FarmED Literature Festival

Award-winning journalist and broadcaster Dan Saladino is headlining the inaugural Farm & Food Literature Festival at FarmED on Sunday, May 15th. Co-curated with Chelsea Green Publishing, the Festival is a celebration of words, stories and experiences from the wonderful world of agroecology, regenerative farming and sustainable food.

As well as inspiring talks, debates and workshops, you’ll enjoy a delicious, nutritious, lunch, plus morning coffee and afternoon tea in the FarmEAT Cafe and a guided walk around the farm and kitchen garden.

About the Authors:

Dan Saladino makes programmes about food for BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. His book, Eating to Extinction is a captivating and urgent exploration of some of the world's most endangered foods. Examining what this means for both humanity and the future of the planet, Eating to Extinction is essential reading for our times and was awarded the 2019 Jane Grigson Trust Award.

Nicola Chester is the RSPB‘s first and longest-running female columnist and a Guardian Country Diarist. She runs Wild Writing Workshops and her new memoir, On Gallows Down: Place, Protest and Belonging was recently named a BBC Countryfile Magazine Book of the Year.

Anna Jones: In her new book, Divide, Journalist and broadcaster Anna Jones delivers a powerful manifesto for bridging the political and cultural division between rural and urban communities to make positive lasting changes to heal the environment.

Vicki Hird, environmental campaigner and author of Rebugging the Planet, Vicki will introduce you to the intelligent insects, marvellous minibeasts and inspirational invertebrates that bring our planet to life, and why we must try and stop “insectageddon”.

Marina O’Connell is a successful grower, farmer and educator. Her book Designing Regenerative Food Systems is a toolkit for farmers and growers of tried and tested agroecological methods, using the case study of her Huxhams Cross Farm to show how dead soil was transformed into a thriving fertile land, drawing on a toolkit of biodynamic, organic, agroforestry, regenerative, agroecological and permacultural methods.

Ben Raskin has worked in horticulture for more than 25 years and is the Soil Association’s Head of Horticulture and Agroforestry. He has a wide range of experience both in practical commercial growing and wider policy and advocacy work. His new book is The Woodchip Handbook: A Complete Guide for Farmers, Gardeners and Landscapers.

Ben Rawlence: Award winning writer and activist, Ben wrote two books about the human consequences of environmental catastrophe in Africa. After moving to Wales and beginning to research the coming impacts of climate change closer to home, his attention turned to the Arctic Circle and the boreal forest. What he discovered led to his third book: The Treeline and to a dawning realisation that we needed to prepare – and soon – for major changes to our ways of life. And to do that, we need new institutions that promote new ways of thinking and learning, new ways of seeing ourselves and new ways of interacting with the non-human world. He runs Black Mountains College which is committed to that task.

Chris Smaje has coworked a small farm in Somerset, southwest England, for the last 17 years. Previously, he was a university-based social scientist, working in the Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey and the Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths College. His book A Small Farm Future makes the case for a society built around local economies, self-provisioning, agricultural diversity and a shared earth.

Colin Tudge : Colin Tudge is a biologist and writer who has written for Farmers’ Weekly, New Scientist and BBC Radio 3. He writes books – on natural history, evolution, food and farming, and the philosophy of science and metaphysics. With his wife Ruth and Graham Harvey he launched the Oxford Real Farming Conference. His new book is The Great Re-Think: A 21st Century Renaissance, which was published last year.

Final programme for the day can be found here.

Author and session information can be found here. 

Tiered Pricing

Delivery of our mission is a collective effort and our values embrace inclusivity and diversity. We don’t want price to be a barrier to anyone visiting FarmED or attending our events. Read more about our tiered pricing policy here.

GREAT Farmers

As part of the GREAT project (see www.greatglos.co.uk) we can offer subsidised places to existing and aspiring farmers, growers and advisers in Gloucestershire to the suite of regenerative agriculture and agroecological transition courses at FarmED. To book, please select the GREAT ticket option below. You will be asked for a few eligibility details including evidence of your involvement in regenerative agriculture and your potential impact in Gloucestershire.