Open letter from Black Mountain College students and alumni to public authorities

To: Powys County Council, National Park Authority, Welsh Government,

We are students and alumni of Black Mountains College, studying agroecological farming. We are developing the skills to practice this farming, but we are blocked from practising it. We ask you to change this.

The kind of farming that we are preparing for is crucial for the future. It enables our regions and cities to diversify their food supplies, which is vital for food security. Our methods specifically reduce carbon emissions, restore nature and do not pollute our rivers. We build the soil biome and produce food that is high in nutrition and quality and good for health. We help to rejuvenate rural communities. Small farms working together support farmers’ social welfare and mental health. Our methods have been shown across the world to be extremely productive and economically viable, albeit very hard work, like all farming.

Horticulture and mixed farming were once mainstays of farming in this area. Economic incentives enacted through agricultural policies have all but eliminated it.

We cannot practise agroecological farming, however. The price of land is prohibitive – it is valued as a financial asset, not as a food-growing asset. Also, this kind of farming needs homes for people living and working on the land, but there have been decades of rural depopulation and a planning system that still reinforces the emptying of people from farming areas.

We warmly welcome the work already underway in Powys and Bannau Brycheiniog to change planning policy and build three small farms at Sarn. Within months the new farmers were selling produce and were holding community events. We also welcome the technical and financial support these farms have received from Welsh Government services.

We urge Welsh Government and all rural local authorities in Wales to develop policies and plans that open up many more thousands of acres for affordable small farms with homes. In so doing, we can build food security, rejuvenate the rural economy and respond to climate over-heating, biodiversity loss and river pollution.

Chantal Bland
Phillipa Lobban
Angus Paget
Francesca Vuolo
Sam Webber
– and all the agroecology level three cohort