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Features

The return of Bluefin tuna to UK waters: a conservation success story or a species at risk?

The tale of the Atlantic Bluefin tuna is one of human capacity to take a majestic species to the brink of extinction and the power of nature to revive. The question now is, will we learn from the past or are we already on track to repeat our mistakes?

Sustainability Animal welfare Environment and ethics Fish
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Features

The great British bakers driving the revolution for better wheat and real bread

What was once seen only as a cheap, ubiquitous commodity has become a point of proud difference for a new generation of British bakers, finds Tomé Morrissy-Swan

Regenerative farming Eating and drinking Farming Organics
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News

The AGtivist: The 2.4 million tonne chicken poo problem without a solution

As the UK Gov signals plans to end multi-million-pound subsidies to power stations that process chicken farm waste, the question remains – what will be done with it?

Animal welfare Environment and ethics Renewable energy UK Gov Water
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News

Are Wildfarmed KitKats the future of regen farming… or its breaking point?

1.5 billion KitKats are made every year in the UK. A new partnership with British brand, Wildfarmed, changes the landscape, but to what end, asks David Burrows?

Regenerative farming UPF
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Features

Flood, drought, and building water systems to weather future food & farming shocks

Britain must stop thinking of itself as a damp country with enough rain-fed water to irrigate its farmland and adapt – fast.

Climate change Farming Water
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Features

Still in the bag? Supermarkets stall on UK Plastics Pact target to reduce packaging for fresh produce by 2030

A target of just 30% of supermarket fresh produce to be sold loose may not seem overly ambitious, but David Burrows is surprised to learn that only one UK retailer has hit the mark

Environment and ethics Packaging Plastic Supermarkets UK Gov
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How Big Ag tied “regen” to synthetic chemical inputs and shaped European farming policy

The same multi-billion-dollar companies producing synthetic agrochemicals are also lobbying for "regen agriculture". David Burrows smells a rat.

Farming Pesticides Politics
Opinion

News from the farm: Desperate drought to luxuriant abundance

Farming Guy Singh-Watson News from the farm
WL Meets

WL Meets: Martin Lines, championing nature-friendly farming as the resilient way forward

Agroecology Environment and ethics Nature Organics
Features

The return of Bluefin tuna to UK waters: a conservation success story or a species at risk?

Sustainability Animal welfare Environment and ethics Fish
STORY OF THE WEEK

We need to make sure that decisions made in Westminster are shaped around delivering resilience in our farms and in our landscape. Nature underpins our food, our farming, and our economy. It is not just a nice to have. Martin Lines, founder, Nature Friendly Farming Network

The AGtivist

British meat must have infrastructure, urges new coalition in support of local, higher welfare, abattoirs

Activism
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Could fruit & veg vouchers bring a welcome boost to the organic sector?

Community Farming Local sourcing Organics
Features

The great British bakers driving the revolution for better wheat and real bread

Regenerative farming Eating and drinking Farming Organics
Opinion

News from the farm: We are all in it together

Activism Climate change Community Guy Singh-Watson
News

Organic Action Plan for England launches today with pledges to grow domestic market & farmed land share

UK Gov Farming Organics
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Variant of MRSA linked to livestock farming poses potential risk to public health

Animal welfare Health Meat
Features

A growing movement for perennials could play a key role in future food security

Sustainability Climate change Eating and drinking Farming Growers and suppliers
Opinion

News from the farm: Creation, exits and truth

Business Community Employee ownership Ethical business Guy Singh-Watson
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Martin Lines believes his way of farming is having Martin Lines believes his way of farming is having a moment. A summer of record-breaking sun and drought has left its mark on the landscape, especially in South Cambridgeshire where he is an arable farmer. His crops have suffered, so has his bank balance, profits have wilted in the intense heat, the rocketing bills remain…and yet, things could have been much worse. 
“We’ve had a bit more resilience in our system than some of our neighbours. We’ve also spent less on inputs and our soil has coped a bit better. This is the coolest, calmest year for the rest of our lives because this is now the reality of climate change, which is backed up by science,” explains Martin Lines, the CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN). 
For a decade, Lines has been deploying farming methods that are more environmentally friendly – boosting soil health, deploying integrated pest management and mixed rotations, as well as encouraging ecology-rich habitats. They are now acting as a buffer in the face of weather extremes.
Nearly a decade ago, he founded NFFN, which is a farmer-led movement. The aim is to raise awareness and share knowledge, as well as advocate for stronger policies that bring together food, farming, nature and climate resilience. Keen to shift the dial across the UK, he has recently been knocking on politicians’ doors.

