Keynote: Saying Yes to a Local Farming Future
Chris Smaje in conversation with Manda Scott - a look at the case for a land-based, localised food system and setting the scene for the conversations that will be happening over the next 2 days.
Chris Smaje
Author of 'A Small Farm Future' and 'Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future', Chris has coworked a small farm in Somerset, southwest England, for the last twenty years. Previously, he was a university-based social scientist, working at the University of Surrey and at Goldsmiths College
Manda Scott
Manda Scott is a Shropshire smallholder, an award-winning novelist, and host of the Accidental Gods podcast which aims to help shift us from the old profit-based culture to one where we can work from values of connection with each other and the land. She is an ardent supporter of local agro-ecology and the principles of regenerative farming.
Shaping our Local Food and Farming Future
A chance to hear from thought leaders working at the national level across England and Wales on what they see as the most important factors and policy directions that we should consider in shaping a local food and farming future in the Marches. This session will provide a big picture framing of opportunities and challenges.
DEFRA Representative
We'll be joined by a representative from DEFRA sharing their vision on the future of farming.
Alastair Mackenzie
Alastair is developing the Real Farming Trust‘s new Progressive Landowners Platform. Helping landowners explore how to increase access to land for agroecological growers and establish the business models, governance and infrastructure needed for resilient local systems that produce good food for everyone.
Alex Carson-Taylor FRGS
International Trade, Development, Investment; Global Agrifood Specialist; Chair - Agricultural Law Association; Specialist Adviser on Trade - EFRA Committee, UK Parliament; Chair - Shropshire Hills AONB
Katie Palmer
Programme Manager for Food Sense Wales and a founding member of the Veg Power Board as well as being one of the founding members of Food Policy Alliance Cymru.
Keynote: Relocalizing the Food Economy
Josiah Meldrum, in conversation with Manda Scott
Join Manda Scott in conversation with Josiah Meldrum of Hodmedod, exploring the story of this innovative business and what we can learn from it about creating shorter, closer supply chains and an emerging market for British pulses, grains and seeds.
Sustainable Livestock Management
Pasture For Life are hosting this session exploring best practice in regenerative livestock farming in the region
Ruth Pullan
Ruth Pullan is the Regional Facilitator for Pasture for Life in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and the Forest of Dean. Her work for PfL focusses on creating opportunities for peer to peer exchange of knowledge amongst farmers, sustainable routes to market and consumer education. When not working for PfL she is an avid gardener and craftswoman, working in leather and textiles.
Claire Whittle
Claire is a farm veterinary surgeon offering consultancy to regenerative farming businesses. She completed a postgraduate certificate in conservation medicine which consolidated her interest in the principles of ecosystem health on farms. She was awarded a 2021 Nuffield Scholarship studying the benefits of regenerative agriculture on animal health and welfare.
Charlotte Hollins
Manages the Fordhall Community Land Initiative which owns Fordhall Organic Farm, North Shropshire,
England. Charlotte grew up at Fordhall and she led the high-profile campaign working with many volunteers that saved Fordhall Organic Farm from
industrial development in 2006. Now England’s first community owned farm, Fordhall is a national asset and a
pioneering example of what can be achieved when people care about the countryside and join together to act upon it.
Peter Gregory
Mixed practice veterinarian. He teaches homeopathy to vets around the world and is a member of the teaching staff at Homeopathy at Wellie Level. He is Veterinary Dean of the Faculty of Homeopathy in London, and an ex-president of the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons and the International Association for Veterinary Homeopathy. He is author of ‘Insights into Veterinary Homeopathy’ and co-author of ‘Textbook of Veterinary Homeopathy’.
Can we taste food quality?
The culmination of our taste challenge will see top chefs score vegetables from different sources for taste. We will carry out live Brix measurements for nutrient density and see how the results compare. Join us for the 'Alternative Horticulture Show' and discussion on food quality and nutrition.
Matthew Adams
co-founder and director of Growing Real Food for Nutrition CIC (grffn.org.uk), explores how to measure and grow nutrient-dense food. Matthew conducted extensive research exploring food quality issues in collaboration with the Biodynamic Agricultural Association and the Hiram Trust. His article, "Beyond Organic, a Vision of the Future," published in the Soil Association's journal Mother Earth (Vol 5, Autumn 2011), emphasizes the paramount importance of establishing a food quality standard to increase well-being of both people and the planet.
