Are you a northern farmer looking for ways to do things differently?

The Northern Real Farming Conference has just launched a series of farmer-focussed video resources highlighting regenerative farming principles and techniques and how they make business sense and reduce inputs. The first in the collection cover case studies focusing on regenerative livestock farmers, wool-based enterprises, reducing soya inputs and no-till arable.

With more videos being added in the coming weeks, it is worth bookmarking them and following @FarmingReal on Twitter, @northernrealfarmingconference on Facebook, or @northernrealfarmingconf on Instagram.

The conference was founded to support the community of farmers and growers working to deliver agroecology, economic democracy and food sovereignty in the north of England and Scotland. As climate change begins to really bite, and the impact of political instability on global supply chains highlights their fragility, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the approaches presented at the conference have applicability in many farming systems.

Are you already applying some of these practices or interested in trying something different on your farm? Sign up to the Northern Real Farming Conference mailing list here to keep up to date. Furthermore, at the Organic Research Centre, we are currently developing ‘living labs’ with farmers that are innovating in cereal and agroforestry systems in the north of England and we’d love to hear from you.

The Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) scheme is still open to support ‘climate, nature, people or place outcomes’ within Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks of the north. In the Yorkshire Dales National Park this has allowed Jim Beary from Gaythorne Hall Farm to transition the farm to a more sustainable footing: “Resilience means we’ll be better placed to continue farming in the future, from both a financial perspective and dealing with climate change and all the challenges that will bring.”

Read more about the projects in the Dales here and contact your National Park authority to find out more.*

We’re looking forward to hearing what you do next on your farm – tag @Agricology to share your stories!

Charlotte Bickler is Knowledge Exchange and Policy Manager in the Organic Research Centre

*Some useful links for Northern England National Park FiPL schemes:

• Lake District National Park
• Northumberland National Park
• North York Moors National Park
• Peak District National Park

Associated Agricology Partner Organisation(s):