In this article, SFT’s Content Editor, Alicia Miller, who manages an organic farm in Wales, considers the huge challenges for all farmers when it comes to reducing their reliance on plastics, while offering some promising examples of highly effective alternatives – many of which have been in use for aeons. We now all well know how plastic is devastating our seas, but we’re only beginning to realise how damaging it is to our soils and how widely used and poorly disposed of it is in farming. In 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published a major report on plastic use in farming ..read more

After taking part in last month’s Big Plastic Count, the SFT’s Isabel Eaton felt prompted to explore our over-reliance on plastic-wrapped produce. Here, Isabel explains how this material is ending up in our seas and soils as well as our bodies, and how and where to shop for plastic-free alternatives. Our food system has a big plastic problem. The material is present from field to fork, but it’s in supermarkets where – confronted by aisle after aisle of plastic-wrapped goods – the scale of the issue becomes most visible for many of us. As a diligent recycler, a keen frequenter of zero waste sto ..read more

Max Jones shares some of the fascinating insights from his visits to producers in the Piedmont region of Italy and other rural communities in Europe. Max considers how stifling hygiene regulations are propagating a sense of shame amongst some small-scale producers, promoting the misconception that traditionally produced foods are ‘unclean’, a narrative that risks further eroding local food cultures. The best job I ever had was working for a cheesemonger in London, in the arches beneath the railway in Bermondsey. I was lucky enough to work with some of the finest farmhouse cheeses from France a ..read more

Patrick Holden discusses how the centralisation of the food system has given rise to an atmosphere of paranoia about bacteria, which, in turn, is placing a disproportionate regulatory burden upon small producers and processors. More and more of us are now recognising that the ultra-processed products of the industrialised food system, which most of us eat to some degree, are making people sick. There is also a growing conviction that we need to respond by moving towards diets which are more locally and sustainably sourced, less processed, more nutrient-rich and with a story that is known to u ..read more

Acres of abandoned olive groves, a global supply crisis and the apocalyptic threat of an invasive bacteria might not sound like a promising formula for small-scale olive growers in Puglia, Italy’s largest production region. But for some producers and local activists, that might just be the case. An unwelcome visitor A devastating outbreak of Xylella fastidiosa bacteria – said to have arrived in Italy on an ornamental plant from Central America – has been wreaking havoc on the ancient, iconic olive trees of southern Italy’s Puglia region for over a decade. During that time, millions of trees ha ..read more

As SFT’s policy director, you will usually find me focused on the latest government or corporate developments. This doesn’t leave much time to get my boots on the ground and hands in the soil. But, when I discovered the new Roots to Regeneration (R2R) programme, I knew I’d found the ultimate space to explore and deepen my understanding of regenerative transformation (in my spare time, not work!) and thanks to R2R’s philanthropic supporters, it was within my reach. Via the SFT’s newsletter, I hope you will join me on this exploration over the forthcoming year as I chart a path through the chall ..read more

Avoid the never-ending scroll on streaming platforms. Our list of recommended food and farming films and TV series is especially selected, watched and reviewed by the SFT team for your viewing pleasure.   Six Inches of Soil Director: Colin Ramsay Where to watch: See current screening dates here There have been so many films – and more to come – on farming, its practices and how to make our food and farming sustainable in the longer term. Six Inches of Soil is one incarnation of this narrative, but what it brings to the table will be more immediate and relevant to a British audience than ..read more

How can we best understand and relate to the farmer protests which are going on all over Europe, including down the road from our farm in West Wales? The regional TV news on Monday 20th February ran a big piece featuring Mark Drakeford, the Welsh First Minister, Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Rural Affairs and others, covering the protests and the Government’s defence of the new Sustainable Farming Scheme, with both the Welsh farmers’ unions, NFU Cymru and the Farmers Union of Wales, out on their tractors blocking the A48, putting out slogans like “enough is enough”, and reminding anyone who ..read more

What is ‘local’ food? It’s a term we’re all familiar with and something we think we’d be quite confident at explaining – until we try. From definitions based on geographical distance to defining local in terms of things like environmental performance and social value, or suggestions that local should mean what consumers think it means, this apparently common sense term has evaded being pinned down. That matters, because to work out how to nurture these systems, people need to know what is to be nurtured. And this brings us to a second issue – should we nurture these systems? Does local food r ..read more

The Welsh stew ‘Cawl’ is probably the strongest survivor of the country’s traditions of ‘peasant’ cooking. Warming, hearty and affordable, it has a resonance around home and family that gives me a sense of all being well with the world. A winter staple for so many families when I was growing up, it remains emblematic in Wales’ culinary identity – but perhaps more importantly, highlights how living food traditions can play a key role in the transition to sustainable food. The origins of cawl lie in the Middle Ages or earlier, with the Welsh word deriving from the Latin for cabbage; from there ..read more