Steve, The Hungry Guy
Chef, working with The Shrewsbury Food Hub 'Taste with no Waste' campaign, Slow Food Ludlow and Haven Hills Field and Kitchen. Steve is focused on our relationship with food, food and the environment and how we can make better food choices to enable us to help the environment and support local businesses and economies, without compromising what food means to us as individuals.
Ben Wilson
Chef and founder of OsNosh. When food waste and hunger are at an all-time high, we turn surplus food into free meals & grocery boxes for those who are hungry or struggling. OsNosh is a community kitchen, inclusive hub and education initiative in the heart of Oswestry.
The Weather-Proof Farm
Towards the subsidy free, profitable operation.
How poor soil and pasture health is bringing systemic weaknesses to grazing operations and what to do about it.
Want to shorten housing periods costs?
Have issues in winter with wet lying ground?
Want to eliminate poaching?
Have problems with burning-off, or grass growth dropping off mid season?
Want to grow more grass in drought and with less fertilizer?
Want to carry more stock and improve biodiversity on your farm?
Want the forecast to bring a smile to your face whatever the weather?
This session is for you.
Topics Covered:
Soil health
Soils monitoring
Compaction
Pasture monitoring
Grazing management
Grass production (how to double output & UK data showing close relationships with rainfall)
Remediation strategies (mechanical, mineral, biological)
Increasing soil fertility naturally
A debate on the merits of different ways to increase soil fertility naturally. Find out about composting, bokashi, how a Johnson Su can produce bio-innoculant and using worm compost - vermiculture.
Niels Corfield
On a mission to create regenerative farms and landscapes in the UK and Europe, Niels focuses on agroecological systems that are low maintenance yet productive. He advises and trains on: soil health, planned grazing, agroforestry and whole farm planning. He produces designs for agroforestry systems and whole farm plans.
Andrew Sincock
Andrew is joint owner and Director of Agriton and Agro-Vital, based in the South West. Both companies manufacture, source and supply products that promote commercially and environmentally sustainable farming practices.
More recently, Andrew has been awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship looking into the different management techniques for Organic Manures and how farmers can best utilise this undervalued resource.
Ben Taylor-Davies
"Regen-Ben". A straight-talking bloke who doesn’t suffer fools gladly! My ethos is to use sound biological, peer-reviewed methods in which to produce crops in a way that doesn’t require huge amounts of artificial input.
Luke Boxall
Has been working with CREST and Harper Adams looking at how Vermicast can be applied in the UK. Founder of 'Worm Soil'.
Soil Health/Plant Health/Human Health - making the connections
Our Taste challenge will lead into this discussion on the interconnectedeness of soil, plant, animal and human health. Find out why what is good for the land is good for us too and how to be part of a farmer research initiative on measuring nutrient density.
Peter Cornah
Peter spent 40 years and more in medicine mainly in
Diagnostic Radiology.
Today with new knowledge about soil, food and the human biome we have the first
opportunity in all our lifetimes to connect the food, the natural world and our health and remain ecologically eloquent. This conjunction is potentially of unprecedented importance and we need to examine it carefully.
Ren Fisher
Ren is a Farming Advisor at the Soil Association, as part of the Farm and Land Use team.
She studied agriculture at Aberystwyth and Harper Adams and a MSc in Food Security at Bangor University. She is a qualifed agronomist and has had a 20 year career advising farm managers on the balance of agricultural production with nature. She currently delivers on a number of projects which promotes improving soil health and biodiversity on farm.
Matthew Adams
Co-founder and director of Growing Real Food for Nutrition CIC (grffn.org.uk), explores how to measure and grow nutrient-dense food. Matthew conducted extensive research exploring food quality issues in collaboration with the Biodynamic Agricultural Association and the Hiram Trust.
Shorter and Closer Supply Chains
This session will look at how direct sales can be a win-win for producers and their customers. We will explore this with people involved in the supply chain into restaurants and through retail outlets and how this can increase turnover, cut waste and put great quality food on plates.
Sara Grady
Co-founder of British Pasture Leather, has directed numerous initiatives to support regional farming and food culture. She works to fulfil its vision of linking leather with exemplary agriculture. Additionally, she consults with food and farming enterprises to provide strategic planning, research, grant writing, and project management services..
Mick Westrip
Rhos Market Garden
Well-placed to serve the surrounding areas of Presteigne and Knighton, we grow a wide range of crops for individual customers, as well as local pubs and restaurants.
Out of season we also source produce from other local growers so that people can enjoy first class organic food throughout the year without having to travel further afield.
Kate Gatacre
Head grower at Linley Farm Market Garden and soil food web consultant.
