For many reasons over the last hundred years working on the land in the United Kingdom has become not only less common as a career choice but also a lonelier one. The varied reflections, poems and stories in this book have an underlying theme that has bought their writers hope which is, that by being part of the Landworker’s Alliance they are part of something much bigger and as they stand alone in their field or shed, they no longer feel alone as they know many other kindred spirits are out in all weathers striving for a more just and nature restoring food system.
The Landworker’s Alliance was founded in 2012 and this book draws on previously published and newly commissioned writing to illustrate its evolution, the wide range of work it does and how it supports the community it has created. It acknowledges that there are those amongst its membership for whom the pace of change feels glacial in the face of the climate emergency as well as those who are still coming to terms with how they had been encouraged to farm resulting in declines in biodiversity or degradation of their soils and that as an organisation finding common ground from which to start conversations is key.
Every piece of land is unique in its geology, topography and hydrology and similarly those who work the land and what they are able to do on it, are a joyful intersection of their dreams, needs, skills and what nature offers up. Carefully crafted words on crofting, forestry, new entrants, racial justice, queer and trans spaces, agroecology, organic, sheep, bees and mushrooms all individually give pause for thought but together create a tapestry of what happens or could happen on the land.
The Landworker’s Alliance is itself nested within the wider global movement La Via Campesina which represents over 200 million peasant farmers and growers. This global solidarity is threaded through the book, not shying away from the significant challenges of challenging governments and powerful global food companies, but still providing hope that our individual actions can make a difference.
The contributors to the book show how important work on the land is and know the resilience required to quite literally weather the storms. Their passion is for food sovereignty and exploring more just, to land and people, ways of providing what we need. Doing so requires diversity, of thought, crops, people and approaches and ways to connect and learn. Facilitating these opportunities to connect and share what works and what doesn’t are cited as key benefits of being part of the Landworker’s Alliance membership and certainly an area as they look forward they are planning to build on.
As Jyoti Fernandes, founding member of the Landworker’s Alliance looks forward to the next decade in her concluding ‘Letter to Landworkers’ (p169) she sees opportunity for change and charges the land workers of the future to take our hope and with the support of ‘land elders’ restore our land with love.
Review by Alice Lewthwaite
