Our highlights from the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2025
In early January the Earth Trust team joined thousands of people working across the food and farming space at the annual Oxford Real Farming Conference for two days of inspiration and connection. With so many sessions running simultaneously the team took a divide and conquer approach to get the most out of the event, with everyone taking something different away from what was a jam-packed couple of days!
Here, Stuart, Emma and Tristan share their experiences and key takeaways:
Stuart Ritchie, Environmental Education Manager at Earth Trust
What an engaging, inspirational couple of days! When I booked my ticket to attend the 16th annual Oxford Real Farming Conference, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. On the first day of the conference, I stepped off the freezing cold bus into Oxford and the atmosphere was buzzing. I wasn’t anticipating there to be so many attendees, and such a beautifully diverse group of people at that. The opening plenary was staged in the stunning main hall of the Oxford Town Hall. The six speakers who introduced the conference through their stories really set the scene; the passion and urgency driving the regenerative agricultural movement was powerful.
My goal from attending was to listen and learn from a range of regen market gardeners, going about their regenerative business in their own ways, to help inform our own plans here at Earth Trust. I was blown away by a workshop on increasing profits on regen farms through flowers and foliage. It certainly made me think differently about the potential of stems and foliage to generate income on the regen farm. It turns out that even willow and hazel sticks are worth something – indeed some folks make a living just selling stems to florists from all native hedgerows!
Having attended 8 sessions over the two days, there’s far too much to write about here. The overwhelming takeaway for me was that systems change in the food system is possible and is happening now. Will the movement eliminate food system greed, waste and junk food diets? Probably not. But regen market gardens, working in collaboration with likeminded food system problem solvers, can make a huge difference to people’s understanding, diets and nutritional health at the local level. It’s not difficult, we just have to do it.
Emma Eberhardt, Regenerative Farming and Species Recovery Officer at Earth Trust
It was fantastic to be able to join the Oxford Real Farming Conference this year. It was a very busy couple days, seeing familiar faces, attending talks, workshops and networking events. The sessions ranged from practical farming tips, research and case studies, land connection practices and international solidarity.
During a talk on agroforestry with pigs, The Woolly Pig Company shared their practise of introducing pigs in a woodland where they have recorded an increase of 60% in bird diversity. Helen Browning from the Soil Association shared practices they have taken on her farm to reduce their carbon footprint such as having less machinery, only milking once a day, outwintering cattle and using less feed. She also shared the Soil Association Exchange Market which allows farmers to be paid for captured CO2, without having to sell carbon credits.
One of the key figures that has stuck with me since was shared in the opening ceremony: unhealthy food is costing the UK over £250 billion every year, according to a report by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. It reminded me of the importance Earth Trust plays in connecting young people with nature through our educational programmes and the role we play as land stewards in transitioning towards regenerative agriculture for the benefit of wildlife and functioning ecosystems, but also for provision of food and community customs.
Tristan Leslie, Senior Ranger at Earth Trust
ORFC was a great start to the year, good to catch up with some familiar faces and meet new people. It always helps me to get enthusiastic again and think about trying new things in the coming year.
I benefitted hugely hearing from Iain Tolhurst, a local organic grower near Reading, explaining the benefits of ploughing and how it is often demonised. I am now feeling less guilty about using the plough going forward, as long as it is seen as a tool not to be relied on or abused. It also really brought home for me the need for companion ploughing with the monitoring of soil health, and how to limit the damage of the plough in your system.
The best talk I went to was on Systems Thinking: Exploring the benefits and barriers to whole farm approaches. The stand out speaker here was Rhodri Lloyd-Williams, sharing how he had broken free from his conventional and economically unstable family farm in Wales and had flipped the business on its head to deliver better economic results through diverse enterprise stacking, and in doing so achieved huge environmental outcomes as well.
It made me realise the power of jumping into a new model with both feet, and the success of doing so was obvious. He really brought home the fact that it is often hard to step back from and critique a model which you are fully embedded into, whether that be a family farm, or an organisation you’re working within.
A couple of days well spent! Well done to the ORFC team and all the speakers who shared such valuable expertise. We are looking forward to next year already!