Market Linkages
Linking producers and consumers is key to driving a change in our food system. The Open Food Network can play a key role in this and the session will look at how OFN has been used in a pilot linking Ludlow Farmers Market traders to a food hub in Birmingham as well as exploring the wider role farmers markets can play.
Emma Cantillion
Emma Cantillion has an eco-friendly accommodation business, is Programme Manager at HAU and is a part of the Shropshire Good Food Partnership team.
Jan Morgan-Birtles
Jan farms with her husband, David in the South Shropshire Hills AONB. They run a small herd of pedigree Jersey cows and also, pigs (a rolling population of around 50). Having been farming together for 25 years, the couple run two businesses, selling at 2 or 3 farmers' markets each week, Muckleton Meats and Nanny Janny's Jersey Ice Cream.
Kate Smith
Community builder, food activist and social entrepreneur with Slow Food Birmingham established a local food hub in 2018, using Open Food Network as tool to connect producers with shoppers, and brings sustainable food into the city from small producers.
Kate has spent the last three years developing High Rise Harvest. Which will transform part of a multi storey carpark into much needed urban green space, an urban farm, a biodiversity education centre and distribution hub.
Nick Weir
The Open Food Network: a not-for-profit focused on building the tools and resources needed to create a new food system that is fair, local and transparent including:
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Open-source software to manage online farmers markets
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Free resources for farmers, producers and community food enterprises
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A global commons to help power the sector
Tish Dockerty
Tish is owner of appleTeme, the manager of Local to Ludlow CIC the organiser of the Ludlow Local Produce Market. Co-chair of the Ludlow Marches Slow Food group; Chair of Ludlow 21 and the Ludlow Green Festival; treasurer and press officer for Ludlow Chamber of Commerce, and an active member of Incredible Edible Ludlow group @IncredibleEdibleLudlow
Working Together to Reduce Farm Nutrient Run-Off
A look at collaborative approaches to reduce farm nutrient run-off, from land management practices to innovative products from chicken manure. Find out how farmers are working with institutions to improve water quality.
Simon Evans
Wye and Usk Foundation. An avid fisherman, his passion is improving rivers and how our soils are managed.
David Holthofer
Head of Bio-Resources Business, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water.
Involves the safe operation and
maintenance of Dwr Cymru’ s four large advanced digestion treatment facilities serving large and small rural communities across Wales and parts of England. Included in this remit is the
responsibility for the logistics of all Biosolids which also includes responsibly recycling over 40,000
tonnes of Biosolids to agriculture each year which play an important role in supporting the Welsh
circular economy.
Tom Johnstone
Tom is the Nature Recovery and Nutrient Management strategic lead for the eight Designated Landscapes of Wales (the National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).
Working for Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, Tom is working on making it easier to install nature-based solutions to our flooding and nutrient issues, while benefiting nature, rural economies and sustainable food and fibre production practices.
Andrew Osbaldiston
Agriculture Account Manager, Environment Agency West Midlands
Working across the food supply chain with key partner and sector groups to deliver a strategy for nutrient reduction and wider benefits in the River Wye Catchment.
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Seed diversity for food resilience
Essential elements to all life and the start of every food producer's journey. This session will talk about why we all need to think more about seed, where it comes from and how seed diversity means food security.
Daphne Du Cros
PhD Food Policy, SGFP Coordinator & Director, Grower & Seed Saver. Author of the Bishop's Castle Community Food Resilience Strategy - The first local food strategy in Shropshire.
Catherine Howell
Catherine coordinates the seed network in the north of England supporting amateur and professional growers to grow more open pollinated seed for thriving, diverse and resilient food production. She is a co-director and founder of a ‘plot to plate’ community interest company in Teesside, runs the Middlesbrough Farmstart programme
Sue Stickland
Author of Back Garden Seed Saving. Wales Seed Hub.
Steven Jacobs
Organic Farmers and Growers
From Conventional to Regenerative: The Pollardine Farm Story
Lizzie and Jane Hulton-Harrop farm in partnership at Pollardine Farm in the Gatten Valley, south Shropshire. Over the last couple of years, they have changed their farming system to move towards a regenerative model. They ended annual grazing licenses to take the farm back in hand and completed the full Holistic Management course to help them design a new way forwards. The grassland was rested for 18 months and in November 2022, a small herd of Pedigree Aberdeen Angus was introduced. Alongside this, Lizzie is running a Test & Trial on blended finance working with a group of 17 smallholders, farmers and landowners, as well as facilitating a water quality project across 8 farms.
