Big Ideas for The Future

Research Councils UK (RCUK) and Universities UK (UUK) have produced a report called Big Ideas for the Future   

It includes a section from my friend and colleague Larch Maxey:

The future of farming – small is successful

Smallholdings of 10 acres or less can provide viable and highly sustainable livelihoods. They can support the transition to a more sustainable society by increasing local food production and boosting rural economies both in the UK and other countries. ‘Small is Successful: Creating sustainable livelihoods on 10 acres or less’ reports on research led by Dr Larch Maxey at the University of Plymouth in collaboration with The Ecological Land Cooperative. The research opens the door to new entrants to farming at a time when there is urgent need for them and calls for policies that allow highly sustainable, low acreage livelihoods to flourish. In contrast to the commonly held view that only large farms can survive, the research shows that smallholdings can succeed on tiny pockets of marginal land. Adding value is key to their success, with growers now able to process and take food to market. Businesses are increasingly spreading their risk too, so if one crop or market fails, others are available.

 Download the full report

Who Feeds the World? (Girls)

By Professor Sir Gordon Conway in The Huffington Post Posted: 03/ 2/2012

Gordon Conway is Professor of International Development, Agriculture for Impact, Imperial College London

Sheila Ommeh is passionate about poultry. A PhD fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute, based in Nairobi, Kenya, Sheila hopes to introduce a disease-resistant chicken using indigenous breeds that can be easily produced by women farmers.

Sheila has a home grown understanding of the importance of poultry farming to the rural poor. Her mother and grandmother raised chickens to support the family's children. But disease prevalence was high and the flock was wiped out on occasion. When the chickens died, money for food and school fees was in short supply. Sheila grew up determined to help find a solution.

The majority of those who produce, process, and market food in Africa are women. Furthermore, according to the FAO's 2010-11 State of Food and Agriculture report, women make up, on average, 50 percent of the agricultural labor force in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nevertheless, only one in four (25 percent) agricultural researchers in Africa is female. Even fewer, one in seven (14 percent), hold leadership positions in African agricultural research institutions.

Poultry Farmer, Timor Leste UN Photo/Martine Perret

 So how can we ensure that Africa's agricultural science and research is really focused on the needs of those who feed the world?

African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) is a ground-breaking career-development program that helps female agricultural researchers to build their technical and leadership skills. The 250 women in AWARD come from 11 different countries, and share one common goal: to change the face of agriculture in Africa. As emerging leaders, they want to see women have more influence over research priorities, policies, and programs so they can make sure that rural smallholders -- most of whom are women -- are included. AWARD has strong results and a growing impact.

In 2008, Sheila won a fellowship from AWARD to help realize her ambitions. On March 7 -- on the eve of International Women's Day -- you can hear more of her story, alongside other speakers from AWARD, the International Institute for Environment and Development, Oxfam GB, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Agriculture for Impact is working with AWARD and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development to convene the panel discussion on 'Effective Solutions for Agricultural Development through Empowered Women Scientists.'

The need for initiatives like AWARD is great. FAO identifies a significant gender gap in agriculture, and sees this as a costly lost opportunity to improve the quality and quantity of the world's food supply. According to the FAO, if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20 to 30 percent. This could raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent. Production gains of this magnitude could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12 to 17 percent.

Compared with their male counterparts, female farmers in all parts of the world control less land and livestock, make far less use of improved seed varieties and purchased inputs such as fertilizers, are much less likely to use credit or insurance, have lower education levels, and are less likely to have access to extension services. The FAO shows that a very large body of research from many countries globally also confirms that putting more income in the hands of women yields beneficial results for child nutrition, health and education.

Momentum on taking action is building. The Global Conference on Women in Agriculture on March 13-15 will be the first conference of its kind. The organizers hope to highlight policies and reforms that empower women in developing countries to improve agricultural productivity and nutrition, and reduce hunger and poverty.

For Sheila, and other AWARD Fellows like her, the professional journey to change the face of African agriculture is well underway. But if we are to get the large scale transformational change we need to reach more women researchers, farmers, traders, and customers across Africa, then African governments and those that work with them will need to make women a much higher priority.



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Women & Farming

It is generally accepted that that women were responsible for the development of agriculture. The earliest evidences of agricultural development and female deities were found in Mesopotamia and date back 10,000 years. It is a heritage seemingly forgotten in light of the current demographics of land-based industries. According to LANTRA (UK sector skills council for land-based and environmental industries) men make up 50% - 80% of land-based workers.  

