The latest updates on our mission of reaching net zero through the agri-food sector
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May 2024
This month's highlights
Welcome to the latest newsletter from the AFN Network+. Each month we will be bringing you an update on what is happening across the network and beyond. This month:
New ECR board
Webinars on systems thinking with or without beans
Agroforestry report
… and more
News
Scoping Study Grants
Applications for the AFN Network+ Scoping Study Grants are open. The grants provide funding to carry out work on our mission to support the UK agri-food system through the transition to a net zero UK by 2050.
This year’s round of scoping study grants provides:
- Funding for up to 14 projects at a maximum of up to £50,000 per project for a maximum 12-month period.
- Projects must be interdisciplinary and involve at least one non-academic partner in a meaningful way.
- Awards are granted at 80% full economic cost (FEC) and UKRI rules regarding eligible costs apply, so for example if a project costs £50,000 to carry out, we will provide £40,000.
- We have used your input on the AFN Research and Policy Priorities 2024 document and strategic discussions at last month’s AFN Network+ Big Tent 2024 to select specific research priorities which your Scoping Study application must address.
Full details on the funding call. The deadline for applications is 5pm, 30 June 2024.
LinkedIn group for collaboration
We have also created a LinkedIn group for anyone interested in applying for the scoping study grants. It is a place for members to network, share ideas and make connections with a view to developing project proposals and find project partners. Join the group
New ECR board
This year’s Board for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) has been appointed and started work. Members of the Board have interests and expertise from across the agri-food system. ECRs are being mentored by senior team members and will be embedded in Champion activities. The ECRs will meet and discuss important network issues, as well as co-lead funded network activities and projects.
Upcoming webinars
Systems Thinking: How to address highly complex problems - Gerald Midgley
Monday 20 May, 14.00-15.30
Anyone who has tried to unravel and address problems in the agri-food system will know how complex it is: agri-food researchers, stakeholders and professionals working towards net zero also have to account for other economic, health, social and environmental issues, which are often multiple, interlinked and overlapping.
While traditional scientific, policy and management approaches can make useful contributions, we need something in addition if we want to address more of the complexity and conflict associated with these kinds of complex problems. Systems thinking can help. In this talk, Gerald Midgley will introduce a framework of systems thinking skills, plus a variety of systems ideas and methods, that can help people put these skills into practice.
Book your ticket
Save the Date
Using systems thinking to transform our food: Beans as an analytical lens
Wednesday 19 June, 10:00-11:00
Given the complex nature of the UK food system, it is clear that interventions to transform it will need to be designed from a systems perspective, i.e. as systemic innovations. Key questions therefore include; what should be the boundaries of the system? Which actors and what perspectives would have to be involved? What collaboration would be needed? How could all the moving parts pull in one direction at once? Who would be the winners and losers? We will look at a systems approach to food system transformation, through the lens of the BeanMeals project, which was designed to explore systemic innovations using beans as the case study.
Speakers include John Ingram, who leads food systems research at the Environmental Change Institute, at the University of Oxford, and Gerald Midgley, who is the foremost authority on the theory and practice of systems thinking and systemic leadership. More details coming soon.
More News
Agroforestry report
A prominent policy option for carbon sequestration is large-scale tree planting. The UK aimed to plant 30,000 hectares of new woodland by 2025. With less than a year to go, it is now seemingly impossible to meet this target. When most people imagine tree planting efforts, they envision afforestation, however, there is also scope for tree planting on agricultural land. In fact, the integration of trees on actively utilised agricultural land is a long-standing practice in many parts of the world and is known as agroforestry. This report, written by Arina Machine (a member of the AFN Year 2 ECR Board) and Heiko Balzter (AFN Year 1 Champion) provides an introduction into agroforestry, its benefits for climate and food production, and its role and context in potential futures of the UK agricultural sector.
Big Tent round-up
The AFN Network+’s second ‘Big Tent’ event took place in Sheffield on March 13th and 14th 2024. The annual meeting was a brilliant opportunity for around 200 participants to hear from and engage with others working for change in the UK agri-food system. Participants worked on translating our priorities for research and policy into funding themes for the 2024 round of scoping studies, building on our Research and Policy Priorities Report published in March, as well as discussing the main ways that AFN Network+ activities can support members in advancing change over the next 18 months.
The programme was designed around inclusivity and involvement, to maximise opportunities for networking, with a mix of panel sessions, breakout discussions and fantastic keynote speeches including Sue Pritchard, Chief Executive of The Food, Farming, and Countryside Commission (FFCC), Judith Batchelar, Director of Food Matters International, former director at Sainsbury's and Deputy Chair of the Environment Agency and Navaratnam Partheeban, co-founder of the British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society (BVEDS).
