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The more I learnt about the soil’s complex, interrelated biology, physics, and chemistry, the more I despaired of ever understanding it.
While it was great to hear unanimous and cross-party support for all aspects of our petition in the parliamentary debate, there is still some way to go to achieve real fairness for farmers.
The 50-year trend towards vast scale and narrow specialization in farming has had tragic costs; socially, environmentally, and for animal welfare. We need a different model – but is there an economically viable alternative?
My mood has been buoyed by attending the fifteenth annual Oxford Real Farming Conference; a two-day gathering of several thousand farmers, campaigners, and latter-day diggers and levellers, who all dream of shaping a better world by farming, trading, and eating better.
Our slightly alternative vet tells me that my wife's horse is unconsciously self-medicating; letting sights, smells, and mouth textures guide her to the food her body needs that day. Could humans do the same?
Issue 12: Fairness and five years.
Find out more about Wicked Leeks and our publisher, organic veg box company Riverford.