Vicki Hird: Sustainable Farming
How did you end up working in this field?
Vicki Hird, sustainable farming campaign coordinator at Sustain
I started out with a Masters in pest management systems, with plans to be an entomologist, but I volunteered at Friends of the Earth and ended up working in environmental policy ever since.
In 1994 I joined the Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Environment Alliance, which I merged in 2000 with the National Food Alliance to form Sustain.
Sustain has a broad membership, including the RSPB, National Trust, farming groups and public health groups. We’re working to break down barriers, to support better food and farming policy which is better for the environment and for people.
I also worked at the UN Earth Summit in 1992 and 2012, trying to get recognition of how good livestock policy can support farmers to do good things. It was great fun going and speaking there in 2012.
What have been the highlights of your career?
The Groceries Code Adjudicator Act was a big highlight for me, it took eight years to get it to Parliament, to curb abuse by the big retailers. There are 10,000s of companies involved in the supply chain, not just the 12 top supermarkets, so we recently lobbied to make a new set of codes enforceable for the rest of the supply chain. Although it doesn’t go nearly far enough, I’m very proud to have got that into the Agriculture Act 2020.
Public money for public goods was another big win for us – if farmers are delivering for the public they need to be paid for it. Farmers manage 70% of UK land so we also need to ensure good value for public money.
What is it that excites you about the lobbying that you do?
It is so critical to get agricultural policy right, encompassing the right support, advice and financing. I want to get agroecological systems ecognized, so that all farmers can get on the ladder of regenerative farming.
The European CAP was a key area that I worked on over the years, which involved a lot of talking to farmers about new agri-environment schemes and how policy could help them to do things differently.
I’ve also worked on a lot of livestock, climate and biodiversity policies, particularly since we left Europe.
What are the biggest challenges facing the sector at the moment?
The key thing is to get England’s ELMs, and the other nations’ schemes, well designed – we have a working party of Sustain members talking to farmers and are developing a farmer advisory group.
I sit on the stakeholder engagement group at Defra, and also look at evidence and research. The Sustainable Farming Incentive has been a long time coming, and I’m concerned about how it has developed - but remain hopeful it will work; we’ll keep lobbying Defra and MPs.
Small farmers are very important too, we’re predicted to lose 25% of our farms during the Brexit transition; through importing cheap food we will undermine our own farms. Having a mosaic and diversity of farm sizes is very important: Small scale farming can be very productive and contribute to local food supplies, as well as biodiversity and landscapes, jobs and rural cohesion.
Farmers are facing huge pressures; they need advice and demonstration to adapt.
I am a big bug fan and have recently written a book on why invertebrates matter called Rebugging the Planet.
You’re passionate about supporting food producers – can you tell us a bit more?
Food and farming touches all of our lives in so many ways, but is so often neglected in policy. Food is a key element in public health and our good welfare and environmental standards need to be protected.
With the Trade Bill we campaigned to recognise imported food standards. We want to see red lines beyond which our trade negotiations shouldn’t go. We worked with a huge alliance and people like Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Docherty, which generated a lot of articles and petition signatures.
We didn’t get what we wanted: It’s still a huge concern and is a big campaign going forward.
The other big issue we’re working on is government buying standards. We want them to be obliged to favour UK farmers and look for high environmental, health and welfare standards when purchasing meals for our schools, NHS and armed forces.
The buying standards will be out for consultation in the New Year, so we’re asking for farmers’ and everyone’s support in writing to their MP. We know it can be done – some schools are doing a great job - but it needs to be mandated by the government.
We’ve also just launched the first report in our ‘Beyond the Farmgate’ campaign on better supply chains – I’m very excited about the growth of better trading platforms for farmers. We interviewed 500 farmers about what they wanted, and existing chains.
We can secure a better route to market for farmers. One example is the South West Food Hub, a digital procurement system which collates farmers’ produce to fulfil school contracts. We’re hoping to roll that out nationally.
We also want to see a renaissance in market gardens so cities and towns can feed themselves better, and stop importing so much. That builds resilience into the system and creates jobs, while reducing food miles and emissions.
How can technology help?
Technology can really help farmers to minimise chemical use; it’s all part of the picture. The Small Robot Company is helping here – farmers need the technology and advice. It’s about sustainable farming systems and diversification into the food sector. It’s all interlinked.
I think farmers also need loans to collaborate and increase processing capacity, for example. That will be a big focus for us next year: We’ll be mapping potential collaborations to overcome barriers to market. Currently farmers have to send livestock miles to slaughter, we have highly centralised food supply centres and just-in-time buying – all of which put huge pressure on primary producers. So we need better routes.
For 30 years I’ve been trying to get the government to be joined up, and we’re no closer. The National Food Strategy by Henry Dimbleby was a really inter-departmental report and yet the government is going to cherry pick.
Sustain attended COP26 in Glasgow; what was it like?
We ran two events on food justice and access to food for all, around supply chains. 50 NGOs signed our open letter to Boris Johnson calling to reward farmers for sustainable farming practices. But we were very disappointed with the lack of reference to food and farming at COP26, and the potential for farmers to mitigate climate change.
The deforestation initiative was welcome, because so much feed and meat comes from areas being deforested.
But there was a lack of really strong commitment to the 1.5 degree temperature rise. We really need to be tackling emissions across the board, in all areas of life and business in order to protect our food supply from climate catastrophe. A third of UK imported food comes from areas with water stress, and as climate change kicks in that’s only going to get worse; we urgently need to stop this.
And we need to tackle emissions in farming too. Livestock farming, done well, can be a critical part of climate change mitigation, but we need to support the good systems and tackle the problematic ones with low welfare, high antibiotic use, high emissions and deforestation.
The UK is still chair of COP26 until next year so we will keep campaigning; food and farming needs to be on the agenda for next year.
What do you do when not campaigning?
I am a big bug fan and have recently written a book on why invertebrates matter called Rebugging the Planet. I presented it at the Hay literary festival and it was a nice break from agricultural lobbying. I also have two sons, a tiny garden full of bugs, herbs and the odd veg, and I love to bake.
