Barriers to low carbon farming - your thoughts wanted

Here at Cottage Farm we have demonstrated that it is perfectly possible to farm sustainably and in a resilient manner, that is organically, without using fossil fuels but still utilising machinery and energy.

The best place to find out what else we are up to is here www.TransitionNC.org (click on Food Producers Directory and look up Cottage Farm).

Now I have been invited to speak at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group in Parliament on 22nd March on the subject of Ultra-Low Carbon Farming (see below for details). Apart from a short description of what we do at Cottage Farm, I want to point to existing obstacles to low carbon farming, including planning, taxation and market access issues.

It would be great to get the Farming Futures community involved. If you have any suggestions from your farming work of what to draw attention to, please let me know at Paul@transitionnc.org.

Paul Sousek runs Cottage Farm in Cornwall. You can read more about his farm here.

Ultra-Low Carbon Farming: Urban and Rural Case Studies

Tuesday March 22nd - 6.30pm
Committee Room 10, House of Commons
To be followed by Q & A

This meeting will bring together two pioneering agriculturalists who will share their experience of ultra-low carbon food production.  Dr Robert Biel (UCL) will present on his work at the UCL Developmental Planning Unit's Urban Agriculture research unit.  Dr Biel also runs the Abundance project, which has set up productive food gardens on low-income housing estates in South London.  Paul Sousek produces beef, lamb and vegetables on Cottage Farm in Cornwall.  The farm uses a minimum of fossil fuels, with electricity and fuel for machinery and delivery vans produced renewably on site.

Please register for this event by clicking here