On reading the Soil Association report ‘ An agroecological Europe in 2050: multifunctional agriculture for healthy eating’, I am struck by the soundness of this 10 year effort in Europe to move to Agro-ecological methodologies to provide sustainable farming methods without harmful pesticides and fertilisers. The cost-benefit analysis ensures the outcome is healthy food grown in an ecologically balanced environment which follows a pre-industrialised approach to farming. The analysis, after 10 years of effort to transition to these methods, is assisting a strategy to increase food security for Europe.

It is common knowledge that diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease are increasing world wide. The way we produce and consume food is one of many factors causing this spiralling of health quality.

Agroecology offers cleaner environments, diversity of wildlife, cleaner water, less stress on the environment and thus people.

We will move to an understanding of food quality where we will eat less but gain all the nutrition we need from a range of foods we grow with the seasons within each of our countries. Farmers will no longer import soybean meal for their livestock. Farmers will not die prematurely from working with toxic chemicals on the farm. Farmers need not race to equip themselves with the latest expensive gadgetry and so reduce their energy use and stocking of pesticides in order to kill pests which are caught in the vicious cycle of becoming tolerant to the poisons.

Farmers will do more with less, by using inputs and resources more efficiently.

Support for small farms has not been the trend, instead they have been bought out to create corporate size farms. This trend goes against the guardianship of land where hedges, diverse plant life, trees and clean water infrastructure once existed and need to be restored to return the land to a balanced ecosystem to benefit community life.