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IN SEARCH OF SUSTAINABILITY
Complex problems and possible solutions for UK farming are explained in this illuminating book
BOOK
ROOTED: STORIES OF LIFE, LAND AND A FARMING REVOLUTION
BY SARAH LANGFORD, VIKING, £16.99 (HB)
The story of a city dweller leaving behind the urban sprawl to live the good life in the countryside is not a new one. However, in Rooted, Sarah Langford goes beyond her own tale of agricultural epiphany, weaving in stories from a number of other farmers to complement her journey. From a dairy farmer who switched the breed of their cows to arable farmers exploring heritage crops, she uses these often heartbreaking stories to explore the reasons why many conventional farming methods are no longer viable, and the regenerative solutions that people are turning to.
Within this, she skilfully explains complex ideas, such as agroforestry and mob grazing, striking the perfect balance between detail and narrative flow.
In discussing the issues that farmers are facing – including Brexit, climate change and ever-increasing inputs – she avoids placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of farmers. Instead, she delves into the subsidies that until the 1970s paid farmers to do things such as remove hedges, and highlights the impact that supermarket pricing has had on farms. The reader doesn’t escape either, as she explores the role the consumer has in changing the system.
This is a great read for anyone interested in food and farming, the challenges we’re facing and some of the solutions that may help us build a more sustainable food system.
Steph Wetherell, farming writer
BOOK
HINDSIGHT
BY JENNA WATT, BIRLINN, £14.99 (HB)
Who owns land, what they do with it and why are among the defining issues of our time. Particularly so in the Scottish Highlands, where debates around rewilding, gamekeeping, farming and tourism can be acrimonious.
In Hindsight, Watt, a playwright and theatre director burning with “an insatiable desire to understand the story of the land” in her native country, navigates this tricky terrain with great sensitivity.
During her research, Watt spends time with deer stalkers, conservationists and academics, and has an uncomfortable conversation with a billionaire estate owner. She goes hind stalking – harder than for stags, apparently, without the macho posturing associated with bagging stags as trophies. Her gripping account of the stalk, split into four parts, lends dramatic tension to the book and the honesty with which she questions her motives on the hunt reminded me of Louise Gray’s The Ethical Carnivore.
Hindsight offers a refreshing female perspective on subjects such as wildness, how to cope with ecological grief, reintroducing beavers and the social devastation wrought by the Highland clearances. Watt points out, for example, that Scotland’s traditional models of land ownership and management are intrinsically male. In these worlds, women are all too often subordinate or made to feel uncomfortable – literally so, in the case of guns and stalking gear that don’t fit female bodies.
Ben Hoare, naturalist and author
CATCH-UP TV
IOLO’S ANGLESEY
BBC ONE WALES, AVAILABLE ON IPLAYER
Much-loved wildlife presenter Iolo Williams fronts a new four-part series about the delights of Wales’ largest island, Anglesey. Iolo discovers the rich diversity of wildlife found on the island’s varied landscapes, taking viewers on a tour of the island’s hidden gems, by land and sea.
Iolo starts his Anglesey adventure in spring, visiting the lowland wetlands of Cors Ddyga, home to some of Britain’s rarest breeding birds. Here he watches a pair of breeding marsh harriers, one of only 400 pairs in Britain.
On the south-east of Anglesey, Iolo visits Puffin Island, which was once home to over 50,000 breeding pairs of puffins. However, a rat infestation during the 1800s wiped out much of the population and now only a handful of puffins nest here, despite its name, but the island is the only breeding site in Wales for distinctive eider ducks.
In episode two, Iolo visits the Dingle, a beautiful woodland in the centre of Anglesey, home to red squirrels and carpets of spring wildflowers. On the wetlands, he finds nesting sand martins, spots otters and is lucky to make a rare sighting of a bittern.
Next, he visits the Skerries Islands and Wales’ only Acrtic tern colony.
In the final episode, Iolo heads out to sea on the lookout for porpoises and Risso’s dolphins, and visits an artifical underwater reef. Despite nationwide habitat loss, Anglesey offers real hope for the recovery of nature.
AUDIOBOOK
WINCHELSEA
BY ALEX PRESTON, READ ON BBC RADIO FOUR IN 10 EPISODES
Be transported to 18th-century Sussex in this series of 10 readings from Alex Preston’s highly praised historical novel, set in the smuggling town of Winchelsea.