Read the full interview with Martin on Wicked Leeks, via the link in our bio.
A weekly voucher, redeemable only at organic fruit A weekly voucher, redeemable only at organic fruit and veg outlets, may not sound like a game-changer for the UK, but experts agree that it could be a catalyst for something bigger: where families are encouraged to purchase and eat more seasonal and nutritious produce, purchased direct from growers, who are subsequently provided with reliable income and steady demand, while planting food that benefits the community.

That’s why one scheme launched in Cardiff is garnering a lot of interest. The pilot funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, via Sustain’s Bridging the Gap programme, focused on low-income households, giving them £11 credit a week. The only stipulation was that they had to spend it at two farmers markets, and with three organic growers. Members of the scheme could also track their spending on an online platform.

“This was born out of demand from local, diverse communities from lower income neighbourhoods that wanted to eat organic produce, as well as climate and nature friendly food. That’s because people polled in the pilot who grew up oversees or lived once outside the UK, said that fruit and veg from British supermarkets did not taste of anything,” explains Pearl Costello, Head of Food Sense Wales.

Hence Planet Card,was born, focusing on ‘food good for the planet.’ Such has been the success of the scheme that 120 households spent £19,000 with local growers. An additional £1,000 of citizens’ own money was also spent at Cardiff Farmers Markets. The project was supported by the Welsh government and SUSTAIN, the alliance for better food and farming.

Read Nick Easen's full report at Wicked Leeks, via the link in our bio.
It’s Bluefin season in the UK, and there’s somethi It’s Bluefin season in the UK, and there’s something special about seeing the giants burst out of the water just off the coast of Falmouth, and not only because until a few years ago, they had seemingly been absent from British waters, writes Lizzie Rivera - @livefrankly_ 

Atlantic Bluefin tuna have been known to grow to an incredible 700kg (1,500lbs) – the equivalent in weight to a black rhino or three adult male lions – swim up to 45 miles per hour, and dive to depths deeper than 1800 metres. Thanks to being unusually warm-blooded, they are one of the only fish that can travel from the balmy 33C seas of the equator to the extremely fresh 6C waters of the Arctic Circle.

“To have something that big and impressive in our water is exciting. There’s just so many things about them that excels,” says Dr Lucy Hawkes, associate professor of biosciences at the University of Exeter. “Their physiology has evolved to make them excellent top predators, including retractable fins so they can nip, turn and zoom through the water.”

It’s little wonder they’re admired by scientists for their incredible biology, prized by anglers for the challenge of the catch, and coveted by chefs for their buttery belly meat – a once sushi bar novelty now finding its way onto fine-dining menus across the globe.

Read Lizzie Rivera's full feature on Wicked Leeks, via the link in our bio.
Wheat is perhaps the ultimate commodity: cheap, re Wheat is perhaps the ultimate commodity: cheap, reliable, uniform, ubiquitous. It is grown and milled on industrial scales to particular specifications, in order to make standardised products, like the Chorleywood loaf. It represents almost a third of Britain’s energy intake. Mostly, the person using it will have no clue where it’s from. It is, quite literally, cheap white powder writes @tmorrissyswan 

Britain grows a lot of it. In swathes of the country you will pass acres of golden wheat fields. Yet much is deemed unfit for our industrialised baking processes – only half goes for human consumption, the rest primarily for animal feed and bioethanol. According to UK Flour Millers, around 15% of the wheat used by British millers is imported, although last year the AHDB reported that imports were at a 30-year high. 

But a growing number of bakers, millers and farmers are opting for another route, bypassing the commodity market and leading a revolution in British wheat. Britain has undergone a bakery boom; now bakers are teaming up with farmers to go the extra mile. “There’s been huge growth, bakeries are popping up everywhere,” says the @realbreadcampaign 's Chris Young. “Some are now tying into regional, non-commodity grain networks to make truly local loaves.” 

In east London, @e5bakehouse with links to Fellows Farm in Suffolk, was an early advocate, milling wheat at the bakery. More recently, Landrace has opened in Bath, using heritage grains grown and milled at Westcombe Dairy, near Bruton. Landrace also has connections with @quince.bakery a bakery in north London. Oxford’s @hamblinbread uses grain from within a 50-mile radius, while @fieldbakery is based at Gothelney Farm in Somerset, where it sources wheat. Next year a new mill will open in East Lothian, developed by Musselburgh-based Company Bakery and sourcing wheat from southeast Scotland.

Read the full feature on Wicked Leeks, via the link in our bio.

About us

Wicked Leeks is published by Riverford Organic Farmers.

Riverford organic farmers

Riverford grows and sells organic food through its award-winning veg boxes, delivering across the country to a loyal band of customers who share a passion for good food, good farming and good business.

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