Ruth Grice's report video "Working Together: How Dairy Farmers & Environmental Organisations Can Achieve Sustainable Food Security & Combat Climate Change", sponsored by AHDB.
Ruth's full report can be downloaded from: [ Ссылка ]
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Executive Summary
My Nuffield Farming Scholarship was borne out of frustration and anger.
Frustration that dairy farmers and environmental organisations, who should neatly fit together like a hand and a glove, often found themselves at opposing ends of an argument. Anger that these two communities, who both want to achieve sustainable food security and combat climate change, consistently fail to develop effective working partnerships in the UK.
Thanks to the generous support of the Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust, my lead sponsor, the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), as well as Long Clawson Dairy, I was given the opportunity to unpick how dairy farmers and environmental organisations worked together in other parts of the world with a view to ‘stealing with pride’ and bringing back key learnings to the UK.
During my travels, I visited Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States. All have established dairy industries, and all are working to achieve sustainable food security and combat climate change. By meeting various individuals in both the dairy industry and the environmental community, I learnt that the relationship between them is deeply rooted in cultural heritage, economic heritage and political landscapes.
Within the UK, cultural heritage influences relate in-part to long-established class prejudices. While our country may pride itself on being an inclusive, modern and diverse society, the influence of class structures frame how dairy farmers and environmental organisations work together more than we perhaps realise.
Economic heritage established after the Second World War also influences how the two communities perceive one another. Food shortages and rationing in the 1940s and 1950s led to increases in domestic food production, often at the expense of the natural environment. In the 1980s, globalisation and cheap food imports exacerbated the situation. To remain competitive, the race to the bottom in UK agriculture began, again at the expense of the natural environment.
Political landscapes are often framed in one of two ways: carrot or stick. Statutory policies either reward or penalise dairy farmers for achieving sustainable food security and combating climate change. One method can empower dairy farmers and encourage partnership working with environmental organisations. The other meanwhile uses shame to generate action.
My Nuffield Farming Scholarship has left me with an enormous amount of hope.
During my travels, I found examples of healthy, symbiotic relationships between dairy farmers and environmental organisations. They taught me that even if the foundation stones of cultural heritage, economic heritage and political landscapes are against you, partnerships are possible.
Unsurprisingly, it is all about the people.
Inspiring leaders who believe in the art of the possible and can find common ground between dairy farmers and environmental organisations, are able to forge partnerships regardless of predisposed barriers.
Together, dairy farmers and environmental organisations can achieve sustainable food security and combat climate change.
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Nuffield Farming Scholarships are awarded to approximately 20 members of the UK food, farming, horticulture and rural industries each year. These funds give Scholars the opportunity to travel the world studying their chosen topic and bring global best practices back to the UK by sharing their knowledge.
For more information about Nuffield Farming Scholarships, visit www.NuffieldScholar.org or email charlotte@nuffieldscholar.org.
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