In this thrilling story of revenge and espionage, murder and battles, 16-year-old heroine Goody Brown sets out to avenge the murder of her adopted father Ezekiel Brown, who had allowed smugglers to store their spoils in the tunnels beneath his home. To find justice, Goody and her brother Francis join a rival gang of smugglers and an exciting, at times gory, tale ensues, seeing Goody transform from a child to a woman of the world along the way. The story’s spellbinding language, skullduggery and intrigue will have you gripped from beginning to end.
BOOK
LAND HEALER
BY JAKE FIENNES, EBURY, £20 (HB)
Land Healer is about the author’s ambition to “restore natural balance to the land”.
Fiennes loves “muddy boots” learning, hedgerows, farmland wildlife and reversing impacts of post-war agriculture. He charts his time as a gamekeeper at Knepp Estate, wields DEFRA farming data, reminisces on his upbringing with his famous siblings and waxes lyrical about habitat ‘edges’. It can, at times, be tricky to follow the author’s passionate, unfettered thoughts.
Fiennes focuses on Norfolk and his role as director of conservation at Holkham, a 10,100-hectare “grand in every sense of the word” estate, including a 3,600-hectare national nature reserve. He dwells on the Earl of Leicester’s farming legacy (Coke of Norfolk’s monument to crop rotation) and the ton of visitor’s dog poo they must dispose of weekly.
Fiennes is big fan of regenerative agriculture (see page 38) and, forgiving a few factual oversights, reflects on his laudable mission to restore the health of the countryside, specific to the areas he knows well.
He wants farmers and natureknowledgeable gamekeepers to be in the same room on the journey ahead.
Rob Yorke, rural commentator
Q&A
FROM THE SOIL UP
Director Colin Ramsay discusses his crowd-funded documentary, Six Inches of Soil, which depicts a budding agricultural revolution as British farmers reject industrial-scale methods
What inspired you to tell the story of the British farmers turning their backs on industrial farming?
I was standing in a cover crop of legumes and sunflowers, as local farmer, David, dug up a shovel of soil. It was spongy, full of worms and you could smell the biology. In his conventional-farmer neighbour’s field, who had the same soil type, it was like digging up a house brick. I want the audience to experience this feeling.
What is agroecology and why is it so important for British agriculture?
Agroecology is about farming and food production with nature and people at its core. So rather than controlling nature, we work with it to produce food, steward the land, increase biodiversity, sequester carbon and create resilience in our food systems while making a living.
Regenerative agriculture is a suite of farming techniques (within agroecology) that work in harmony with nature to promote soil health. Many of these ideas were practised pre-industrialisation, so farmers are rediscovering approaches to farming that were forgotten.
How could agroecology help us fight climate change?
British farmers are becoming increasingly aware of how industrialscale tillage, monocultures and chemical input practices have depleted our soils and hammered our biodiversity. Agroecology promotes nature-based farming. By using fewer inputs, minimal or no tillage, decreasing fuel use and using local supply chains, farmers are massively reducing their carbon footprint, which puts them and their communities back in control.
Does industrial-scale farming have a future in the UK?
Some of the most productive farms are small and you can scale regenerative techniques across larger farming systems. It’s not easy and takes time, but we have to think long term. The food system also needs to reorient towards farmers making these changes.
It’s complex, and there are many stakeholders, but it’s not an intractable problem and farmers are on the ground making the change.
Did any of the unconventional farming stories you encountered strike a particular chord with you?
Many amazing things are happening, from silvopasture and agroforestry to mob grazing and living mulches. Farmers we’ve met are excited to be part of the change, taking risks, sharing knowledge, innovating, building communities and seeing what works on their land. Every farm is different. Economically it’s tough; subsidies are changing so we (the public) need to do all we can to support them.
Has the film inspired you to change your own shopping and eating habits?
I consider the provenance of food, buy less meat, grow herbs and try to buy local and seasonal food. When I see a field with tilled bare soil, or a crop planted up to the margin, I wonder what that farmer’s position is on nature. I also look at the soil a lot more and, in quieter moments, reach down and grab a handful.
Six Inches of Soil is due to debut at regenerative agriculture show, Groundswell, on 28–29 June 2023. sixinchesofsoil.org