 That up to 80% of British farms are farmed by men is, however, only a partial perspective.  Women co-farm the majority of farms but their contribution is often obscured and denigrated under the identity of ‘farm-wife’ or ‘help-meet’. A dichotomy exists between farming and the farm family and traditional gender roles are reinforced by women’s role being confined to the latter. Women seldom claim inheritance to the land they work, and they are under-represented in farming organisations. In short, women do not generally farm in their own right, or with equal rights, but they do farm.  Rural sociologists have identified five, key ways that farming is gendered:

1. Males and females undertake different tasks on family farms; men are largely responsible for physical work and women for domestic, book-keeping and 'go-fering'.
2. Men's work has higher status than women's work.
3. Men usually determine what work women will and will not be involved in.
4. The work undertaken by men is most closely associated with the identity of 'farmer'.
5.  The conflation of the identity of farmer with men is reinforced by men's dominance of the resources of the agricultural sector - on-farm decision-making roles, ownership of land and positions of leadership in agri-political groups.

Describing farming as "a bit of a boys club" LANTRA seeks to redress the balance through its 'Women and Work' project.  By granting a sum of money to women employees towards the cost of training courses that might have proved too costly in the past, LANTRA seeks to help close the gender gap. Since 2006 4,000 women have participated with the programme and it is currently oversubscribed. LANTRA's positive discrimination around funding allocation is welcome and I hope that they will go further and critically engage with women's missing voice in agri-political organisations as well as challenge patrilineal inheritance.

Farming is changing. The average British farm is owned by a 59 year old man who often has no male heir to continue the family farm.  Multiple farming crises including isolation and increasing rates of depression combine to make his situation socially and economically fragile. These conditions necessitate widespread change.  This might involve a move towards co-operative owned farms and diversified land enterprises that spread the risks associated with fluctuating markets.  It also represents a real chance to challenge socio-political norms across land-based industries. Moreover, circumstances are ripe for  women to re-claim their agricultural heritage, to enter farming in their own right and work alongside male counterparts to transform gendered relationships with the land.  

Ecological Land Cooperative (ELC)

 www.ecologicalland.coop

Mission

We believe that the creation of sustainable rural livelihoods is one of the best solutions to our most pressing environmental and social problems.

Small-scale production using, for example, agro-forestry or Permaculture methods, maximises yields, protects the environment and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by reducing fossil fuel use. Such businesses help build a vibrant, living countryside in which humans flourish alongside our cherished landscapes and natural biodiversity. These sustainable projects have a crucial role to play in ensuring food and energy security. They also provide employment, access to local, sustainable food and crafts and educational opportunities for urban visitors, helping to maintain rural skills and to improve ecological literacy. These small scale enterprises also allow residents to be rooted in their rural locality, helping maintain and regenerate rural communities and the services upon which they depend such as local schools and shops. Ecological foot-print analysis show that residents of ecological land based businesses use less than half the natural resources used by the average UK resident and are currently the only form of development in the UK which comes close to achieving One Planet Living*.

Yet in England and Wales there are no affordable residential smallholdings for small-scale producers wishing to practice ecological agriculture.

The Ecological Land Cooperative has been set up to buy land that has been, or is at risk of being, intensively managed and lease it to people that have the skills to manage it ecologically and would not otherwise be able to afford do so.

How does it work?

The Cooperative purchases degraded agricultural land and applies for planning permission for low-impact smallholdings with temporary residences. We provide a water supply, biological waste water treatment system, road access, and a shared barn made of natural and local materials. If we can we also will provide a source of renewables - such as solar panels - and an electric delivery vehicle. We then sell 999-year leasehold agreements for the smallholdings at an affordable rate, passing on just costs plus a target return to investors of 6%. If planning permission is given, we can sell on smallholdings with planning permission for temporary agricultural dwellings for around £50,000. In comparison, a 5-acre smallholding with no planning permission was recently advertised for £95,000, and a 5-acre small-holding with a house at £299,950, yet the net profit for organic small-holders is in the region of £14,000. After the leasehold is sold, we continue to monitor the sites, with a provision for an annual audit built into the leasehold agreement. If the leaseholders do not adhere to the ecological land management criteria, the Co-operative can intervene. The leasehold agreement also prohibits the property being sold out of affordable, agricultural and ecological use.

Who gets the smallholdings?

For our first three smallholdings anybody was welcome to apply. We selected applicants on a number of criteria including their farming and horticultural experience, experience of low impact living and connection with the locality. We will assess our application process when advertising for tenants for any subsequent sites and will advertise widely.

*One Planet Living is a term to describe living in such a way that a person uses only their fair share of the world's resources, calculated on a global per capita basis. It is currently estimated to be around 2 hectares per person. The UK average is currently about 5.5 hectares per person.