Access to land for aspiring or experienced farmers can be a challenge. Land prices now outstrip the potential returns from small-scale farming so that fields which could be used for food production are often sold for housing, as an investment, for carbon off-setting or other more lucrative uses. This contributes to a widening gap between urban and rural areas, which is leaving whole communities disconnected from the land and dependent on an industrialised food system which is contributing to ill-health and climate breakdown.
But there is another way: throughout the UK many communities are finding creative ways to come together to protect our green, rural spaces for food growing and landscape recovery. Featuring case studies from successful projects, this one-day farm visit will:
Explore case studies of getting land into community ownership, including Moss Lane farm’s work and strategy
Include a tour of Moss Lane farm and the community businesses that share the land
Be a chance to identify further actions to support greater land access for agroecological farming in the North of England
Follow the link below to join us and explore different ways to access land for food, farming and nature, including community ownership and land matching:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/northernrealfarmingconference/1138481
10.30am – 4pm (lunch provided)
Moss Lane Farm, M30 7RL, near Eccles (Salford), Thursday 21 March 2024.
Outline programme:
10.30 am Arrival/tea/coffee
10.45am Introductions and welcome
11.30am Context: the qualifications landscape and progress/challenges towards embedding agroecology in existing models
11.30pm Tour of Haigh Hall
1.00pm Lunch
1.45pm Co-designing a L2
3.15pm Collation of feedback on current system
3.30pm Wrap up and next steps/what more is needed in the North?
4pm Close