Current and future challenges​

Recent events around the world have challenged conventional views of how we can feed growing populations. Urgent thinking needs to be done, action plans developed, and new approaches tested. Our food and farming system must address key issues in the UK such as increasing cost of agricultural inputs and farm production, lower margins for farmers, loss of topsoil and continued deterioration in its quality, declining biodiversity, increase flooding, climate change, and increased age of farmer demographics.

The Farm Project is about addressing these challenges.

Background

When we asked members for their views on a range of possible projects in 2007, farming was the number one priority. Since then we have been developing links, research and project proposals to take this forward. In 2012 we conducted a research survey and participatory workshop to discover the permaculture farming network's main priorities for a project designed specifically for them, resulting in this report and a more detailed project outline for use in future project design.

From these foundations, the Farm Working Group was formed in 2013 - made up of farmers, teachers, academics and volunteers. Together they continue to lead the development of the Farm Project according to the following three main aims:

1. Support and learn from people already using permaculture at a farm scale.
2. Create an evidence base to inform farmers and policy makers about permaculture's  benefits.
3. Work to make permaculture skills, research and resources more widely accessible.