Agroecology looks set to feature more strongly in parliamentary discussions about food and farming, following the launch last week of a dedicated All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the topic. Chaired by Baroness Sue Miller and Robert Flello MP the aim of the APPG on Agroecolgy is to explore a viable and sustainable future for UK farming.

Peter Lundgren says that coming in the wake of the superdairy debacle and the on-going debate about the place of biotechnology on our farms it seems a good time for farmers and consumers to take stock of the situation and reassess the future of our farms.

What is Agroecology

Defined as ’applying ecological concepts and principles to the study, design and management of sustainable agroecosystems’, agroecology received a significant boost last year when an expert group convened by the United Nations concluded that ’the best option’ was not to farm more intensively but to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.

The APPG’s launch so soon after the publication of Professor John Beddington’s Foresight report reflects the fact that, contrary to much of the ’pro intensive farming’ advance publicity, the document contains much that supports agroecological methods.

"There is no more important subject than how to feed the world without using the resource equivalent of two or three planet Earths," said Baroness Sue Miller, one of the founding members of the APPG. "That’s borne out by the number of people here today, one of the best‐ever turn‐outs for an APPG launch," she added, with standing‐room only in the Grand Committee Room of the Palace of Westminster.

Colin Tudge, founder of the Campaign for Real Farming and the Oxford Real Farming Conference, said that everyone had the right to be fed to a high standard. "But we’ve made it difficult because we’ve screwed up the way in which we do it.

"While there’s much that’s useful in the Beddington report, unfortunately there’s also an air of panic about it. It acknowledges we’re facing shortages of oil, phosphorus, fresh water and so on, all of which are likely to affect our current methods of farming.

"Its solution is to turn immediately to high‐tech solutions, yet the problem is not a matter of ideology, but biology," he pointed out. "We’re all worrying about how we’ll feed 9.5 billion people by 2050, but it’s a finite problem ‐ the human population is predicted to level out and then decline.

"With 4.2 billion hectares of global farmland available, feeding a population of 9.5 billion shouldn’t be a problem. What’s needed is government commitment to food security through its support for a healthy, modern agriculture.

Finance is needed, but it’s not what we want from government ‐ instead it’s the willingness to identify laws and financial ’wrinkles’ that are either hindering, or could be helpful to, this process."

Mr Tudge cited restrictions on animal feed, tenancy laws and overburdening planning regulations as areas that the APPG could help government to identify and address, as well as new initiatives such as Fresh Start’s programme to free up land from major landowners for young farmers.

Robert Flello, co‐chairman of the group and the MP responsible for introducing the Sustainable Livestock Bill to Parliament last year, acknowledged that there was a danger in having too many active APPGs. "There is always the risk that it can divert and dilute attention, but the APPG will help to air the issues and identify where best to concentrate our efforts."

The Group aims to meet every month that Parliament is siting. Its next meeting is on Wednesday 15 March, with guest speaker Dr Hans Herren, President of the Millennium Institute. Dr Herren, a World Food Prize holder, was coordinating author for ’Greening Agriculture’ in the newly‐published report from the United Nations Environment Programme, ’Towards a Green Economy’. He will be speaking about the importance of agroecology in tackling hunger, climate change and environmental degradation.

Click here to see who's on the All Party Parliamentary Group