Oxford Real Farming Conference 2023 | Agroecology Movement Gathers for Hope and Action

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This year’s Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) felt more necessary than ever. Gathering in person for the first time since January 2020, the great and the good of agroecology turned their attention to the pressing matters of the day: the intersectional crises of biodiversity, climate, energy and cost of living. The movement discussed available support for small-scale farmers, and solutions provided by transformed food and farming systems.

The event – and the movement – continues to grow, this time combining a virtual programme and in-person event. Online speakers represented six continents, whilst hundreds gathered in Oxford to discuss transforming food and farming systems for good.

The following takeaways represent common threads from the expansive programme which, each year, provides so much more in terms of connection, solidarity and mobilisation than any single lesson learnt.

1.Positivity nurtures hope and seeds change – Good things are happening “below ground”, but the movement needs better storytellers.

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The Era of Certified Regenerative Agriculture Is Underway

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Like organic farming, regenerative agriculture eschews synthetic chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. It also brings the focus to topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, and conservation of natural resources. But unlike organic farming, there are currently no federal standards for regenerative agriculture, which some say threatens the integrity of the claim and makes it prone to greenwashing.

The USDA has increased its commitment to making America’s farming system more sustainable, however. Last month, the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced an investment of $70 million into sustainable agricultural projects that integrate research, education, and Extension efforts.

While it doesn’t explicitly name regenerative agriculture as part of that program, it says the goal “is to establish robust, resilient, and climate-smart food and agricultural systems.”

Verified regenerative agriculture programs

While American farmers and companies wait for the USDA to get behind regenerative agriculture, there are third-party verification programs already in place.

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Regenerative Research: Glyphosate

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What is glyphosate?

Glyphosate is a popular herbicide used by farmers and ranchers to kill broadleaf plants and grasses, as well as to rapidly ripen certain crops. A recent study about glyphosate use showed it can be found in more than 750 different products, and is used in more than 130 countries on more than 100 different types of crops. Glyphosate is also the subject of hundreds of lawsuits around the globe based on research that exposure to glyphosate could cause chronic disease and cancers.

Also known as N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine, glyphosate can be absorbed by the stems, leaves, or roots. It is an enzyme inhibitor, which prevents key stages of development in the plant, so the plant either dies, or rapidly matures until death. It is non-selective, so it will kill everything, unless the product is specifically genetically modified to resist it.

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We Want to be Able to Choose! Ensure GMO-Free Food Production

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German youth associations demand that the EU genetic engineering legislation continues to provide a clear framework that makes GMO-free agriculture and food production possible and protects it.

We want to be able to continue to produce, breed, grow, process, market and consume high-quality food, whether organic or conventional, that is free of genetic engineering. In our view, this requires resilient agro-ecological agricultural systems that focus on environmental and climate protection, and food security.

As young people, we depend on the existing diversity and access to it, to face the coming challenges such as the climate crisis or species extinction.

For us and for all citizens, we want the freedom to decide and choose for ourselves what we grow, breed and eat, through labelling of genetically modified organisms.

Nature with its biodiversity is the most valuable thing we have.

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To Protect Corporate Profits, U.S. Plans to Bully Mexico Into Buying GMO Corn

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Corporate money has always corrupted the political process in order to create laws and trade agreements that protect corporate profits at the expense of not just U.S. citizens, but citizens of the world.

We can find, perhaps, no better case in point than genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Developed over the decades by seed and chemical companies Monsanto, Calgene, Dow, DuPont, Bayer and others, genetically modified (GM) corn, soy, cotton and canola were touted as the solution to world hunger, the key to increased farm profitability, lower pesticide use and a better environment.

It all sounded good, but none of it was true.

The real truth was — and this was never mentioned — that these commodity crops were designed to produce vast corporate profit as they helped usher in a wave of corporate consolidation, loss of small farms, declining rural economies and a foisting of untested GM food on unknowing consumers.

While these GM crops dominate the fields of North America, the seed and chemical companies saw the world as their target for even more profit.

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The Hope of Regeneration: Together

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As I write this little note, Western Zimbabwe is in a dry and hot spell at an absolutely wrong time of the year. As agro-pastoral farmers, we are facing a bit of panic for the lagging crops that still needed a bit of rain, the crops that were ripened had to take an early drying. It’s a bit of a dilemma, as any rainfall now will cause sprouting of the drying grains and other root crops like peanuts and bambara nuts.

We are, on the other hand facing really hard times with Cyclone Freddy causing loss, of lives and properties in the Southern African region. Cyclone Freddy, having come in through Madagascar, is now in Malawi and making its way to Zambia and my home country Zimbabwe is under threat of this raging storm. The uneasiness that these moments stimulate, tends to bring a huge wave of hopelessness.

However, the potential of regenerative agriculture, stories of farmers, and many different humans of earth in regeneration have stimulated most of us to keep going. We now more than ever, need the hope of working TOGETHER, humans and nature to bring Team humanity out of the vicious cycles degeneration.

Photo credit: IGugu Trust-Zimbabwe

Photo from Kachechete Ward in Hwange, Zimbabwe, Leaders and community standing Together for regeneration.

Here’s a quote from Ronnie Cummins, one of The Founding Directors at Regeneration International that inspired me recently;

“Never underestimated the power of one individual; yourself. But please understand, at the same time, that what we do as individuals will never be enough. We’ve got to get organized and we’ve got to help others, in our region, in our nation, and everywhere…”

This quote spoke deeply to me and I suppose it may resonate with most of us. Keeping the connections alive, keeps us inspired, hopeful and on track.  The idea is not to only dream, but to see it coming to pass by taking the smallest actions in a bigger collective! Thankfully, we have a lot of networks that are bringing to life this network building around regeneration, and agro-ecology, seed and food movements, Holistic Management and many more.

