A broad group of Fifield residents was treated to a talk in early October 2022, by villager and national agroecological transition campaigner, Ian Wilkinson founder of FarmED. The talk, hosted by local community action group, Green Fifield is the second in a series of free talks for members of the village on topics key to local, national and international climate, environment and sustainability.
Ian talked through some fascinating research, both from FarmED’s experiments and that carried out by others highlighting some of the severe challenges to the UK’s food security, quality and production methods facing farmers and others in the food industry. He introduced us to some approaches being trialled which aim to increase the nutrient content of food, whilst increasing (rather than eroding) the biodiversity and natural value of the land it is grown/reared on….and how these two things can work hand-in-hand. Ian ended with some thought provoking comment on the necessity for our relationship with food to also evolve, alongside the farming methods, quoting Micheal Pollen’s ‘Rules for Eating’, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
A fascinating evening was had by all.
The next in this series of talks, which has so far hosted the wonderful Hannah Bourne-Taylor as well as Ian, is focused on Hedgehog Conservation in the UK and lead by local expert Lucy Bearman-Brown.
