The document discusses a presentation given at the University of Gloucestershire on exploring effective farming policies and prospects for an agricultural "Horticultural Belt" in Gloucestershire. It examines recommendations to establish a food strategy council and designate land areas as a Horticultural Belt to support small-scale, sustainable farming through a cooperative guild model. Future work would research farmer interest and consult stakeholders on opportunities for policy changes to support local food systems and agroecology.

1. Searching for effective farming policies in
Gloucestershire. Examining the scope for a
'Horticultural Belt' including food provisioning and
prospects for agro-ecological initiatives.
CCRI (Community and Countryside Research Institute), University of
Gloucestershire presentation chaired by Dr Matt Reed. 16-Feb-17 at the Oxstalls
campus, room LC102 from 12h15 – 13h15.
Speakers: Nick James and Liz Child

2. Intro and outline
1. us: who we are, the background to the Hortbelt Report, others involved, meetings so far [Nick]
2. the vision: the policy element, the quest to understand the constraints, the insight to the
possibilities [Nick]
3. Questions: what do we want to know from the academic researchers: policy within agrarian,
food, farming community, SDC, GCC; how to approach farmers; RAU; Hartbury; projects [Nick]
4. The report: Recommendations and explanation [Liz]
5. How to research among farmers and rural land owners:
a) any funding [?], interest [Liz],
b) approaches, methodology [Nick]
c) NFU and so on [Nick]?
6. Collaborations and partnerships Stroud and CCRI: CSO and academics, a potential project [?]
7. Conclusions: what policy? The emerging agrarian landscape?

3. Background
Stroud District [Food] and Horticultural Belt Group is a small working
group that has researched and drawn up this report over a period of
four years.
The main aim here is to search for and prescribe effective policy and
action in the agrarian and food provisioning sector.

4. Agroecology
• If "agroecology", recommended by the FAO and deliberated by UK
government, is to move into practice at the local level, then the policy
structures for steering and enabling a transformation need to be
considered within the context of the local authorities and institutions
working with food and agricultural supplies.
• “As a social movement, it pursues multifunctional roles for
agriculture, promotes social justice, nurtures identity and culture, and
strengthens the economic viability of rural areas.”
http://www.fao.org/family-farming/themes/agroecology/en/

5. November 2016 the regional symposium on title
‘agroecology for sustainable agriculture and food systems in
Europe and Central Asia’ was held.
• http://www.fao.org/europe/events/detail-events/en/c/429132/
• FAO’s objectives of the workshop on agroecology in Europe and
Central Asia were to:
• Facilitate exchanges on agroecology among different stakeholders to contribute to a
better understanding and initiate partnerships;
• Show case existing practices, interventions and systems;
• Starting a synthesis about the agroecology approaches in Europe, in reference with
the other three regions: Latin America, Asia & the Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa;
• At policy level: Identifying government initiatives and start to identify key entry
points policies in national policies and in common European policies.

6. APPG: Farmers in Parliament – ‘Opportunity
for Change’
• All-party Parliamentary Group on Agroecology
• What is Agroecology? What we do?
• “The future of Britain’s post-Brexit food and farming system was
addressed in a Parliamentary event hosted by Jeremy Lefroy MP, co-
chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agroecology for
Sustainable Food and Farming.
• The APPG were joined by some of the UK’s most innovative farmers
and food producers and organisations who spoke directly to MPs and
Peers about the issues facing small, family, organic and agroecological
farming today.”

7. Questions for this seminar
• The main question is therefore:
•what are the chances of finding such policy arenas
that may stimulate the local prospects for a
response?
•A secondary question is:
•how do we work with farmers and land owners
to investigate the chances to enable a food and
horticultural belt?

8. Presenters
• Dr Nick James is a geographer and Associate Lecturer with the Open
University. His work is mainly in food, and environmental policy. Nick
was part of the Transition Stroud Food Strategy Group from 2012.
• Liz Child is a Human Ecology graduate and a local fresh food
campaigner. She is now retired and an allotmenteer in Stroud. While
living in Nailsworth she was a member of GoGrow Nailsworth Valleys
community group.

9. Globalized Water. A Question of Governance
Editor, Graciela Schneier-Madanes

10. James, N. (forthcoming) ‘From ‘Fly Frontier’ to ‘Cotton Country’:
Social Change and Agrarian Transformation in the Northwest of
Zimbabwe’

11. What is ‘local’?

12. Map showing Stroud District in
Gloucestershire

13. BBC Radio 4 Against the Grain
• Food Security
• Against the Grain, Series 1
• Britain last produced all its own food at the end of the eighteenth
century. Since then, our levels of food security - growing what we eat
ourselves - have risen and fallen depending on world markets,
domestic politics, and war. Now, in an unstable world, many people in
farming argue that food security should once again be a real concern.
But is that just a marketing ploy? In episode 8 of Against the Grain,
Charlotte Smith debates the issue with farmers' leaders and
economists.

