The importance of multifunctional agriculture for the British context. This insight is one that is desperately needed in the UK and the USA. We are still so beholden to an outdated and unsustainable model of production-obsessed agriculture. With the current context of cascading crises, the moment for local agricultural systems may finally get its long overdue hearing. Moreover, it raises important questions about the kinds of investments, measurement priorities, and concepts of what agriculture is. The Italian experience is one that gives us language, conceptual tools, and policy priorities that may be useful in the moment of change in the UK.
I last addressed this organization over a decade ago, when it was named FARMA. At that moment, we had explored the need to collaborate across national borders — even if we were at that point only in touch with farmers market and direct marketing efforts in the English-speaking world. Since the advent of the World Farmers Markets Association, it is with great encouragement that these links are indeed being drawn. I look forward to returning to the important organization behind the UK's amazing network of farm shops, farmers markets, and agritourism.
Who: Farm Retail Association 2024 Conference, Stronger Together
When: Wednesday, 6 March 2024
Where: West Peterborough, UK (Holiday Inn)
More information: Visit the event website here.
If unfamiliar with the term multifunctional agriculture, please read my earlier post on the topic.
Throughout the Mediterranean, farmers markets and their networks are emerging at a time when we need good news from the region — a region beset by major pressures. What if we build leadership capacity ito stabilize rural livelihoods on the land? This is MAMi.
Read this post
Available 27 February 2024 in audio format, listen to narrator Kym Miller read the book. Available from wherever you purchase audio books.
Read this post
