This month, talking with people about food security, farming and the impact of climate change on future agricultural practices, the word ‘mindset’ came up a lot. Philip Lymbery, Global CEO of Compassion in World Farming, talks in this issue about the need for a change of ‘mindset’ for the farming community. He knows how difficult it is for farmers to accept change, especially after 70 years of government policy and subsidy encouraging them to farm intensively using chemicals to try to control nature. But there is a growing popularity amongst young farmers today to try to work with nature as much as possible, and instead of putting artificial fertiliser and pesticide onto the land, many are trying to use natural techniques that help produce healthier soil, thus reducing outlay on pesticides and artificial fertilizers. Although there is no definitive set of rules for these methods, they are often lumped under the banner of ‘Regenerative Farming’. Martin Lines, from the Nature Friendly Farming Network, also mentions ‘mindset’ in this issue. He talks about the enormous amount of information there is for conventional farmers to take in. At a Help our Planet talk in Sladers Yard last week, Sidmouth born agronomist Richard Harding also cited ‘mindset’ as the key challenge facing farmers wishing to get away from chemicals. A member of the audience asked a pertinent question: How many agricultural colleges are teaching future farmers to work using regenerative methods? Sadly the answer was very few, and Richard could only think of one. However, a recently retired local farmer that I spoke to this week believes that the reason so many younger farmers are turning to regenerative methods is because they are seeing the benefits for themselves, rather than being persuaded by outside organisations.
