FARMS TO FEED US

CONNECTING with farmers for food

Well farmed food = medicine. We are delighted to share with you the lo-fi Beta version of our Farms to Feed Us UK-wide database which highlights the small-scale food producers near you who will be able to supply you with fresh produce. Farmers and small scale suppliers are out there waiting to bring you nutrient dense and nourishing food straight from a resilient food and farming network that is still flowing!

Many of the producers on the database had to completely redesign their business to adapt to the changing situation during pandemic, and this database is a new route to market. This database gives you details on who can provide you with well produced food grown locally on a small and sustainable scale, and also support those on the other front-line: our farmers, growers and fishers who are working harder than ever to keep us fed.

The database is growing every day as we gather new information, and as more and more farms and small scale food producers sign up, so please check back regularly. It’s designed to be lo-fi so you can print it off and write on it, for those neighbours and relatives who may not use the internet or social media, and we also have a website version in the pipeline. This is a work in progress and we would like your feedback on what works and what doesn't, and what else you need.

This is our opportunity to change a broken food system and create a sustainable supply chain. Our nations food sovereignty matters now more than ever before. 

Please share our database with those who need it. This is an open source document designed to be shared, printed, used. Pass it on. 

If you are a farmer grower dairy bakery winemaker fisher and would like to add your listing to the database submit your details here.

If you would like to be part of the small team behind this initiative and help us with listings you know about in your community, please contact us.

Founders and Co-Directors: Cathy St Germans, Catherine Chong.

Founding Team: Sophie Chatz, Angus Birdtt Our Isles, Olivia Oldham, Fran Bailey, Paul Chalmers, Katy Severson, Abby Rose. Tom Chatfield.

STAY IN TOUCH

If you would like to know more about what we care about, what we are doing and the dates of our next Regenerative Agriculture Gathering please sign up here. Please also read our straightforward Privacy Policy.

What if the food we eat could help reverse the climate crisis?

On November 2nd 2019, we held the first gathering of pioneers, made up of farmers, growers, foresters, chefs, scientists, journalists, policy makers, organisers and academics. Individuals who together present a landscape of what a regenerative agriculture eco system could look like. People who are turning away from conventional farming and growing, and believe that through the practice of farming regeneratively they can help remove greenhouse gas emissions from the air and create richer and more productive soils. The aim of the gathering was to explore all aspects of Regenerative Agriculture, food, fibre, growing, the circular economy and healthy, thriving, supply chains for our food and bridge the gap between fashion and farming.

The gathering was organised by Cathy St Germans organiser and writer, who co-founded and directed the Port Eliot Festival and is part of the regen ag movement and Abby Rose, physicist, farmer and maker of podcast, Farmerama Radio with Gioconda Scott, chef.

Other organisers involved in the programming of the gatherings included Matt Chatfield, farmer and founder of The Cornwall Project, a hub for progressive Cornish farmers and growers and London chefs, Vaughn Tan, assistant professor at University College London’s School of Management, Tim Williams, regenerative pastoralist, Mangarara Station, New Zealand and project lead, The Pastoral Collective and Severine von Tscharner Fleming Director Greenhorns.

Three years ago Matt watched the Allan Savoury Ted Talk where Savoury suggested livestock farmers may hold the key to reversing climate change. “This sounded too good to be true,” says Chatfield, so he decided to find out for himself. “I’ve spent the last three years meeting the most progressive farmers and people involved in food production in the UK to find out for myself. In November all those people were in the room to give their story. We need believable data from believable people. The conference was the beginning of the next chapter.”

Thank you to Natoora and Franco Fubini for their support supplying the fresh produce for the weekend from Natoora’s Cornish Farms at Mora and Crocadon.

If you want to reconnect with the land and learn about regen farming, growing and thinking then please join the next gathering.

Photographs Scott Grummett

Could regenerative farming be the answer?

We think so. The Terraton Initiative aims to remove all the C02 emitted since the start of the Industrial Revolution by growing food in a way that safely locks carbon in the soil. Recent data from the Rodale Institute shows that agriculture could capture more than 100% of current C02 emissions and put that carbon to work enriching our soils. Carbon is the basic building block of life. Soil with high carbon content is teeming with life and rich in nutrients, requiring less fertilizer and producing healthier food. Carbon-rich soil absorbs and retains water more efficiently, helping farms be more resilient to floods and droughts. Enriching our agricultural soils is better for the planet, better for growers and better for food.

Supply chains with Franco Fubini, Bronwen Percival, Abby Rose, Milo Corcoran, Oli Baker and Dan Cox, November 2nd 2019.

Speakers at the first gathering & collaborators in the movement

Nick Jeffries The Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Matt Chatfield farmer and founder of The Cornwall Project

Abby Rose physicist, farmer and co-host of Farmerama Radio

Franco Fubini Founder Natoora

Sarah Mower MBE journalist and Ambassador for Emerging Talent, the British Fashion Council

Sam Crosse arborist and forester, founder of Heckfield Place biodynamic tree nursery

Oli Baker Ollo Fruit of Mora Farm

Bronwen Percival technical manager Neal’s Yard Dairy, co-founder the website MicrobaiFoods.org, co-author Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes and the fight for Real Cheese

Ed Hamer Chagfood, The Landworkers Alliance

Milo Corcoran Coombeshead Farm

Phoebe English clothing, Made in England, attempting a variety of solutions towards a more sustainable fashion

Dan Cox Chef and farmer, Crocadon Farm

Abi Glencross scientist, farmer, cook and botanical explorer

Tom Tolputt farmer, Lesquite and farming consultant, South West Farm Consultants

Nicola Hooper farmer Trefawl Farm

Alice Robinson MA RCA

Tim Williams regenerative pastoralist, Mangarara Station, New Zealand

Thomas M. Baldwin based on Maui, agro-forester, ecological designer, student of indigenous Pacific Islands traditional agricultural and propogation teechniques

Severine von Tscharner Fleming Director Greenhorns, publisher New Farmers Almanac. Farmer, Smithereen Farm. Board chair Agrarian Trust. Advisory board, Savanna Institute, Schumacher Center for New Economics

Vaughn Tan assistant professor at University College London’s School of Management

Bronwen Percival technical manager for Neal’s Yard Dairy in London, co-author of Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes, and the Fight for Real Cheese (Bloomsbury: 2017) co-founder the website MicrobialFoods.org, chair of the technical committees for the UK’s Specialist Cheesemakers Association and the new Raw Milk Producers’ Association.

Cathy St Germans organiser, writer, co-founder of the Port Eliot Festival and Chairwoman of Programming, The Merwin Conservancy in Hawaii

Stuart Cragg certification manager at the Biodynamic Association & Demeter UK, overseeing the Organic & Biodynamic certification of 275 licensees