14. Tim Lang
• Food, Brexit and the Consequences: what can academics and the UK
food movement do? (July 2016)
• http://foodresearch.org.uk/2016/07/food-brexit-and-the-
consequences-what-can-academics-and-the-uk-food-movement-do/
• “These are extraordinary food times requiring special attention from
members of all the progressive food alliances which have grown in
recent years …”

15. CCRI research
• Mills, J., P. Gaskell, J. Ingram, J. Dwyer, M. Reed, and C. Short. (2016)
‘Engaging farmers in environmental management through a better
understanding of behaviour.’ Agriculture and Human Values pp.1-17.
• “Effective engagement between farmers, government and
environmental organisations can help create interest, responsibility
and a social norm. However, to provide this support and advice
requires a good understanding of farmers’ willingness and ability to
undertake environmental activities and the social and cultural
influences on farmer behavioural change.”

16. Food Availability in Stroud District
Considered in the context of climate change and peak oil.
• Local Strategic Partnership: Think Tank on Global Changes
• 16th December 2008
• Fi Macmillan and Dave Cockcroft
• https://archive.org/stream/Food_Availability_in_Stroud_District/Foo
d_Availability_in_Stroud_District_djvu.txt

17. Can Britain Feed itself?
• The Land 4 Winter 2007-8
• “At the moment Britain imports nearly 40 per cent of its food, most of
its energy and nearly all of its fibre. In years to come we might have to
become more self-sufficient. If so, it would not be for the first time.
Many people alive today remember the last time the UK had to resort
to home production. Could we do it again? And could we do it with
organic agriculture?” Simon Fairlie investigates.

18. Food Strategy group,
• Stroud Food Strategy Group (2012) 'Proposal to Stroud District
Council on a local food strategy' Unpublished Document, Nov. 2012.
• £100,000 grant among several groups.

19. People who have read the Report so far.
• Dr John Meadley, Pasture for Life
• Simon Pickering, SDC
• Dr Matt Reed, CCRI
• Martin Whiteside, SDC
• Francis Barton, Independent Researcher, Stroud
• Joy Carey, Sustainable Food Systems Planning, Bristol

20. Bristol

21. Recommendations
Establish a Stroud District Food (Provisioning) Strategy
Assembly. Launch initial meeting of all participating
community groups, charities and businesses.
Identify geographically suitable areas of the District to be
designated as Horticultural Belt by a new survey of current
land-use.
S.D. Planning Office would administer the apportionment of
Horticultural Belt designated land and support a long-term
lease model for a small-holding culture.

22. Guild
The Local Horticultural Belt group establishes a Guild of
producers who co-operatively develop their systems of
production and local sales.

23. Stroud District Council (SDC)
 SDC’s role within the Horticultural Belt policy would support the Guild by:
• enabling change of use and low-impact dwelling planning applications,
• supporting access to start-up and capacity grants,
• licence regular daily use of Dursley, and Minchinhampton historical covered market
buildings for farm-food stalls, and shops in Wotton-under-Edge, Berkeley, Frampton,
Cam, Eastington, and Stonehouse by supporting reduced-rate premises or licensed
standings,
• support an enlarged covered market-place for 4 – 6 day/week market, with easy
vehicular access, in the District’s largest town, Stroud.
 Allocation of specialist planning officer to progress and oversee an adopted
Horticultural Belt policy.

26. Future work – research and consultations
1. How to research among farmers and rural land owners:
a) any funding [?], interest [Liz],
b) approaches, methodology [Nick]
c) NFU and so on [Nick]?

27. Concluding points
• Collaborations and partnerships Stroud and CCRI:
• CSO and academics, a potential project [?]
• Conclusions: what policy?
• The emerging agrarian landscape?
• What are the prospects for “new” policy?
• What opportunities are there locally SDC, GCC and other agencies to
influence land owners, users and farmers?

28. The role for civil society organisations
• The search for gaps and opportunities to:
• Enable farming and food provisioning to become more sustainable;
• To seek-out policy that can be enhanced to make some transformation
• To form a notional “belt” that form an agroecological nexus of local food,
decent livelihoods and concentrated around sustainable development.