Making Regenerative Agriculture Pay
Farming regeneratively means profitably, this is key to resilience. Hear about different approaches to achieve this on a range of farm systems and landholding sizes in the region.
Clare Hill
A practising regenerative farmer with a wealth of experience at policy and corporate level. She has enjoyed roles across the full spectrum of the agri-food world since the early 2000s.
Alongside her current role as Director of Farming with Nature for New Foundation Farms, Clare is converting Planton Farm in Shropshire into a model regenerative farm where everyone from farmers to vets, to health practitioners can learn and observe what it takes to grow food for nutrient density.
Ian Steele
In 2006 Ian returned to the family farm from working in London and abroad in the Petrochemical Industry. So began a journey to revitalise a small scale, hillside farm in the family since 1904. The aim was to prove that small scale agriculture can indeed be environmentally aware, promote biodiversity and remain viable in the modern world.
Ben Taylor-Davies
"Regen-Ben". A straight-talking bloke who doesn’t suffer fools gladly! My ethos is to use sound biological, peer-reviewed methods in which to produce crops in a way that doesn’t require huge amounts of artificial input.
Oliver Scott
Farms Director at Bradford Estates, a 12,000 acre land holding based on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border. My day-to-day job is managing the in house farming operation and co-operating with the wider Estates Managements team.
Casha Bowles-Jones
Babbinswood Organic Farm. I am 5th generation farmer. When people ask what type of farmer I am I say I am a 'soil farmer'. My passion is producing real good food from healthy and stress free land and animals. One of the reasons I came back to the farm was to reconnect people with the land, using my outdoor education background. On the farm I have native breeds of cattle and sheep who are all completely pasture fed. There is a micro dairy, milking between 8-12 cows.
All our produce is sold from our farm shop, online and delivered locally. In 2022 we began renting out an acre to new entrant growers, who have established Good Pickings Market Garden and sell wholesale seasonal vegetables.
James Turner
James is the Farm Manager at Downton Hall Estate alongside running a small consultancy business specialising in sustainable agriculture. The farm at Downton Hall comprises 850 acres of arable cropping and a 300 head beef finishing herd. The farm is on a regenerative pathway with an emphasis on reducing cultivations and inputs on the arable acres, and producing quality beef animals from home grown forage. James has initiated several projects at Downton and other client’s farms to ’next-level’ regenerative farming, including the widespread trialling and integration of intercrops - the practice of growing two or more crops of different plant species alongside one another. Work is underway to create an exclusively intercropping rotation so that mono-crops can be eliminated altogether from his clients farms.
Collective Small Scale Mixed Farming
How does working collaboratively increase our yield as small scale growers? What works when aiming to produce good food here in the UK year-round? Join experienced growers, intentional community members and CSAs at various stages to talk about what happens when growing is collaborative. What can be produced? How much? What are the pitfalls? How does sharing the tasks work in practice? A relaxed Friday evening event - bring a drink and we look forward to your company!
Rebecca Tully
Herefordshire Food Alliance - A network of groups, organisations and individuals working towards: A thriving and sustainable local food economy which contributes to a healthy lifestyle, healthy communities and a healthy environment.
(Rebecca also lives at Canon Frome Court)
Chris Taylor and Angela Norton
Canon Frome Court, Herefordshire.
A 40 yr old farming cooperative and intentional community in Herefordshire. Chris and Angela have both lived and worked with other farming communities and now live at Canon Frome Court.
Dan Nettlesmith
The Fold, Worcestershire and Lush Greens, Bristol.
Dan set up Lush Greens in Bristol, producing with the intention of supplying food banks as well as being a Community Supported Agriculture project (CSA). He’s now running the new CSA at The Fold in Bransford.
Pat Gordon and Louisa Foti
Growing Local CIC, Herefordshire. Market Garden and Education Project in Hereford.
Pat and Lou have been running veg boxes and educational projects for many years, and are now part of the Stronger Towns project which will establish a community market garden in Hereford.
Drink the Marches - featuring our small-scale local producers
Local producers discuss the challenges of sustainable sourcing and supply
James Godman
Wilderness Brewery, Newtown, Powys. A small brewery and orchard in rural mid Wales. making interesting farmhouse style beers, aged and soured in oak. We don’t rush into things, we like to let nature do the talking. We make wild little beers and co-ferments, experimenting with new ingredients, seasonality, barrel ageing, and mixed fermentation.