To digress a little; our efforts of potential impact are consistently watered down by individualism, scarcity mindsets and comparisons in the movement. Yet, if we are to regenerate this world, we have to embrace the depth, and complexity of the connectedness of all pieces in this global puzzle. It is a messy dance, but a dance anyways.  We are all re-learning how to design with living patterns at the core.

If we agree that regeneration and regenerative actions are a cure to ecological disasters, social decay, and economic struggles, then we must embrace that this work is established in chaos. That is, an acceptance that each of us have a localized wisdom on how to bring back the essence of our communities at all levels of life. We are learning again what made us and our ecosystems thrive, and how do we bring that to manifestation in the current times. Looking ahead, we are all building the beautiful story of regenerating our world.  There’s no singling out champions, because in the end, we either win or sink as Team Humanity. Which one will it be?

I am eternally grateful for all the incredible minds and human spirits (too many to count, but I hold you in my heart with lots of gratitude) that charted the path of thinking differently. I believe sharing our small victories, thoughts and lessons creates beautiful waves of learning, action and support. In my head, I’m reminded of the Mexican wave, in a huge soccer stadium, in a place of unlikely order or form, yet supporters and spectators in a game they love and wish for a win – achieve a metachronal rhythm to express their support and create a winning environment in the stadium.  The supporters don’t move from their seats –but their actions, create a ripple, and enhance a movement of the wave to the next community of people in the stadium. The catch-  they do it faithfully when it’s their turn, the wave continues to travel around the stadium. There is no particular order, within those disconnected seating arrangements, back and forth as others would have had a little much to drink- the idea is to win- Together!

Citizens of Humanity Group and Kiss the Ground partner to create “Kiss The Ground Cotton,” taking a fresh approach to promoting Regenerative Agriculture

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Los Angeles, CA, Jan. 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Los Angeles, CA (January 11, 2022) – Citizens of Humanity Group and Kiss the Ground announce their strategic partnership to establish “Kiss the Ground Cotton,” a fresh approach for promoting regenerative agriculture and a pathway to regenerative cotton. The trademark will let consumers know that the products they purchase are made with cotton grown on farms engaged in regenerative agriculture practices. This partnership will benefit Kiss the Ground with endowments for each pound of cotton produced in efforts to support the broader regenerative agriculture movement as a viable solution to combat climate, water, and health crises.

Regenerative agriculture is one of the greatest tools and opportunities for reversing the effects of climate change while increasing soil fertility, replenishing fresh water, and improving human health.

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How Regenerative Agriculture Can Enable Sustainable Nutrition

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At COP27 in November 2022, the food sector was recognised in all its complexity: a formidable producer of emissions, which is uniquely vulnerable to the extreme weather events caused by climate change. As global weather patterns become increasingly erratic, and population rises steadily, our current agri-food system is proving unviable world-over. There is a growing consensus that we cannot continue with farming practices that degrade soil while not sequestering carbon at scale.

Industrial farming techniques, which have largely prioritised yield over resilience, and the climate change impacts they contribute towards, have already left around a third of the world’s soils degraded. This puts our global food supply at serious risk. A recent FAO report found that up to 828 million people already face chronic hunger globally. With hunger comes malnutrition, and a host of dangerous deficiencies and health impacts. For the food system to provide nutrition and food security in a warming world with a ten billion-plus human population, agricultural transformation through regenerative and sustainable approaches is crucial.

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‘During Droughts, Pivot to Agroecology’: Q&A With Soil Expert at the World Agroforestry Centre

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WESTERN TURKANA, Kenya—Driving across Northern Kenya’s Turkana County, the seemingly boundless terrain of sand dunes, dusty brushes and hard, dry soil makes it hard to imagine anyone could farm and eke a living out here. As Kenya and the Horn of Africa are confronted by the fifth consecutive failed rainy season since September 2020—the region’s worst drought in four decades—around 22 million people (roughly the population of Taiwan or Sri Lanka) are food insecure, says a U.N. World Food Programme report released last month.

In Kenya, the number stands at 4.4 million as of December 2022, with children needing acute treatment for malnutrition on the rise.

The numbers and immense toll on pastoralists and agro-pastoralists, who rely on both crops and livestock, grow starker still: their animals have been dying en masse with, 2.5 million livestock deaths recorded by the Government of Kenya, and entire communities pushed to pursue different livelihoods as traditional means and resources fail.

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Regenerative Agriculture: Key to Solving the Climate Crisis

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Meet Gabe Brown. If you haven’t read his groundbreaking book Dirt To Soil, visited his North Dakota farm, seen his Netflix documentary Kiss The Ground, or his Congressional testimony, you can find Gabe speaking around the country about regenerative farming.

Brown describes how regenerative agriculture not only fixes farming, but also the farming business model. It delivers more nutritious food, healthier rural culture, and enables smallholder farmers worldwide to feed themselves and the rest of us. It’s also essential if we want to solve the climate crisis.

“Regen ag,” as it’s called, enables farmers and ranchers to sequester enormous amounts of carbon in the soil — and at a profit. If farmers around the world adopt the practice, it will start to roll climate change backward. Couple that with renewable energy, and it solves the climate crisis.

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