Trelonk welcomed visitors to the farm this week, providing us with the perfect opportunity to discuss our project and methods with the current crop of custodians of the countryside. Move over you lot, we’re coming for you and we’re shaking things up!! Jokes aside, it is vital we get a chance to connect with farmers, to learn from them and to understand their way of thinking. It is not lost on them that when we talk about ‘investing in natural resources’, ‘protecting ecosystem services’ or some other well-meaning gobbledegook, we are advocating for farming practices that would have been commonplace in their fathers/grandfathers’ lives. Like most things, agriculture has come full circle.
The group we were talking to were of the ‘bigger is better’ generation, party to the notion that chemicals will save the day. Satisfyingly, by the end of the day, some of the conversations the group were having (“what do you think of that crop?” “great, I might try it myself!”) brought it home just how far we’d come. Opportunities to share ideas, to inspire and influence people in the world of agriculture seldom present themselves and so it is with a great deal of pride that I engaged with the group, confident I had more to learn from them then they did from us!
All Images © Trelonk Ltd
