Farm Gate

20 years ago, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) promised African governments a transformation: subsidise fertiliser, promote commercial seed, mechanise production and open the door to private investment, and yields would rise, farmers would prosper, and hunger would fall.

AGRA's promise has now been tested against nearly 20 years of national data — and, according to a new report from the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), it has failed on its own terms.

To discuss the report, AGRA's failure, its dangerous grip on African food security, and the alternative offered by agroecology, ffinlo Costain is joined by Dr Million Belay, the Co-ordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, who's based in Ethiopia, and by Michael Farrelly, a consultant to AFSA, who lives in Senegal.

Read more on this subject here: https://8point9.com/africas-food-must-be-grown-by-african-farmers/

ffinlo Costain (8point9.com) is joined by Tom Pycraft (Ark Events), Jimmy Woodrow (Pasture for Life), and Sue Pritchard (Food, Farming and Countryside Commission). They discuss food system risk and reflection on the discussion and outcomes from the UK's first Conference on Food & National Security.

For the key takeaways from the conference - Click the link or scroll down (https://8point9.com/key-takeaways-from-conference-on-food-national-security/)

* The UK’s food system is a national security threat -Centralised processing, fossil fuel dependency, ecological degradation and import reliance create exploitable points of failure that weaken the UK’s resilience and increase strategic risk.

* Resilience must replace efficiency as the organising principle of the food system - The shift from “just-in-time” supply chains to “just-in-case” value networks was a recurring theme throughout the day, with preparedness needing to sit alongside productivity and efficiency.

* We must recognise nature and agroecology as strategic defence assets - Healthy soils, biodiversity and farming systems that work with nature reduce dependence on imported inputs and fossil fuels while strengthening food security, water cycling and long-term national resilience.

* The missing middle is as important as the farm - Regional processing, storage, distribution and retail infrastructure are essential to rebuilding resilient place-based food economies and reducing reliance on fragile, centralised supply chains.

* Britain needs practical food emergency preparedness - Local authorities, businesses and communities should work in partnership and develop clear plans and the capability to feed people during major disruptions, whether lasting days, weeks or years.

* NATO Article 3 provides a powerful framework for action - Civilian resilience is a core NATO commitment, creating a strong policy opportunity to recognise distributed food systems, and natural infrastructure as key defence assets.

* The capital exists - the challenge is creating investable opportunities - With UK investment managers overseeing around £10 trillion, the barriers are not a lack of capital but clear policy signals, investable projects and regulatory certainty.

* The energy transition offers a blueprint for food and nature - Renewables accelerated when security, policy and investment aligned. The same conditions are now needed to unlock investment in resilient food systems and natural infrastructure.

* Stronger food systems strengthen national and global stability - Building resilient food systems can reduce the risk of food insecurity, conflict and migration, while strengthening economy and society both at home and internationally.

* The opportunity to act is now - This focus on defence, resilience and national preparedness presents a unique opportunity to place food, farming and nature at the heart of UK security policy, supported by collaboration across government, finance, farming, industry and civil society.

Thank you to our hosts and sponsors: Howden, Saffery, and Savills. To our Founding Patron: Marian Boswall. And to our remarkable panellists and speakers.

In central London, on September the 8th, Farm Gate and Ark Events will host the UK's first Conference on Food and National Security.

The conference will uniquely deal with the subjects of food, nature and national security - because ecological and defence vulnerabilities, driven by our food system itself, go beyond simply food security and resilience.

We will be discussing food security, resilience and emergency preparedness - but the key focus will be food system driven insecurity.

We'll be talking about what changes are necessary to improve Britain's defence, and structural deterrence.

ffinlo Costain is joined by three of conference panellists to help set the scene:

• Lt General Richard Nugee (member of the Ministerial Climate and Security Taskforce)
• Adele Jones (farmer and regenerative food and agriculture leader)
• Mike Gooding (Farming Systems Director for AHDB)

The conference is sponsored by Savills and Saffery - and by Howden, which is kindly providing the conference venue.

Martin Lines (Chief Executive, Nature Friendly Farming Network) and ffinlo Costain (Editor, 8point9) discuss how Britain's farms have coped under the duress of this summer's fifth heatwave, and what needs to change to make food production more heat and water resilient. They also talk about the UK's new Prime Minister and his announcement of a £65m boost to support farmers during the drought.

Martin and ffinlo are joined by Owen Thomas, a 17 year old shepherd rearing sheep on Martin's farm.

Wakelyns is an inspirational organic farm in Suffolk; an oasis within a desert of conventional arable farming - it pioneered UK agroforestry and population grain - it runs courses, events and retreats.

But Wakelyns is facing an uncertain future, for which community buyout offers a solution.

ffinlo Costain is joined by, David Wolfe, Wakelyns' founder and co-owner.

To find out more and to buy community shares in Wakelyns - follow this link: ⁠https://wakelyns.co.uk/⁠

In the final week of our 10 More Days of Groundswell series, I talk to Ben Adams (Farmer, Adams Agriculture) and Mark Palmer (Director and farm advisor, Systems4Food Ltd).

Cover crops and no-till have transformed regenerative arable in England. But the easy wins are largely banked, and a more honest conversation is starting: what does soil health really look like once you've ticked the obvious boxes?

Farmers funded through Defra's ADOPT programme are running on-farm trials testing cover crops with sensing, multispecies cropping, living mulches in maize, and relay cropping at field scale.

The original panel was hosted in The Snug by the ADOPT Support Hub.

In the final week of our 10 More Days of Groundswell series - I talk to Doug Wanstall (Director, Beyond Zero), Joshua Wade (Director SG Wade Ltd), and Lottie Hawkins (Founder, Earthly Biochar).

This an impromptu in-the-field conversation.

Circular farming is the regenerative idea that everything leaving the farm should come back as something useful.

Farmers funded through Defra's ADOPT programme are testing what that actually looks like: Black Soldier Fly larvae replacing soya in poultry feed, biochar produced from forestry and crop waste, and mushroom-and-biochar systems converting agricultural by-products.

The original panel was hosted in The Snug by the ADOPT Support Hub.

10 More Days of Groundswell wasn't enough! This is the second of four summer bonus in-the-field episodes.

With Holly Silvester, Future Resilience Seed Coordinator for the Seed Sovereignty Programme, and Katie Hastings, Wales Co-ordinator for the Seed Sovereignty Programme  at the Gaia Foundation.

10 More Days of Groundswell wasn't enough! This is the first of four summer bonus in-the-field episodes.

With James Robinson, Strickley Farm, Cumbria, and Dr. Lindsay K Whistance, Principal Researcher - Animal Husbandry, at the Organic Research Centre.

ffinlo joins other regen farming and rural business podcasters for a chat about storytelling - the power of podcasts and communication - and some of the stories that are influencing farming today.

I joined the host of the Six Inches of Soil podcast, Richard Tufton, alongside co-host Claire Mackenzie, for a conversation with Abby Rose from Farmerama, Clay Conry from Working Cows, and Ben Eagle from Meet the Farmers.