Key Topics Include: Improving Soil Health; Exploring the Link Between Healthy Soil and Healthy Food
Located on the Lannock Manor Farm in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, Groundswell is one of Europe's premier conservation agriculture farm shows. The event is entering it's sixth year. It was inspired by the in-depth farmer-to-farmer learning opportunities created by the No-Till on the Plains conference in Kansas, USA.
Dr. Jill Clapperton will be leading several sessions on topics ranging from how to improve soil health to the connection between healthy soil and healthy food. (Scroll down in this post to see her full list of sessions. Jill will be sharing her latest experience working with farmers from all over the world to improve their soil health and her insights from measuring the nutrient density in food grown from healthier soils. Want to keep up with Jill's expertise and the soil health doers she works with? You can by joining her Global Food and Farm Online Community.
Session Summary
People growing food in healthy soil hold all the keys to food security and wellness. Increasingly, we see the benefits from eating whole foods grown in these regenerative systems. Healthy soil is the foundation for the ecosystem services that are at the heart of our food production system. The evidence or metric for this relationship is the nutrient value in the food. Plants take up nutrients more effectively and efficiently when mediated through a biological system. Restoring and optimizing ecosystem services in soil has far-reaching positive consequences on climate, water and air quality, and general planet wellbeing.
Everything we do on the land has associated risks that can have positive, neutral, or negative consequences on soil health. All our agroecosystem management practices need to be in sync with the concept of building and sustaining healthy soils. Firstly, we need to stop losing soil through erosion and start the process of rebuilding or regenerating soil if we are to produce enough quality food to feed a growing population.
Food security too often is associated with abundance and yield. The concept of food security based on quality would mean we eat less food get the tasty nutrition we need and be well without compromising the environment. It is this model for agriculture that will nourish us and future generations.
Let’s talk about the steps we can take towards making food our medicine.
About Groundswell (from their website)
Entering its sixth year, The Groundswell event provides a forum for farmers and anyone interested in food production or the environment to learn about the theory and practical applications of Conservation Agriculture or regenerative systems, including no-till, cover crops and re-introducing livestock into the arable rotation, with a view to improving soil health.
Groundswell is a practical show aimed at anyone who wants to understand the farmer’s core asset, the soil, and make better informed decisions. It is a two-day event featuring talks, forums and discussions from leading international soil health experts, experienced arable and livestock farmers, agricultural policy experts, direct-drill demonstrations and AgTech innovators.
With wide appeal across the food and farming spectrum, Groundswell is relevant for conventional, organic, livestock, arable, landowners or tenant farmers