Last night, the RSA Food, Farming and Countryside Commission launched their new report ‘Our Future in the Land’ which sets out their vision for how they believe it is possible to ‘make our systems of food and farming and rural governance fit for the immense challenges and opportunities of the 21st century’. The event held at RSA House in London was attended by around two hundred people, including Rt Honourable Michael Gove MP, Henry Dimbleby, Baroness Barbara Young, Dame Fiona Reynolds and Professor Tim Young. CCRI Director Janet Dwyer also attended as she was on the Academic Advisory Board to the report.
One of the key authors of the report is Professor Tom MacMillan from the Royal Agricultural University, with whom the CCRI has a partnership and with the University College of Estate Management is implementing the catalyst project, an initiative that will unite industry and academic stakeholders and develop a set of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes that reflect the emerging needs of the land management and agri-food sectors in the post-Brexit era.
Regarding the report, Janet Dwyer said “It’s great to see this tremendous piece of work come to fruition. We had some very animated and thought-provoking discussions on the Commission’s Research Advisory Group, trying to pull together all the important elements of this complex challenge. It’s clear that a more integrated approach is essential for the future, to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of rural communities and economies, sustain the environment and deliver better health and well-being at the same time. Governments and policy makers have to step up, to offer better support for the innovators and enablers in the food and farming sectors and in villages and small towns up and down the country. We need to recognise the importance of this agenda for the whole of society.”