Hugh Chapman
Long Mynd Cider. With over 20 years experience making cider,
Hugh's aim is to produce the very best still craft cider.
Unlike large commercial brands, Long Mynd Cider only uses cider apples. The cider apples are milled, pressed then over winter they ferment with their own wild yeasts converting the sugar to alcohol. This takes up to six months. There’s never any rush.
Chava Richman and Bill Bleasdale
Welsh Mountain Cider. Chava and Bill have turned a 1115 feet high, six acre plot into Britain's highest altitude Ciderworks, fruit tree nursery and museum orchard. In this time Chava and Bill have planted trees, grafted and sent out hundreds of acres of new orchards, and specialized in making award wining live, naturally fermented ciders.
As well as championing natural cider making (100% fresh pressed apples with indigenous yeasts and no additives), they have been trialling over 450 types of apple and pear on the high altitude site, and making a living off the land. The project is developing a model of small scale agriculture, on marginal land, and promoting natural cider and minimum intervention orcharding.
Carbon and farming: Reducing emissions, increasing sequestration & measuring change
Find out about ways of reducing emissions and increasing sequestration and how to measure changes in a wide range of farming habitats and operations.
Dr. Julia Casperd
Senior Tutor in Zoology lecturing in Environmental Land Management and Wildlife
Ecology at Harper Adams University (HAU). She also sits on the Shropshire Mammal Group committee and the North Shropshire Farmers Cluster Steering Committee as an academic advisor. She has been Chair of the Environmental Sustainability Land and Soil Group at HAU since 2022 supporting
a sustainable transition by the Future Farm to carbon Net Zero in conjunction with the
School of Sustainable Food and Farming at Harper.
Emma Adams
Emma is Senior Farm Carbon and Soil Advisor for the FCT. Having previously worked as an Agronomist and Crop Production Advisor based in Herefordshire, she provides technical advice across a diverse range of farming systems, delivering carbon auditing and farm efficiency projects across the UK.
After studying Biological Sciences at The University of Reading, Emma achieved the BASIS Certificate in Crop Protection (IPM), FACTS and BASIS Soil and Water
Louise Rix
Customer Success Manager at Trinity Agtech, supporting clients using the Sandy software, particulary in fresh veg, perennial and glasshouse enterpriese. Louise has over 10 years of technical experience in the agricultural sector and Masters in Carbon Science, with her dissertation focusing on the carbon footprint of onion production. Louise’s family farm on the Essex Suffolk border.
Kate Mayne
Kate farms 113 hectares in North Shropshire alongside her role as a farm environmental adviser, working with farmers in Shropshire on countryside stewardship schemes. Kate co-facilitates 2 farmer cluster groups in Shropshire – the Clee View Farmers Group & the North Shropshire Farmers Group. She is a former trustee of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, a Nuffield Scholar and the current NFU deputy county chair.
Scott Kirby
Executive Project & Programme Consultant (Agriculture & Sustainability) Harper Adams University.
In addition to his extensive commercial farm management experience, he works on a range of projects to develop and deploy innovative technology. A particular focus is the exploitation of opportunities to mitigate the environmental impact of agricultural operations.
Scott was a finalist in the 2012 Farmers weekly awards farm manager of the year category and is also a 2010 Nuffield Scholar studying the opportunities the creation of a sustainable agricultural sector could provide the industry.
Farming with Nature
The Nature Friendly Farming Network will host a session on what it means to farm with nature drawing on the experiences and insights of farmers taking this approach.
Lottie Alves
A skilled agricultural consultant, with nearly ten years’ experience working within the industry, Lottie has worked with farmers, NGOs, retailers and the government on a range of projects covering sustainable crop and livestock production and food chain sustainability. Lottie previously worked as an agronomist, covering arable and horticultural crops, where she promoted and actively incorporated environmental initiatives onto the farms she worked with. Lottie now works at the Nature Friendly Farming Network as their Sustainable Farming Lead for England.
Danni Rees and Oli Harris
Mossy Oaks is a nature led smallholding based at Brook Vessons Farm on the edge of the Shropshire Hills AONB
We farm regeneratively, with minimal inputs and happy, healthy animals. This allows us to hand create produce on site which is sustainable and reflected in taste and quality.
Martin Peck
For 34 years I have been farming organically on this 33 acres of upland Montgomeryshire: the overriding management and farming practice has been to allow nature to function and recover along side of my own survival.
It all reasonably aligns with an early desire to live without making things worse - treading lightly - in modern speak that is, living well within the safe operating space of the ‘Planetary Boundaries’.
