Opinion: Defra and Department of Health should work together
© Adobe Stock I’m intrigued by what makes us farm the way we do. What it is that drives land managers to change practices and adopt new approaches.
I’m a Groundswell aficionado, so I know that changing climates, soil health and profitability are key drivers of change in the UK.
But what about human health? Having seen how health is creating transformations in farming throughout my Nuffield research travels, I’m convinced that we can do a better job in the UK at linking how and what we grow with improving our (declining) national health.
See also: Opinion – why we need to redefine the word ‘productive’
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Research from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission has shown that diet-related illness is the primary driver of the UK’s public health crises – costing us £268bn every year.
As farmers we have a huge opportunity to be the ones to deliver a solution – we can grow the nutrient-dense food we need to become healthier.
How we farm has never been more relevant, for fixing planetary health and, crucially, for fixing our own health.
In India, I experienced first-hand a seismic farming transition taking place across parts of the country.
It’s a transition away from chemical-based farming towards a more regenerative “natural” farming that prioritises soil health.
Natural farming has nine principles, is rooted in modern science and takes inspiration from the sages behind regenerative agriculture.
In the past 10 years, through Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF), 1.8 million farmers have transitioned to natural farming. It is the most impressive and inspiring example I’ve seen of creating change at pace and scale.
I asked farmers why they are adopting natural farming. The answer I heard again and again was because they no longer wanted their families to be eating food laden with chemicals.
Since the “Green Revolution” of the 1960s, India’s use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides has been mounting as farmers and policymakers sought to boost crop yields.
Hearing about the effect high chemical use has had on farmer health in India is heartbreaking – respiratory disease, skin disease, cancer, suicide.
The majority of the farmers I met over three weeks told me they knew someone who had been to hospital because of chemicals.
APCFN works through women’s collectives and farmer trainers. Inspiringly, women are seen as the key changemakers, as they are responsible for household decisions on food and most directly experience the connection between how their families farm and their family health.
There’s no doubt that soil health, climate resilience and business profitability are key objectives of natural farming, but health is a real driving force in making farmers change their practices.
This has led me to think about the health of us farmers in the UK. I wonder what results we’d find if we conducted a farmer health survey across our nation? And how often do we link our personal health to the food system we are part of?
At the Old Salt festival in Montana in June (a ranching festival where ‘cowboys meet conservationists’) I heard the phrase “food is medicine” many times.
With another prime minister revolving into Downing Street soon, perhaps now is the moment for bold de-siloed policy where Defra and the Department of Health become closer and make the link between what we grow and how to improve our national health.
As farmers, we can provide the medicine our nation needs.