Regenerative agriculture, vertical farming systems and small-scale, peri-urban vegetable production all offer solutions to feed the human population while sustaining or improving environmental outcomes.
Speaking in the ‘Future agricultural technologies’ online discussion, organised by the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures as part of the Festival of Debate, IfA’s natural resources advisor, Arran Redman, shared his perspective on how the shift towards regenerative farming approaches can offer solutions to the climate crisis and other environmental problems. Also speaking in the discussion, Tanveer Khan from Intelligent Growth Solutions shared why vertical farming belongs in the toolbox for sustainable fresh produce production, and Douglas Kemp from Regather, a food cooperative based in Sheffield, shared their approach to low impact, organic vegetable production to sell to local consumers in the city.
The chair of the discussion, PhD student Toby Evans, set the scene by highlighting how food production has the potential to be both the cause and solution for many current global issues. “Globally, food production is responsible for about a third of all carbon emissions, the rapid deterioration and loss of soils, deforestation and pollution from reliance on fertilisers, which all impact ecosystems and biodiversity,” he said.
The current challenges faced by UK food producers
In the UK, food producers are facing the following specific challenges:
- Labour – finding labour is difficult, particularly in the horticulture sector. Tonnes of produce have been left unpicked in recent years. Reliance on migrant labour and a shortage of domestic workers willing to fill these roles has been a contributing factor
- Energy and fertiliser price increases have hit UK farmers hard - part of the reason for the vegetable shortages in March 2023 was uncertainty on return on investment (ROI) for many producers, which led to many salad crops like cucumbers and tomatoes not being grown in greenhouses, creating further dependence on imports
- Policy impacts - the UK government is producing the Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS), which provide public money for public goods. Sitting within ELMS, the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) rewards farmers and landowners for managing land in ways that reduces impact on biodiversity. However, many have said the standards do not provide adequate compensation for the work farmers are required to put in to meet them, as well as the potential losses that can be incurred by changing management practices.
Toby concluded that UK food production is currently in a vulnerable position, but there are those out there looking for and implementing alternative solutions.
The shift to regenerative agriculture
Speaking in the webinar, IfA’s Arran Redman described how agriculture has existed in many forms since nomadic humans first began to settle and cultivate land.
He shared that there have been several significant shifts in how the average farmers manage their land. “Factors like technological innovation, mechanisation and increases in demand for food, have influenced how food is produced for centuries,” he said.
“Conventional agriculture aims for high yields at large scale, using all possible methods to increase productivity. However, it’s increasingly accepted that this is no longer sustainable and we need a new solution.”
Arran shared that regenerative agriculture is an umbrella term for agricultural land management which leaves the soil, the land, the landscape and the environment, including climate, in a better condition than when it started.
“Regenerative agriculture is a way to absorb carbon and mitigate climate change, enhance soil health and produce food with a higher nutrient density.
“It’s also a way to increase farm profitability by reducing the cost of inputs and improving margins of farm businesses and increasing resilience to an uncertain future climate,” he added.
Arran outlined the five principles of regenerative farming:
- Minimise soil disturbance
- Increase diversity of crops grown and livestock
- Keep the soil covered with a living or organic mulch
- Maintain living roots in the soil to improve structure and reduce risk of run-off of excess nutrients
- Integrate livestock into arable rotations
More information on the principles of regenerative agriculture can be found here.
Vertical farming
Tanveer Khan shared how vertical farming systems can be used to grow high quality produce in environments where everything from temperature, humidity, lighting and nutrient inputs is controlled to ensure the plants have the optimal growing conditions. The control over the environment means quality and energy efficiency can be fine-tuned, allowing produce grown in the system to be sold at competitive prices to supermarkets.
Tanveer said that stacked trays with LED lighting can be used to grow tree seedlings, seed potatoes, radishes, chillies, tomato plants and floriculture, as well as herbs and leafy greens.
Small-scale peri-urban growing
Douglas Kemp shared how Regather took a lease on an ex-arable field to grow organic food to sell directly to Sheffield residents via the existing veg box cooperative which delivers produce from local suppliers.
The small farm uses polytunnels to extend the growing season, using tools like broad forks and scythes to manage land, and concentrating on putting people back on the land, providing employment and volunteering opportunities. The farm is organic certified by the Soil Association.
Both Douglas and Arran spoke about the initial reduction in yield faced by farmers and growers while transitioning from conventional arable to a lower input system. Douglas mentioned that despite preparing the soil using a green manure crop, they had to accept the cost of initially low yields while the soil health improved. Similarly, Arran shared how many farmers switching to a regenerative approach see an initial drop in yields as soil health rebuilds, but that with time, regenerative farms can achieve yields on par with, or higher than, many conventionally grown crops.
Right system, right place
It was clear from the discussion that there is a place for any food production solution which benefits the environment. Douglas highlighted the importance of considering geography, proposing that cities can be ringed with peri-urban food production, growing nutrient-rich produce like vegetables close to where they are consumed, while regenerative agriculture systems producing cereals and meat can be produced further away and transported to where they are needed. Vertical farming can take place on brownfield sites in cities, but also opens an opportunity for farms looking to diversify to convert a building and produce food in energy-efficient, tightly controlled, indoor, year-round production systems.
The different approaches are not entirely separate from each other. Vertical farming systems can be used to produce seedlings which are grown on in polytunnels, or even tree seedlings for agroforestry projects. There is also potential for excess nutrients from farmed land to feed into indoor controlled systems, creating a circular system where a loss from conventional farming becomes a resource for indoor food production. Who knows where the future will take us? There are opportunities for different systems of food production to learn from each other and also to collaborate where appropriate. As highlighted in a previous blog on hybrid transition pathways, this can to accelerate the shift to a global system which makes the most of all the ecological knowledge and technological innovations available to produce food in a way which is completely sustainable.