Working with our Champions
This year’s Champions are starting to build their own networks centred around our research themes and one of the ways they are looking to engage with our audience is through the use of Linked-In groups. You can now join these as follows:
- AFN Network+ Healthy and Sustainable Diets Group 2024 (Led by Saher Hasnain)
- AFN Network+ Land Productivity Group 2024 (Led by Caeli Richardson)
- AFN Network+ Circular Food Systems Group 2024 (Led by Charlotte Wheeler)
- AFN Network+ Land Use and Land Management Group 2024 (Led by Georgie Barber)
- AFN Network+ Food Security and Trade Group 2024 (Led by Jude Irons)
- AFN Network + Behaviour Change Group 2024 (Led by Amy Jackson)
Our Champions are at the heart of the AFN Network+ and are helping to map the research and innovation landscape, within their themes as well as across others, identifying critical knowledge and activity gaps that need addressing in order to help the UK food system transition towards a net zero UK by 2050. Please do join these groups to discuss the challenges, post ideas and help us map what information is already out there.
News from the wider agri-food sector
Navigating tensions in co-production across agri-food system stakeholders in the AFN Network+
The Food Data Transparency Partnership (FDTP) was launched by the Government food strategy and includes an Eco-Working Group Co-Chaired by Defra’s Karen Lepper and AFN Network+ Advisory Board Co-Chair Judith Batchelar OBE, with several AFN members including Year 2 Champion Jude Irons and Co-Lead Sarah Bridle.
The FDTP has published a paper outlining progress to date and future priorities for addressing environmental data challenges in the food and drink sector. This paper is important not only for its content, but because it represents the results of new ways of working. The roadmap is the product of a year of co-creation and collaboration with multiple stakeholders and is a blueprint for the future and the complex systemic changes we need to navigate.
While this paper does not bring in any new requirements or regulation it highlights key challenges on environmental impact data in the food system and interim priorities in the short- and medium-term.
The paper will be of most interest to professionals involved in measuring and communicating the environmental impacts of organisations and products within the agri-food sector.
Rethinking the food system
The Green Alliance has released two new publications.
The National Food Strategy completed a wide ranging independent inquiry into the challenges faced by the UK’s food system in 2021. It recommended a suite of policy solutions to create a resilient, healthy and environmentally sustainable food system.
Behind the scenes of the National Food Strategy: lessons from the UK’s experience, follows interviews with the core team behind the National Food Strategy and reflects on the successes and challenges behind the scenes of the process. Rethinking the food system for health, climate and nature draws out some of the key data-led findings from the strategy, and highlights how these can be used as an opportunity for the UK government to show global leadership on improving the impacts and resilience of the food system.
SuperRAP survey on Climate Change Adaptation in the UK Food System
This survey is part of an ongoing Met Office cross-academic partnership (‘SuperRAP’) activity, working with eight partner universities, Defra, the Food Standards Agency, UKRI-BBSRC and the Global Food Security Programme. The survey will feed into a workshop in early June focused on implementation and delivery of climate change resilience, adaptation and policy measures and their consequences on the whole UK food chain
Vacancy
Cool Farm Modeller
Cool Farm Alliance is looking for a GHG modeller for a 12-month contract with the possibility to extend the contract, remote working in the UK. “The ideal candidate will have a background/education in mathematical modelling with experience in ecological and/or climate science. You will have strong analytical skills and be experienced in handling and presenting data concisely, and accurately. If you have a background in science, are smart, fun, love numbers, have outstanding attention to detail and organisational skills and a solid work ethic we would love to hear from you.”
Deadline: 12 May 2024
Events
John Innes Foundation Annual Lecture
15 May 2024, 5:30-7:00 pm
Jessica Fanzo, Professor of Climate and Director of the Food for Humanity Initiative at the Columbia Climate School, will be giving the 2024 John Innes Foundation Lecture for the NISD on the importance of evidence and data in holding a spotlight on food systems.
Deep Dive Event - Manure and Methane - what should we do about it?
Thursday 16 May 2024, Bristol
Get ready to explore new perspectives, expand your knowledge, and network with fellow enthusiasts. Organised by the International Fugitive Emissions Abatement Association (IFEAA). Speakers include: Laura Cardenas (Rothamsted), Andrew Atkins (IFEAA), George Eustice MP (Former DEFRA Minister and IFEAA Chairman), Caroline Carroll (CIOS Local Energy Advisor) and Neil Ward (AFN Network+).
Online Workshop: Chicken – What does the future hold?
Tuesday 21 May 2024 10am-12:30pm
As part of an AFN scoping study, the Changing Agri-Chicken project team are hosting this online event. The target audience is poultry industry stakeholders. They would like to hear what your thoughts and views are about the government’s plans on reaching net zero by 2050 and the role of the poultry industry.
Groundswell: The Regenerative Agriculture Festival
26 and 27 June 2024, Lannock Manor Farm, Hertfordshire
Next issue
Our next issue will be in your inbox on Tuesday 4 June. If you have anything you would like to see considered for inclusion, please send it to jonathan.haslam@york.ac.uk by Friday 24 May.
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