Holly Greenman (Chippenham)

I was recently fortunate enough to attend the Institute of Agricultural Management Annual National Conference earlier this month; a fantastic event and one I strongly recommend for anyone interested in land management affairs.  The title of the conference this year was “What is the Farm For?” which gave an extremely wide ranging and thought-provoking springboard to many interesting speakers.

There is no doubt that the requirements for land use is changing, and the key change for farmers, consumers and policy makers that should be forefront of all decisions, is that a farm is not just a production plant with a final product to sell, whether that be milk, wheat, beef etc.  A farm is now also an enabling facility for meeting carbon emission targets, for mitigating species extinction, for preventing flooding and for improving human health.  The payments we receive for these things should be reflective of this, and what areas or classification of land is being used for each of these purposes, so that all of these aims can be achieved, needs serious consideration on both farm and policy level.

I could explore some of the subjects that were under discussion for weeks.  However, a particular phrase that caught my attention was:

 “We cannot farm sustainably without producing a sustainable diet.  Sustainably producing an unsustainable diet will continue to contribute to economical and societal challenges.” (Professor Sir Charles Godfray).

This prompted a fascinating discussion between GP Doctor Madhvi Chanrai and a number of regenerative farmers on what a sustainable diet contains, and how we could grow this on home soil with a Regen approach.  Dr Chanrai stated that our current food guidelines, set by our Government, are actually so out of step with what is widely accepted amongst health care professionals as a truly healthy and sustainable diet.  Sir Charles Godfray had shared the horrifying statistic earlier in the conference that the NHS now predicts that within 5- 10 years, the cost for treating type 2 diabetes will exceed that of treating ALL cancers within Britain.  We are not a nation that is concerned with what we eat.

Dr Chanrai promoted the benefits of a diet that is 80% animal products based (a woman after my own heart, she admitted the remaining 20% was largely chocolate and wine), and that proteins and fats need to take a more predominant role within our diets, than the wholemeal cereals, starches and legumes that we often see pedalled within the modern ‘healthy food’ agenda.

Having a conversation that centred around food at a land use conference was, sadly, actually a unique occurrence for me.  So much of the conversation nowadays is around environmental benefits, offsetting and climate change mitigation.  To hear Dr Chanrai state that our food recommendations, the very fundamental basis of all our health, are actually misguided, gave me grave cause for concern.  How is the government able to design a support system for farmers, if they’re not even sure what we should be growing for the society that we are in, and why is so much emphasis being placed on the environment, if we are not nourishing a healthy, resilient and sustainable society as a first step?

Contact Holly at hollygreenman@fcgagric.com for some more inciteful feedback on what was a very enlightening conference.