ABSTRACT
We live in challenging times. Climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental pollution, non-communicable disease, pandemic, antibiotic resistance, industrially farmed sentient animals… to name a few. These challenges appear disconnected and insurmountable. But they are neither. This is a story about a life journey from being part of the problem – industrial farmers – to delivering real, joined-up solutions on a family dairy farm in Southwest Scotland.
The story is at times harrowing and upsetting, but if system transition was easy, well, we’d all be doing it already? This journey of experimentation not only faced the relative unknowns of holistic, agroecological farming, but also the social and economic headwinds of an industry that didn’t want it to succeed.
At this farm level, at least, the evidence is now pretty clear. Adequate amounts of safe, affordable food can be produced without the need to pollute and degrade our planet. Without the need to push our land workers and our animals to the edge of burn-out. Surprise! The answer lies in farming with respect and compassion. Our challenge now is to convince an industry…
