Organic Futures blog

Richard Heinberg is probably the world’s foremost authority on Peak Oil and its consequences for human life. He has also produced what I think is one of the most far-sighted quotes of the year:

“The model in the twenty-first century will be re-ruralisation and more human labour in agriculture. The twenty-first century farmer will have 5 acres, lots of friends, and an intensive knowledge of ecology. Now relocation is virtually inevitable due to rising sea levels.”

THIS is why Organic Futures exists - there will have to be a massive re-ruralisation in all industrialised countries.

Richard Heinberg’s website: www.richardheinberg.com/

Read a summary of a brilliant Richard’s talk at a recent Findhorn conference here.

Peak Oil is upon us. “What oil?!” you might say…first things first, read up about Peak Oil if you’re not aware of what it’s all about here.

It’s a phenomenon that will have an enormous effect on everyone living in an industrialised country. Very briefly, Peak Oil relates to the peak, or maximum production, of world oil production. As the image below illustrates, beyond this point oil won’t run out, but it gets much more scarce. Combined with rising demand from countries becoming industrialised and it doesn’t take a genius to see that we are facing a future with restricted availability of oil.

This has huge implications for us - there is literally no part of our lives that currently are not dependent to some degree on a constant supply of cheap oil. There is no doubt that we must decouple our lives from a dependency on oil, moving to low-carbon lifestyles and living in resilient communities.

The Transition initiatives approach takes Peak Oil and Climate Change as an opportunity for people at community level to change their lifestyles for the better whilst making an enormous difference to their ecological and carbon footprints. Read up about Transition and get involved with something happening near you - if there isn’t one then think about starting one!

If you are not aware of the Organic Growers Alliance, it is a recently-created organisation, formed by organic horticultural growers. It was felt by many growers, who have been ‘in the game’ for a long time, that the status of producers within the organic movement was falling and that their interests weren’t being adequately represented.

Producers have always been the heart of the organic movement, but in recent years with the rise of organic food sales in supermarkets and the general expansion of the organic market (now worth over £2bn per year), producers have not been at the forefront.

The Organic Growers Alliance is for growers, run by growers. They have gained a wide membership quite quickly, are running several excellent events this year, publish a superb quarterly publication The Organic Grower, and have a great new website.

Anyone working in, or wanting to work in, organic horticulture should become a member. It’s a great way to network, share ideas and experiences and benefit from the clout of lots of growers working together.

I found this video really good, so do have a look…

And if you’re still interested then watch part two!

So go and have a look at their website and visit them sometime.

Fordhall Farm is an extraordinary place and has an amazing story to tell. Arthur Hollins was a pioneering organic farmers who refused to fit the mould and went against the grain. His grazing system, called “foggage” farming was sustainable and unique; Fordhall Farm was also one of the first places in the country to produce yoghurt.

But as Arthur grew old the farm lost its vigour and vitality. A tenanted farm, the landlords became increasingly interested in selling off parts or all of the farm for ‘development’. The huge Muller dairy lies almost within a stone’s throw of the farmhouse and the land had much ‘potential’ for all sorts of things - anything except farming.

The Hollins family were given a date for eviction and the future looked very bleak. That was until Charlotte and Ben, Arthur’s youngest children decided that they wouldn’t take this lying down. At the ages of 21 and 19 they took on the running of the farm and the fight to save it.

The story is long, complex, emotive, exciting and is a rollercoaster ride. It would make an amazing novel…only it’s real. The nuts and bolts of the story is that, against all the odds, the farm was saved and Fordhall Community Land Initiative was born. The book is an extraordinary read and highly recommended.

Fordhall Farm is nothing short of miraculous and is so inspiring. In the face of adversity, against all the odds, facing such an uphill struggle, Charlotte and Ben made it. They deserve your support, so get involved!

It’s not been widely reported, but the price of a barrel of crude oil has shot through the $100 mark over the past week. What does this mean for us as a society and, in particular, food production?

We are all highly dependent on oil for every part of in life in an industrialised country. Organic agricultural and horticultural systems require oil for manufacture of inputs, to power machinery, in packaging, processing and of course transport. There are many hidden inputs of oil that have indirect effects of the costs of food production too.

