Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Brexit, bad weather and rising energy prices have a role to play, but our UK growers have been left out on a limb. Like a glasshouse half empty, this crisis is exposing deep systemic problems in our food system that need addressing. Sustain takes a look.
Recognition of the contribution of small-scale farms and horticulture differs in each UK nation, yet the sectors commonly receive little or no support in proposals for the new policies.
Critical to this change is securing the right support from Government to incentivise more farmers to grow more fruit and vegetables, using agroecological and regenerative practices, in a financially viable way. By doing this, it could be possible for the UK to produce affordable and healthy food that guarantees food security and looks after the environment.
A friendly reminder, the bees, and some soil test results suggest a new garden project for 2016 and beyond.
A unique forest complex characterises Uttara Kannada district, where women farmers have nurtured and intimately engaged with their forest home gardens (FHGs) for centuries.
Long before the rise of annual grain based industrial agriculture, and the dismantling of our food and cultural traditions, humans lived in ways much closer to the earth.
Actually, Jason Godesky is rather brilliant; his 30 Theses deserve a good look. He struggled mightily with defining horticulture and agriculture, did not quite get it right, but made a lot of good points. Can I do better? Or at least, can I come up with something that will enable us to communicate more clearly about these matters? With trepidation, I am giving it a shot. The purpose of this post is not to find the Right and Correct definition, but to untangle the definitional knots so that we can talk with one another and get somewhere.
In Agriculture: villain or boon companion, I argued that we sapiens have been cultivators since time immemorial, that a combination of foraging and cultivation is a sensible, durable way of life that has served us well, and that the “origin of agriculture” really is the intensification of cultivation that becomes visible in the archeological record.
