Flax to Linen Ecosystem
New fibre eco systems will always be place-based and context driven and every instance will likely be different depending on the history, land, culture and personalities of the residents.
Food & Water
Restoring Water to Arid Lands: Rethinking Dams and Soil in the MENA and Global South
Why water scarcity is not a climatic inevitability, and how nature-based solutions can rebuild life in landscapes under stress.
Oxford Real Farming Conference 2026 – Deeper and wider ways of engaging with the land
Among other things, the Oxford Real Farming Conference shows that there’s more to the movement than mere conventionalisation. The movement is doubling down—it’s attempting to deepen its understanding of the world. And there’s no time like the present for that.
Restoring Hydrological Cycles as a Foundation for Water Resilience
By rebuilding functional hydrological cycles, societies can enhance the effectiveness of existing infrastructure, reduce vulnerability to climatic extremes, and regenerate the ecological foundations upon which water security ultimately depends.
Do cows raze the land?
Unfortunately, the extremely simplistic narrative that plants are good and animals are bad has been given far too much prominence in the public debate. For sure, industrial livestock production has a number of serious flaws, but so does industrial crop production.
The Radish Rebellion
Every time you plant a seed, you are declaring independence. Every time you repair a toaster, you are voting against disposable culture. Every time you generate a kilowatt-hour on your roof, you are disarming a dictator.
Notes From An Old Farmer: Revitalizing Our Rural Communities
There is a new energy among our younger citizens to seek a more meaningful life in the country. Now is the time to take advantage of their new-found passion to live and work in a rural community.
The winners take the most
From 2018 to 2020, the top four seed and agro-chemical firms controlled 60-70% of the global pesticides market, and 50-60% of the $45 billion global seed market. How did this happen?
By the Rivers of Babylon: debating agrarianism with Tom Murphy
There’s nothing much we can do about this world-as-it-might-be symbolic capacity we have, simultaneously humanity’s blessing or genius and also our curse. Writing, farming and so on were not the cause of our malaise but the result of it.
When Water Decides: Securing National Ambitions through the Hydrological Cycle
As long as water is treated as a problem to be drained rather than an ally to be welcomed, it will abandon us when we need it most and strike when we are least prepared.
Permanent Agriculture Part 1: Tree Crops
Almost one hundred years later, Smith’s original ideas for planting a two story agriculture remain inspired—planting crop trees on challenging and depleted land. Trees can do most of the heavy work when it comes to feeding the inhabitants of our planet and repairing our land.
How Breaking — and Repairing — the Water Cycle Shapes Our Climate Future
In arid and semi-arid regions, retaining rainfall where it falls is not an ecological luxury. It is a prerequisite for long-term water security, climate stability, and social resilience.
