Following the Good Food March on 14th October, our allies The Land Workers Alliance need your help to push for amendments to the UK’s Agricultural Bill that will support agroecology and local food. Within a couple of clicks you can send an email straight to your local MP lobbying them to push for these critical amendments and to support a food and farming system that respects people and planet.
Visit the website www.amendagbill.uk and please share widely.
What’s it all about?
Two amendments to the Agriculture Bill were proposed to the Agriculture Bill Committee; one to support agroecology and the other to support local food. They were tabled by MPs and on October 31st they were rejected due to party politics. Never has there been a more important time to take a stand.
London. Land Workers Alliance, Good Food, Good Farming March. 2018.
“We propose that a focus on Agroecology provides a win-win scenario. It combines the need for good food for all with the absolutely essential goals of restoring nature and mitigating climate change. Agroecology links farms to public health. By integrating farms with local communities, it creates access to fresh, affordable local food and improves public health by influencing food habits.” The Landworkers Alliance
The Bill, which enforces UK policy post-Brexit, is currently being considered (until the 20th November) and then voted on over the next few months. The Bill replaces existing EU direct payments with environmental land management payments whereby the EU system subsidises farmers based on how much area they own regardless of the system they use. The replacement Bill will financially reward farmers for improving the environment.
This groundbreaking Bill is a move in the right direction, but it needs to go further and promote whole farm systems; affordable local food at the same time as improving the environment.
It is very important that the Bill makes a direct reference to whole farm management systems so that successive governments prioritise this approach as they implement our agricultural policy. We need to transform farming systems beyond wildlife measures on the edges of fields. Find out more on the website and let Land Workers Alliance member and farmer Jyoti Fernandez tell you why this is so urgent.