KEVIN  FREDIANI    HEAD  OF  SUSTANABLE  LAND  USE  

BICTON  COLLEGE  

F3

Fossil Fuel Free Farming

Kevin Frediani Head of Sustainable Land Use

Overview of talk

•  Rationale for progressing a new approach – Background drivers of global change – Objectives (how we set out to achieve!)

•  Introduce aim of F3 project •  What will be different?

The global commons – resulted in the unsustainable harvest of the worlds natural resources!

Disconnect = Unsustainable growth

Why have need to experiment and question!

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/How-Oil-Prices-Affect-The-Price-Of-Food.html

Challenge: Uncoupling food from oil!

Food issues in the modern world… •  Food security •  Food control •  Food quality •  Food quantity •  Food costs •  Food miles •  Food sustainability •  Food ethics

Making sense of agriculture

Hunter-gathering or

foraging economies

1650-1850

1950-

12000 BP -

• Sustainable Sourcing • Improve Land and Water Management • Improve Nutrition • Improve Food Security • Sustainable Agriculture • Reducing Commodity Price Volatility

UK been importer food 1000 yrs+. During the industrial revolution, we lost self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs and have never regained it.

Making sense of food

International

National

Local (regional)

Urban

Food loss and waste.

http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/blog/index.php/2010/01/why-should-the-uk-grow-food/

Consumption driven production through population increase & emerging wealth.

Sustainable land management required for ecosystem service benefits

Reduced resource = increased market volatility & £ (need to make most of our land)

Project Aim: Fuel, Fibre & Food •  Decouple production from effects of higher oil

prices – To do so without relying on soil based

biofuel production •  Build resilience against climate change and

extreme weather events •  Conserve local resources and reduce need for

degrading basic natural resources •  To learn by experimentation and practice •  To share the results and build a community of

fossil free farming practice

Key Objectives of Farm System •  ECONOMICS-

Commercially Viable, productive and scalable. •  ENVIRONMENT-

To conserve natural resources and to protect the wider environment (e.g., land, water, forests, biodiversity & prevent air and water pollution, manage wastes into resources).

•  EXPERIMENT-

Provide physical resource for research partners, and to develop F3 systems approach and technologies.

•  EDUCATION –

Provide a physical resource for all levels of Education and social groups

THE FARMING SYSTEM System Based integrated model Potential base Enterprises: Dairy. 70 Cross bred cows on Once-a-day system Sheep. 500 ewes for meat/fibre Cropping. To provide all required animal feeds, optimise and capture naturally available nutrients. Agroforestry. Symbiotic relationship between food production, soils and habitat. Hydroponic and Aquaponics Systems. Vertical and Urban growing. Pigs. Increase utilisation of woodlands and conventionally Poultry. unproductive land Adding Value. Development of local markets and processing

Flows of materials and energy in a farm system after Lewis et. al. 2010 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/agriculture/pdf/Final_Report_041010.pdf

Inputs

Outputs

Baseline Data and On-going Monitoring of system and sub-projects •  Soils •  Energy Usage •  Diseases and Pests •  Carbon Foot printing •  Water Usage •  Habitats •  Flora •  Fauna •  Physical Outputs •  Financial •  Waste Products •  Social, Community and Externality Values

Renewable energy

High Density Vertical Growing?

Integrate best of modern technology?

Overview of F3 project

Energy      -­‐            Anaerobic  diges>on  →  Heat,  energy,  fer>liser          Photo  voltaic  →  Energy        Solar  transfer  →  Heat        Biofuel  (biomass,  biodiesel,  ethanol,  biogas)        

Physical  -­‐        Fer>lisers,  nutrients,  gene>cs,  water,  land,  space,  labour  (replace,  reuse,  op>mise)  Resources        

       F3  Food,  Fibre,  Fuel  Markets,  communi>es,  supply  chains  (local  over  global)    Environmental  -­‐  Soil,  water,  air,  biological,  health  &  wellbeing,  community  resilience    Benefits            Finance/  Economics  Profitable    Measures  of  success  -­‐  Direct  profitability  Environmental  Stewardship  

Social

Financial Environmental

Inputs Benefits

Final thoughts…

Targets and Benchmarking Systems •  Should we set realistic targets? •  Or extend those targets to currently

unrealistic and innovate to achieve them. •  Can it be done? •  We won’t know until we try

Parsonage Farm

Walking with awareness!