Sam Kenyon
Glanllyn farm - Regenerative farming
Working with nature & the environment.
High welfare, ethical meat.
Riverside Meadows & Woods
Forest Gardens, Apple Coppice Systems & Orchards
Chris Evans of Applewood Permaculture Centre in North Herefordshire introduces the concept of Forest Gardening as a valuable land use for small and large scale on farms, gardens, parks and allotments. He is also stacking other layers of production in a forest-garden-type system to diversify and increase yield with an integrated approach adding diversity and value to farm and garden activities.
Chris will be joined by Wade Muggleton - Marcher Apple Network
Chris Evans
Applewood Permaculture & Himalayan Permaculture Centre. He has taught permaculture in the UK, Europe, Nepal, India, U.S.A. and Mexico. He is also a UK senior tutor for apprentices working towards their diploma in applied permaculture design with the Permaculture Association Britain.
Wade Muggleton
Heritage apple enthusiast, author and secretary of the Marches Apple Network. As a Council tree warden, Wade worked for three years on The Three Counties Orchard Project, an Heritage Lottery Fund project which aimed to raise awareness of traditional orchards, restore some orchards and train people in orchard skills.
Tom Adams
Tom Adams Fruit Tree Nursery, we grow a range of organic, very rare heritage varieties, as well as modern varieties suitable for traditional orchards, commercial settings, smallholdings and the home garden.
We specialise in hard to find heritage apple varieties from the English/Welsh borderlands and are building our collection of local varieties from all over the country, helping to protect plant biodiversity, and ensure our living heritage continues to be enjoyed for generations to come.
Great Grains - building diversity and flavour for UK milling wheats
Crop diversity is key to resilient food production, but the trade in genetically diverse cereal seed is currently illegal. Hear how a group of millers, bakers, farmers, traders and plant scientists have come together to change the law and put seeds back in our hands. Find out what local grain networks are doing and how to get involved.
Mark Lea
Green Acres is an organic mixed arable and sheep farm. We are certified organic with OF&G. The farm is mostly in a five-year arable rotation including clover-based leys for seed, silage or grazing, wheat, oats and peas. Our milling crops (mostly wheats) are all grown for direct sale to millers and bakers all over the UK.
Josiah Meldrum
Josiah Meldrum is co-founder of Hodmedod, a Suffolk company whose aim is to encourage us to grow and eat a wider range of British grown pulses, grains and seeds – creating healthier and more diverse diets and farming systems.
Working with farmers Hodmedod has pioneered ‘new’ crops for the UK, such as lentils and revived long-forgotten staples, like naked barley, central this has been finding engaged markets to support primary production. This enables change by encouraging the creation of more complex rotations, through more direct routes to market, and ultimately by adding economic and agroecological value.
Steven Jacobs
Business Development Manager, Organic Farmers & Growers (OF&G). Co-Founder at UK Grain Labs, member of the Welsh Grain Forum and the West Midlands Grain Network and co-director of the Wales Real Food & Farming Conference.
Deep-Dive: Fertility in Grass-Fed Cattle
Rob Havard is a cattle farmer and professionally qualified Ecologist. Rob runs Phepson Angus – a regenerative farming based pedigree Aberdeen Angus herd, selling bulls and females to other grass based farmers and breeders. Rob was an early adopter of Holistic Management and Regenerative grazing techniques and has offered training and consultancy in this field since 2014. Rob is a 2022 Nuffield Scholar.
Fertility is the number one predictor of profit in suckler cow systems. As input costs continue to rise we will need to reach optimum fertility rates within the bounds of what our environment can provide. Rob Havard from Phepson Angus will share the difference between inherent fertility and adaptive fertility and how this is key to running a profitable, regenerative, grass-fed suckler cow system.
Let's talk about Organic
Mark Measures will be launching the updated Organic Farm Management Handbook and be in conversation with local organic farmers and OF&G about what it means to them to be organic, and the unique opportunities and challenges facing organic farmers
Mark Measures
I am an organic farming adviser working in the UK and elsewhere, specialising in farm systems and business management, environmental impact, organic conversion and husbandry.
Mark Measures will be launching the updated Organic Farm management Handbook and be in conversation with local organic farmers and OF&G about the unique opportunities and challenges facing organic farmers at this time.
Mark Lea
Green Acres is an organic mixed arable and sheep farm. We are certified organic with OF&G. The farm is mostly in a five-year arable rotation including clover-based leys for seed, silage or grazing, wheat, oats and peas. Our milling crops (mostly wheats) are all grown for direct sale to millers and bakers all over the UK.