A constant increase in the price of oil will have serious impacts on large scale food production and centralised distribution systems. In fact, it will probably be the best thing for local food because labour-intensive food production will be able to compete on price much more effectively with oil-intensive food production.

This will also help to create a demand for skilled labour, and that’s a great thing for Organic Futures. Keep an eye on this Crude Oil Price Forecast - notice that at the moment the one year forecast is for $135/barrel. This will start to effect big changes in food and farming by simple market forces.

Duchy College is one of the largest agricultural colleges in the south west. The main agricultural site is Stoke Climsland and it was here I arrived on a beautiful sunny morning, with mist hanging in the valleys.

Robbie Brighton and I gave a talk to about 30 students, comprising agriculture and rural resource management courses, in the impressive new Agrifood centre. Having plenty of time allowed us to go in to considerable depth on the subjects concerned, from the perception of farming as a career to the history of the organic movement.

It’s fair to say that some of the students were not overly knowledgable about organic systems, but all listened intently and nearly everyone contributed to an in-depth and constructive discussion. A worthwhile visit that made some good links.

We then raced down the A30 to Rosewarne for the second Duchy audience of the day - mostly horticultural students. The mood was quite different here (largely sympathetic to organic) helped by the ever enthusiastic Steve Roderick of the Organic Studies Centre. The discussion was vigorous and constructive, with many of the students really engaged with the issues and enthusiastic about the subject areas.

It then just left me to head down to Penzance, on to Land’s End airport for a short hop back over to the Isles of Scilly. It was good to get home after an intense 9 days on the road, but it felt like a very worthwhile time. Now comes the less glamorous work of taking forward the project, but I can now do so with a much clearer vision of future direction.

The Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester is undoubtedly one of the great college buildings in the country, approached down an avenue of huge lime trees. This was the setting for an inspirational one-day conference called “The future is in your hands”, organised by the Red Meat Industry Forum, in conjunction with Farmers Weekly and the NFU.

The room was full, with probably 150 or more delegates. The day was packed full with lots of discussion and a good degree of optimism (most of the audience were under 30). Young Farmer of the Year, Phil Halhead, gave a good rundown of the Oxford Farming Conference. James Miles-Hobbs, a rural diversification consultant, gave an interesting presentation about the 10 golden rules for diversification, including psychological price barriers, brand clarity, time management and the 4 second rule.

The next spot involved me and Nick Davies, a shepherd from Shropshire. Neither of us had a rural upbringing, both wanted a career on the land and we each have faced significant challenges getting to where we are now. This was well received and stimulated some enthusiastic debate. Nick’s no-nonsense and “can do” attitude was particularly refreshing.

Martin Redfearn, Barclay’s National Agricultural Specialist, gave some particularly good advice about business development principles. For example, that good advice is not always the cheapest, but should be worth more than you pay for it. If you’re going to diversify, do so from a position of strength, not to dig yourself out of a hole. Get the right people on board. Push hard to make your business a success, but know where its limits are.

After lunch was the highlight, an inspirational talk from Simon Woodruffe, entrepreneur supreme, founder of Yo Sushi and original panel member of Dragons Den. His attitude is refreshing and undoubtedly requires a special type of mindset, but nonetheless is inspiring. He emphasised the need to keep re-assessing your business and always take a sideways look at things in order to stay successful.

Lastly was a panel discussion, involving all the day’s speakers, summarising some of the outcomes from the day and fielding questions from the floor. The overall feeling was very positive, much against the perception of farmers in this country.

One striking issue to me was the lack of knowledge about Peak Oil and its potential impact on food production, distribution and consumption. It doesn’t seem to have really sunk in to most farmers’ mindset - or for that matter, that of the farming press and farming organisations. That’s not to say that all organic farmers and growers have minimal dependence on oil, but at least organisations like the Soil Association have taken it very seriously and are spreading awareness as wide as possible.

One of my favourite organic horticultural holdings is Coleshill Organics, in the heart of the village of Coleshill in Oxfordshire. A National Trust-owned village, it is a rural oasis just a few miles NE of the less than glamorous Swindon. Here Pete Richardson and Sonia Oliver have created a wonderful business that is as successful as it is beautiful.

