Agricology Response to DEFRA Consultation

In response to the Defra consultation paper ‘Health and Harmony: The Future for Food and Farming in a Green Brexit’ in May 2018 Agricology prepared this paper highlighting how we believe the Government could support all farmers and growers in a transition to more sustainable farming systems. Highlighting key areas of farmer-farmer knowledge exchange, farmer led research and overall increased support for agroecology in science and practice.

Agricology welcomes Defra’s ambition for a new agriculture policy that places the environmental and other public goods centre stage. It is very important to support farmers in helping them to become more sustainable and work within the ecological limits of our soils and other non-renewable resources. Agro-ecological approaches have the potential to improve farm business efficiency and deliver favourable environmental outcomes. Supporting this can be achieved through more and better knowledge exchange, more famer focused research and development, and standardised monitoring of sustainability outcomes. This document outlines the ways in which the Agricology team (represented by the three core partners) believe that the project can support Defra in achieving its aims, responding to questions raised in the consultation, and highlights the key actions that can support UK farmers in becoming more sustainable.