Charlotte Hollins
Manages the Fordhall Community Land Initiative which owns Fordhall Organic Farm, North Shropshire,
England. Charlotte grew up at Fordhall and she led the high-profile campaign working with many volunteers that saved Fordhall Organic Farm from
industrial development in 2006. Now England’s first community owned farm, Fordhall is a national asset and a
pioneering example of what can be achieved when people care about the countryside and join together to act upon it.
Steven Jacobs
Business Development Manager, Organic Farmers & Growers (OF&G). Co-Director at UK Grain Labs, founder Welsh Grain Forum and Wales Real Food & Farming Conference.
Mick Westrip
Rhos Market Garden
Well-placed to serve the surrounding areas of Presteigne and Knighton, we grow a wide range of crops for individual customers, as well as local pubs and restaurants.
Out of season we also source produce from other local growers so that people can enjoy first class organic food throughout the year without having to travel further afield.
Funding Opportunities: Update on schemes
Updates on a range of funding schemes, from the latest on Countryside Stewardship Agreements and SFI guidance to the AONB's FiPL funding, as well as insight into the Landscape Recovery pilot.
Dr Iona Huang
Iona leads the Food Waste group at Harper Adams and has published research on food waste management, sustainable value creation, decision making, and supply chain governance. She has utilized innovative methods to develop typologies and evaluate sustainable values, including the “5R approaches of sustainable value creation in retail food waste management.
Wayne Davies
RPA Schemes Update and latest on Countryside Stewardship Agreements and SFI Guidance. Wayne has worked for Catchment Sensitive Farming and Natural England for nearly 20 years. Most of this time has been advising farmers on water and air quality, soil health and farmland conservation schemes within Shropshire and Herefordshire and he currently is the Senior Lead for Catchment Sensitive Farming in the River Wye catchment. Wayne lives near Clun on a small sheep farm.
Alison Jones
FIpL funding opportunities. Alison has worked in the farming and environment sector for nearly 30 years, mainly in Shropshire. She joined the Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership team in April 2015. Since July 2021, she has been the Advisor for the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) Programme in the AONB. In this role, she works with a wide range of farmers and land managers to find practical solutions to environmental issues on farms, and improve the sustainability and resilience of farm businesses.
Nigel Hill
Associate Head of Department, Farm Business Management and Senior Lecturer at HAU.
Blended Finance
Hear about initiatives exploring how farmers can be paid for public
and environmental services.
Jenny Jackson-Tate
Wilder Marches Programme Manager
Charlotte Hollins
Author of 'The Fight for Fordhall Farm' and manager at Fordhall Organic Farm, in Market Drayton - England’s first community-owned farm following a high profile campaign in 2006.
Wojtek Behnke
Wojtek manages the Aqualate Estate with a focus on optimising ecosystem function across the land based businesses. He sits on the steering committee of the Aqualate Mere Farming Cluster in the West Midlands and has led the group through 3 DEFRA Test & Trials. As part of this work the group has been exploring blended finance, they have undertaken a series of interviews with corporates both in and outside of the food supply chain and have hosted two roundtable discussions with industry leaders.
Michael Kavanagh
Farm manager from Shropshire who was a Soil Farmer of the Year finalist in 2020, Farmers Weekly farm manger of the year finalist and CPM climate change champion 2022. His zero till arable crops are grown with a focus on plant health and minimising synthetic inputs. He grows a diverse range of combinable crops including milling wheat, malting barley, and quinoa among others.
Michaels farming methods have encouraged regeneration of his soils, with organic matter increasing and the farm sequestering a significant amount of carbon.
Michael is a co founder of The Green Farm Collective, a farmer owned company set up to trade natural capital, transfer knowledge and trade regeneratively farmed produce.
Lizzie Hulton Harrop
Lizzie will speak to the findings of a Test & Trial combining 3 different approaches to putting a monetary value.
The Potential for Material Supply Chains: Leather and Wool
This panel will be facilitated by Sara Grady of British Pasture Leather, and will consider the challenges and opportunities of creating new networks for the production of leather and wool that fulfils a regenerative ethos. The discussion will explore the complexities of raw material qualities, supply chain logistics, costs/value, material performance, and product design in the context of regenerative sourcing.
