Cymraeg Between 2021 and 2023, the Landworkers’ Alliance worked with Sustain, Shared Assets, and peri-urban farmers in Bristol, Sheffield, Glasgow, London and Cardiff, on a project to promote and support peri-urban farming. Since September 2023, Fringe Farming has entered a dormant phase until further funding can be found, however the Landworkers’ Alliance will continue to promote peri-urban horticulture as part of its “Horticulture Across Four Nations” campaign.
Fringe Farming aims to explore the barriers and opportunities for agroecological farming at the edge of urban areas. The project works with local stakeholders to identify land and develop local actions, and agree national policy recommendations to enable agroecological farming. We aim to demonstrate how peri urban farming can contribute to the green economic recovery, and help address the impacts of the COVID pandemic, Brexit, and the climate and ecological emergencies.
Among the achievements of the Fringe Farming to date are:
- The publication of a policy brief by each of the stakeholder groups, as well as an overall report, “Fringe Farming: Peri-urban agroecology towards resilient food economies and public goods” for use in advocating to policy makers.
- Stakeholders liaising at a local level with local authorities to remove barriers to peri-urban farming.
- Organisation of a “Round Table Parliamentary Event” with MPs and Peers to make the case for peri-urban farming and present the briefings.
- Hosting of two peri-urban study tours, in Manchester for Defra officials and in London for Local Authority officials.
- Funding the publication of LWA’s “A Market Garden Renaissance” (September 2023) and “Horticulture across Four Nations” (January 2024) reports.
LWA’s main role in Fringe Farming has been the Peri-Urban Practitioners’ Forum (PUPF), to engage and learn from farmers and growers based in or on the outskirts of urban areas. The forums provide a space for farmer-to-farmer learning and aim to help growers find ways to overcome challenges that they are currently facing. In the first year the online forums focussed on issues such as “Access to Land” and “Access to Finance”, while in the second year topics were chosen by peri-urban practitioners and included, “Access to Urban Markets”, “Opportunity arising from Crisis: Learning from the Cuban Example”, “A Journey to Local Food Success: Listen and learn about Regather Sheffield” and “GIS Mapping for Fringe Farmers”. We hope to re-start the Peri-Urban Practitioners Forum again in the future.
