Workshops
Breakout session summaries: 2.00pm – 4.00pm
Workshop A: Launch of the 2012 Organic Market Report - sponsored by Triodos
This session will share key findings and insights from the Organic Market report for 2012, and give a general market update. It will also highlight positive case studies and innovative approaches to building organic brands, from Yeo Valley and The Space Creative - a successful marketing and design agency.
Speakers include:
Workshop B: IAASTD - what next for embedding agroecological approaches such as organic into our current farming system?
It is now four years since the publication of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). The largest ever review of its type. One of the key findings was support for agroecological farming systems such as organic. This workshop explores the progress that has been made to embed this approach into our current food and farming systems along with the policy blocks and future potential for action and innovation in this area.
Speakers include:
Workshop C: Agroecology in practice: inspiring examples of innovation in farming
Organic farming leads approaches to agroecology in the UK and much of the world. But what is agroecology and what does it look like at farm level? This session will introduce and explore the concept from discussing examples of innovative practices on organic and non-organic farms, to discussing the science behind agroecology.
Speakers and panellists include:
- Helen Browning, Soil Association Chief Executive
- Dr Bruce Pearce, Organic Research Centre Senior Programme Manager [PDF, 1.4 MB]
- Graeme Matravers, Mixed Farmer, Chair of Soil Association Farmer & Grower Board [PDF, 626 KB]
- Jo Franklin, Young arable farmer, Agronomist and recent Nuffield Scholar [PDF, 1.1 MB]
- Dave Standley, Pasture farmer, Former Head of Environmental Management at the EA, Chartered Environmentalist [PDF, 1.1 MB]
- Iain Tolhurst, Stock free organic grower, Consultant [PDF, 3.2 MB]
- Craig Sams, Carbon Gold
Workshop D: Food for Life Partnership - building on the success of five years transforming food culture
After the fantastic success of the Big Lottery-funded Food for Life Partnership (FFLP), what are the next steps for improving the diets of children and communities? This session will look at the impact the programme has had over the past five years. This will include the opportunity to hear directly from a FFLP Silver award school, based in London, about the success of the programme. Finally the session will look at how the FFLP has influenced the Soil Association’s recent ‘Good food for all’.
Speakers include:
- Libby Grundy, Soil Association
- Myles Bremner, Garden Organic
- Doug Bone, Headteacher at Wandle Valley School
- Joanna Lewis, Food for Life Partnership
- Gabriel Scally, Soil Association Council Member and Director of Public Health for the South West
- Stephanie Wood, School Food Matters
Workshop E: Rethinking diets
Despite increasing levels of nutritional advice and information, diet related ill health is becoming a major problem. Where did it all go wrong? Are the combined efforts of modern food processing and the diet industry solely to blame, or do we need to challenge even more basic assumptions about what is healthy and what harmful when it comes to food? In thinking about the future of food, this workshop puts changing diets under the spotlight and asks how the outputs of a truly sustainable farming system might also be the answer to a healthy, sustaining diet.
Speakers include:
Workshop F: The consumer takes control
This workshop will explore innovative ways communities in the UK are working to transform their food systems by putting those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of their initiatives. This workshop looks at how food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability is taking hold in the UK and asks Where next for UK food sovereignty?
The workshop began with a viewing of the film La Via Campesina in Movement... Food Sovereignty Now!
Speakers include:
- Deborah Doanne, World Development Movement
- John Letts, Oxford Bread Group [PDF, 1.9 MB]
- Ed Hamer, Chagford Community Agriculture [PDF, 1.1 MB]
- Sarah Collier, The Real Food Store, Exeter [PDF, 1 MB]
- Traci Lewis, Soil Association / Making Local Food Work [PDF, 449 KB]