Recent news stories
around the environment,
particularly those focused
on Lough Neagh, have often set farmers and environmentalists at odds with one another.
While some believe farmers
are being unfairly scapegoated, it's
clear that current intensive farming practices have been linked to
damaging consequences for the
climate and nature, as well as soil
health, gas emissions and water
quality and usage.
Agriculture has long been an
innovative sector and one of the
models being considered to ensure
future sustainability of food production is regenerative farming.
While there isn't yet a UK certification that outlines what constitutes regenerative agriculture, the
Wildlife Trust define it as “an approach to farming that, in theory,
allows the land, the soil, water,
nutrients, and natural assets to regenerate themselves, as opposed to
conventional approaches to farming that can deplete these natural
resources”.
A recent survey by UK policy think-tank Demos surveyed
1,500 farmers and policy experts,
identifying five main benefits of a
regenerative approach to farming, including: 1. Protecting soil
health and fertility; 2. Reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and
improving biodiversity; 3. Increasing long-term farm profitability; 4.
Increasing farm resilience against
extreme weather and supply disruption; and 5. Enhancing food
security and resilience.
While a regenerative approach
to agriculture has a tendency to
promote on the many environmental benefits it can bring to a
local ecosystem, such benefits can
extend beyond the environment to
consumers.
In a report by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission
(FFCC, 2023), after several public
dialogue sessions they found that
consumers demanded greater
support for farmers to farm more
sustainably with more government
investment and incentives.
Furthermore, in a nationwide
poll by the FFCC of 2,000 consumers, they found that 82 per cent
of consumers stated that it is important to produce food without
harming the planet.
This increasing consumer appetite for foods that are produced
in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way poses a challenge
to both the farmer and all key players across the supply chain.
For such an approach to be
successful, it will require systems
change for everyone – people, place
and businesses alike.
The Sustainable Restaurant Association highlights that “supporting regenerative agriculture offers
many of the same business benefits as choosing local or organic”.
In doing so, it identified some key
benefits for the hospitality industry to include regenerative farmed
ingredients on the menu. For example, reassuring the customer of
the transparency, traceability and
provenance of the food they serve.
With this in mind, regenerative
hospitality reaches far beyond established commitments to sustainability. It puts the active revival of
biodiversity, the empowerment
of under-represented people, the
protection of distinctive cultures
and the vitality of rural and urban
locations at its core.
If you wish to learn more about
regenerative approaches to hospitality, the Regenerative Hospitality
Summit 2024 is a transformative
event from Ulster University and
Oxford Cultural Collective that
seeks to explore and implement
strategies that harmonise the activities of hospitality, food, and
drink organisations with the natural ecosystems, communities, and
places they inhabit.
The summit is being held from
May 5-8 in Transylvania, Romania.
We invite forward-thinking farmers and local hospitality providers
to participate. For more information visit https://www.ulster.
ac.uk/regenerative-hospitality or
email [email protected]
- Article co-written with
Matthew Fegan (UUBS,
placement student)