How Farming Can Cool the Planet

“It’s been really great to meet like-minded people during the How Farming Can Cool The Planet project. I’ve met people who I might not ordinarily come into contact with but share many of the same values. The knowledge sharing aspect of the project has been insightful.”

Lawrence Weston, FLAME member

The How Farming Can Cool the Planet project, which is funded by Farming the Future, is a collaboration between The National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC), Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS-UK) a FLAME (the youth branch of the Land Workers Alliance) and involves young people from a diverse range of backgrounds.  

The project, which started earlier this year and runs until June 2023, is bringing together students, young farmers and FLAME (Food, Land Agriculture: a Movement for Equality), the youth branch of Landworkers Alliance, to exchange views and ideas. The aim of the project is to engage young people in the food and farming movement through their existing passion to tackle the climate crisis. This video is a great summary of what’s been done so far!

In a survey of 1200 students, carried out by SOS-UK in 2021, 78% said that if they knew more about the environmental impact of food production, they would be willing to make changes to reduce their impact.

Young people involved in the three organisations have been attending organised farm visits to see agroecological farming in practice and learning how food can be produced while bringing benefits to the natural environment.

A multi-media resource will map the journey of those involved in the project, sharing experiences, perceptions and positive messages.  The aim is to inspire young people by personal learning experiences and sharing the aspirations of those who feel passionately about food, farming and the environment.

The three organisations are collaborating to inspire young people to consider the many options for farming, food production and caring for the environment.

Positive Outcomes

• We were able to break down misconceptions by discussion and sharing information – harnessing the power of communication.

• Once the project name, aim and work plan were established, the conversations, opportunities, personal interaction through farm visits, attending conferences, etc provided positive and uplifting experiences.

• The experience of meeting different young people, engaging in diverse opportunities, going on visits, taking part in meetings and discussions enthused the young people involved.

• An ‘energy’ noted of different young people gathering to look, learn, discuss ideas, eat, socialise and share their experiences.

• Collaboration has led to extended inclusion in associated work and further opportunities for input to events.

• Friends made and opportunities created for further collaboration on existing and future work (between both the young participants and staff).

• Establishing effective working arrangements with project partners led to trust and genuine collaboration making the most of an extensive skill set.

• Reaffirmation of the power (and enjoyment) of collaboration.

• The genuine interest for understanding more about sustainable food production (particularly by those who sought to buy sustainable ingredients but had never visited a farm).

• Young people’s grace when presented with facts and experiences to change their mindset.

• Eagerness to look, learn and experience.

• Opportunity to reach a wide and diverse audience with positive discussion, thoughts, ideas, feedback, particularly with the release of the video.

• Renewed passion and enjoyment whilst working on a project that works with young people to help share positive messages, experiences and great hope for the food system.

• Just how much better young people are at working together and being respectful of each others opinions than adults!

• The learning and fun had by staff as well as the youth participants.

• Wider opportunities being shared between the three organisations – e.g. invite from young farmers for a member of SOS-UK or FLAME to join the NFYFC Youth Forum, ability to join the SOS-UK sustainability summit, FLAME members being invited to be part of a focus group that NFYFC are doing on what soil training should include, and SOS-UK working with NFYFC to look at developing carbon literacy training for young farmers.

“I think a better join up between young people who are campaigning for changes to our food and farming system and those who are producing foodon farms is one of the most powerful ways of advancing food justice for the future.”

Anya Hyndside, FLAME staff support

Where Next?

Having been awarded a year’s continuation funding from Farming The Future we are about to embark on the next stage of the project and build on our achievements since March 2022.

We plan to continue creating opportunities for young people from the different organisations to do farm visits and attend events together with a focus on enabling good conversations to take place as well as joint learning. We will encourage more participation to build on a great start of ‘culture and experience exchange’ with the act of eating together being an important part of all visits.

We will provide and facilitate more opportunities for youth voices active in food, farming and the climate to be heard and amplified, and comms materials will continue to be shared by the different organisations to help expand knowledge and understanding within all our networks.

We have also created a photographic summary, with participant quotes, of all the How Farming Can Cool The Planet activities from March 2022 to June 2023. View it yma. If you’d like to find out more about the project or might be interested in getting involved with the next phase, contact anya@holding-the-space.org.