I have been using Coleshill Organics in my lecture presentation as a positive vision of farms for the future. Not only does it produce a lot of excellent organic fruit and veg, it does so at the heart of a rural community, it sells everything locally, it employs lots of people per acre, hosts two organic apprentices (click here to learn more about the Organic Apprenticeship Scheme) and is aesthetically pleasing. This sort of system makes so much sense and, I believe, will be the only sort of system that will become viable post Peak Oil.

Do have a look at their website, in particular to see their excellent video.

Next stop on the whirlwind tour was Bicton College of Agriculture near Budleigh Salterton. This time I was on my own so had to talk about my business, Organic Futures and the Soil Association. It’s difficult to find three matching hats to wear!

The college is set in a beautiful 500 acre parkland landscape, with some beautiful Red Ruby cattle grazing right in front of the college buildings, overlooking the 5 acre lake. What an inspiring view to see whilst learning - I feel this is really important. The whole area clearly has agriculture deeply ingrained in the communities.

The talk was to about 35 students and staff, from agriculture, horticulture and countryside management. The talk was well received and stimulated some discussion later on. One of the lecturers later commented how he had done a work placement on an organic farm in Somerset back in the late 80’s. He had no doubt this had influenced his views on organic (positively I might add!) and that the opposite was true of those who hadn’t visited or worked on organic farms.

This further strengthens the notion that “seeing is believing” and how critical it is that people’s views should be based on truth rather than perception and/or fiction. The implications of positively influencing thousands of college students is tremendous, but will require a big change in culture.

This is a literal and metaphorical description of what I did in Exeter at the lovely Phoenix Arts Centre! Organic Futures has been kindly supported by UnLtd, who champion social entrepreneurs. This was an “Awards Day” where all the awards winners get together to talk about their projects and share experiences and advice.

The whole day is based in a theatre and on the stage are some very wierd pink inflatable sofas, upon which you’re supposed to sit to be “interviewed” by the mad, arty, extravogant but lovely hostesses for the day, Josephine and Belinda who run the “Surreal Saloon“. These pink sofas are the most ridiculous idea to conduct an interview on as you are liable to fall off/sink in to/never get off/expose yourself/strain your back (delete as appropriate!) in the process.

Anyway, I was interviewed about Organic Futures (that’s not me in the photo with lovely long blonde hair!!) and I think it went down very well; I also made some useful contacts.

I’d like to reiterate my thanks to UnLtd for the £4,500 grant to enable Organic Futures to develop. There’s plenty of work to do, but we’ve made a good start and have lots of energy to carry out further plans.

Harper Adams is one of the most esteemed and popular agricultural colleges in the UK. It’s an imposing building and being a traditional sort of place Ben Raskin (Soil Association Technical Manager) and I approached with some trepidation. Our talks contain a lot of issues outside mainstream and we were expecting some tough questioning.

The audience was quite small, but they listened carefully and we held some stimulating debate after the presentations. From what we perceived as a potentially reserved approach, came some vigorous debate abut organic farming, local food, peak oil, GM, food security and a number of other pertinent issues.

We were pleased that Dr John Reade was present, who has considerable knowledge on organic systems and teaches the organic MSc at Harper. It’s strange how people accept facts in a different light if one of their peers is “on board” and undoubtedly this helped move our talk on.

All in all it was a useful visit that made some useful contacts.

Then it was back down South for some meetings at the Soil Association in Bristol to discuss some details on the development of Organic Futures.

The tour of agricultural and horticultural colleges has begun. The idea is to talk to the next generation of farmers and growers in colleges about Organic Futures and all other issues. I will be joined by a member of the Soil Association’s Food and Farming team, who will talk about the work of SA and the origins of the organic movement.

So, we arrived at the Welsh College of Horticulture in Mold and an audience of students on one of the few organic horticulture courses in the country. It was a positive session with lots of good discussion and some clear interest from the students. One interesting point that came up was how we will integrate the ideas and principles of Organic Futures in to urban areas. A good question and one that the organic movement as a whole needs to think about deeply.

A good start to the tour, setting the scene for the next stop, Harper Adams.