The UK's newest farming union formally launched its policy manifesto at the Oxford Real Farming conference earlier this week.

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The the Landworkers' alliance (LWA), which only came together in early 2014, held a press launch for its new manifesto on Tuesday (6^th January).

The LWA manifesto sets out key policy recommendations, which the union wants the main political parties to consider in the run-up to the 2015 general election, including:

• The need for a progressive national food policy;
• A more equal distribution of CAP resources; and
• Support for new entrants.

The manifesto is the result of personal meetings with Conservative and shadow farming ministers over the past 12 months as well as wider consultation of the union's membership. The Alliance's first major act as a union was a demonstration outside the headquarters of Defra and the NFU, which are situated next to one another in London. LWA members at the demonstration in April called for an end to the "stranglehold of big business over agricultural policy"

LWA spokesperson Ed Hamer said on Tuesday, "This manifesto gives a voice to a growing number of UK farmers who feel their views are not represented by established farming unions.

"Every single one of the recommendations we are calling for in this document can be achieved within the existing framework of the Common Agricultural Policy. All that is lacking is the political will within the UK government to support small-scale producers and ensure their livelihoods are not undermined by political bias."

The Alliance is a member of international peasant farming movement La Via Campesina, which represents 200 million small-scale food producers around the world.

ORFC 'comes of age' in 2015

Organisers of the sixth Oxford Real Farming Conference, at which the LWA manifesto was launched said their event had undergone a "Coming of Age" this year, after steadily gaining a reputation in the farming community for the strong practical, grassroots focus in previous years. Organisers said the 2015 conference demonstrated "A growing demand to challenge the status quo in agriculture."

Speaking about this year's event Colin Tudge, the ORFC's co-founder, illustrated how ORFC conference-goers and speakers are already working to enact the changes LWA feels are necessary for a sustainable farming future. Tudge said, "The point of the ORFC is to bring about a cross-the-board shift in farming – how it's done, what it's for, and who's in charge of it. We need to raise the status and security of farmers – and to get everyone else involved as well.

"We're not out simply to attack the status quo – we show-case farmers and communities who [are] already showing that there are much better ways of doing things. But we also dig deep, exploring economic models and the kind of science that really can support the food chains that we need, and are good for the biosphere.

"At the heart of all the world's affairs – social, political, economic, environmental – sits agriculture. It's the thing we absolutely have to get right, but we have to do things differently."

Dr John Meadley, an agricultural scientist, chair of the Pasture-Fed Livestock Association and organiser of the Farming Outside the Box stream of sessions added, "In organizing the farmers' days we focused on good science, working with nature, the bottom line and offering something practical to take home. Of the 22 speakers more than half were farmers sharing their practical experience with their peers”.