Sara Grady
Co-founder of British Pasture Leather, has directed numerous initiatives to support regional farming and food culture. Previously the VP of Programs for agricultural non-profit Glynwood (www.glynwood.org) in New York’s Hudson Valley, she is now based in the UK where she is focused on her work with British Pasture Leather to fulfil its vision of linking leather with exemplary agriculture. Additionally, she consults with food and farming enterprises to provide strategic planning, research, grant writing, and project management services.
Rob Storer
The UK has a huge diversity of sheep breeds providing a source of both meat and wool, and we feel wool, in particular, has become undervalued over the years as it has been largely replaced by man-made fibres. At “The Wey of Wool” we have built up a small pedigree flock of heritage, rare breed Lincoln Longwool sheep which produce a fantastic, long staple wool with an amazing lustre that we believe has great potential for many products such as outerwear, throws, cushions and rugs. It can also be blended with other natural fibres and used in knitting yarns. We are working on building a local market for our wool products and our aim is to produce items that fit a sustainable environmental profile.
Christopher Price
CEO of Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Christopher joined RBST in February 2019 from the CLA where he was Director of Policy and Advice. He is also the Chair of the Wildlife and Countryside Link Agriculture working group, leading coalition work on agricultural policy for England, and Vice Chair of the Uplands Alliance which aims to bring together practitioners, researchers and others involved in uplands policy.
Knowledge is Power
Sharing knowledge is key to creating a regenerative farming
future. Hear about a range of ways in which this is happening and
that you can be part of.
Amy Hughes
Amy is a proud Yorkshire lass, farmers daughter and granddaughter. She works for AHDB Beef & Lamb as a Senior Knowledge Exchange Manager and is Co-host of Think Outside The Fence Podcast. Mad about cows and all thing related to British Agriculture, she has a huge interest in mindset and how this creates positive change in the industry. Amy will give an overview of the services AHDB provides in knowledge exchange, what she thinks is important to consider when planning knowledge sharing activity and her experience of creating positive change in the industry.
Dr. Emily Pope
Dr. Emily Pope, from Worcestershire is Director of Knowledge Exchange at Trinity Global Farm Pioneers. She earned a Harper Adams University PhD in agricultural traffic and tillage. With a decade's expertise, she connects academia and farming, fostering collaborative learning. She empowers farms to share successes, promoting sustainable practices.
Katy Anderson
Katy is co-director of Shropshire Good Food Partnership and has attempted with varying degrees of success to set up networks to share knowledge on food redistribution and sustainable agriculture. She is keen to explore the best ways to stay connected.
Networking Session
Land Access Workshop
Are you a landowner who has a couple of acres that could be put to good use growing for your local community? Are you a person with a passion for growing & to run your own business? This workshop will look at the values, models & practicalities for connecting people & land and kicks off a matching process.
Resilient Green Spaces
Learn about Social Farms and Garden's Resilient Green Spaces project and discuss
what could work here in the Marches. This will touch on community access to farms
and land, training for new entrant horticulturalists, community orchards,
innovative food hubs and more.
Alison Sheffield
Alison has been supporting community gardens, farms and growing sites since 2015 in various roles at Social Farms & Gardens. Most recently she has been leading two EU-funded partnerships in Wales that seek to re-localise and increase fruit and veg production using community greenspaces as the driving force. She lives in South Shropshire with her young family and enjoys exploring the local countryside.
Daphne Du Cros
Coordinator for the SGFP and Phd in Food Policy, Smallholder, Bishop's Castle Seed Bank founder & author of the Bishop's Castle Community Food Resilience Strategy.
Casper MacIndoe & Fleur Joyce
Co-Founders of the Street Allotment Project, community gardening project in Shrewsbury.
Session: On-Farm Mapping and Recording
Lizzie Hulton-Harrop & Tom Hulton-Harrop
Description: The Wood Pasture Tool is an application to help generate random positions to aid with the placement and planting of trees. Positions can be generated in the tool and then exported to an intermediate format (GPX) to be imported to Google Maps, mapping software or GPS devices. The tool is in a very early stage of development and we're keen to get more feedback on the best direction to take it in future.
Tom grew up in the beautiful Gatten Valley on his parents' farm. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you ask...) his passion was for computers and not farming, which eventually led him to Reading. He now lives and works as a software engineering manager at Amazon Web Services. He has over 10 years of experience working in the video game and software industry.
In his spare time, Tom still enjoys coding and started tinkering on a little hobby with the help of his wife Fi, sister Lizzie, and mum Jane. Today this experiment is what we're calling the Wood Pasture Tool and we're excited to share this early version with you all today!
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