The importance of seed sovereignty

In central London, on September the 8th, Farm Gate and Ark Events will host the UK's first Conference on Food and National Security. The conference will uniquely deal with the subjects of food, nature and national security - because ecological and defence vulnerabilities, driven by our food system itself, go beyond simply food security and resilience.We will be discussing food security, resilience and emergency preparedness - but the key focus will be food system driven insecurity. We'll be talking about what changes are necessary to improve Britain's defence, and structural deterrence. ffinlo Costain is joined by three of conference panellists to help set the scene: Lt General Richard Nugee (member of the Ministerial Climate and Security Taskforce)Adele Jones (farmer and regenerative food and agriculture leader)Mike Gooding (Farming Systems Director for AHDB)The conference is sponsored by Savills and Saffery - and by Howden, which is kindly providing the conference venue.

Martin Lines (Chief Executive, Nature Friendly Farming Network) and ffinlo Costain (Editor, 8point9) discuss how Britain's farms have coped under the duress of this summer's fifth heatwave, and what needs to change to make food production more heat and water resilient. They also talk about the UK's new Prime Minister and his announcement of a £65m boost to support farmers during the drought.Martin and ffinlo are joined by Owen Thomas, a 17 year old shepherd rearing sheep on Martin's farm.

Wakelyns is an inspirational organic farm in Suffolk; an oasis within a desert of conventional arable farming - it pioneered UK agroforestry and population grain - it runs courses, events and retreats. But Wakelyns is facing an uncertain future, for which community buyout offers a solution.ffinlo Costain is joined by, David Wolfe, Wakelyns' founder and co-owner. To find out more and to buy community shares in Wakelyns - follow this link: ⁠https://wakelyns.co.uk/⁠

In the final week of our 10 More Days of Groundswell series, I talk to Ben Adams (Farmer, Adams Agriculture) and Mark Palmer (Director and farm advisor, Systems4Food Ltd).Cover crops and no-till have transformed regenerative arable in England. But the easy wins are largely banked, and a more honest conversation is starting: what does soil health really look like once you've ticked the obvious boxes? Farmers funded through Defra's ADOPT programme are running on-farm trials testing cover crops with sensing, multispecies cropping, living mulches in maize, and relay cropping at field scale. The original panel was hosted in The Snug by the ADOPT Support Hub.

In the final week of our 10 More Days of Groundswell series - I talk to Doug Wanstall (Director, Beyond Zero), Joshua Wade (Director SG Wade Ltd), and Lottie Hawkins (Founder, Earthly Biochar).This an impromptu in-the-field conversation.Circular farming is the regenerative idea that everything leaving the farm should come back as something useful. Farmers funded through Defra's ADOPT programme are testing what that actually looks like: Black Soldier Fly larvae replacing soya in poultry feed, biochar produced from forestry and crop waste, and mushroom-and-biochar systems converting agricultural by-products. The original panel was hosted in The Snug by the ADOPT Support Hub.

10 More Days of Groundswell wasn't enough! This is the second of four summer bonus in-the-field episodes. With Holly Silvester, Future Resilience Seed Coordinator for the Seed Sovereignty Programme, and Katie Hastings, Wales Co-ordinator for the Seed Sovereignty Programme  at the Gaia Foundation.

10 More Days of Groundswell wasn't enough! This is the first of four summer bonus in-the-field episodes. With James Robinson, Strickley Farm, Cumbria, and Dr. Lindsay K Whistance, Principal Researcher - Animal Husbandry, at the Organic Research Centre.

ffinlo joins other regen farming and rural business podcasters for a chat about storytelling - the power of podcasts and communication - and some of the stories that are influencing farming today.I joined the host of the Six Inches of Soil podcast, Richard Tufton, alongside co-host Claire Mackenzie, for a conversation with Abby Rose from Farmerama, Clay Conry from Working Cows, and Ben Eagle from Meet the Farmers.

First Milk has released a 'white paper' for regenerative dairy. The report celebrates what the co-operative dairy has achieved so far, while making a strong case for Phase 2 of their regen dairy programme - moving from measuring inputs to assessing outcomes: actual soil carbon, actual numbers of birds and insects, actual river quality... To find out more, ffinlo Costain is joined by Lee Truelove, Director of Regenerative Farming & Agriculture at First Milk, and Leona McDonald, their Director of Regenerative Partnerships.

Today we're lying down on our beach towels to tuck into a good summer read. ffinlo Costain is joined by three brilliant authors from the 5m and Unbreaking stables, to find out why their books should be stacked among the sea shells and read between the rock pools.Benedikt Bösel has written Food and Farm Revolution - he's is an agricultural economist and the founder of Gut&Bösel, a regenerative farm located near Berlin. Dr Lucy Williamson is a registered nutritionist and former vet and her book is called Soil to Gut. And Tim Parton's Intelligent Farming invites us to join him on the agroecological journey that he's been on since 2009.Click here to find the books on 5m's website - https://5mbooks.com/