Newsletter – May 2025
This is our newsletter for May 2025. Please note that this page is not updated, so deadlines may have passed and links may no longer work. To receive future newsletters, please join our network.
News
The Gathering Table: A summit on racial justice in food and farming
Wednesday 11th June 2025, Bristol
Join us in Bristol for a dynamic event led by the AFN Network+, Eating Better and Sustain, focused on racial justice in food and farming. This summit will bring together experts, activists, and community members to discuss important issues surrounding diversity and inclusion in the food industry. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations and learn from leaders in the field.
Should UK farmers play a part in meeting UK government goals on climate change?
A ‘jury’ of farmers has ruled unanimously that UK farming should play its part in meeting government climate and nature ambitions. But they warn that ‘net zero’ is disengaging farmers, with many questioning how farming’s impact is being measured as well as the practicality and validity of proposed interventions.
These are the main conclusions from a short report following a unique two-day ‘farmers’ jury’ experiment conducted in London earlier this year, led by AFN Champion Amy Jackson. The event saw 16 farmers and land managers travel from across the UK to hear evidence on climate change and emissions from a range of ‘expert witnesses’. They questioned, challenged, then debated the role they and their peers should play in addressing the challenges.
Read more about it in Amy’s LinkedIn post, or read the short report on the AFN website.
AFN Land Use Framework consultation response
In April, the AFN Network+ team held a workshop with network members to discuss key points within the Defra Land Use Framework consultation document, through the lens of delivering a just transition. A summary of participant input, given in seven online breakout rooms, was shared with participants, for further opportunity to add to the document, with subsequent comments incorporated into a final consultation response.
AFN and TUKFS Networking Event on Defra Land Use Consultation
Friday 16th May 2025, 12:00 – 1:00pm
Following on from Defra’s Land Use Consultation, the AFN and UKRI’s Transforming UK Food Systems Programme are coming together to provide an opportunity to network with others who sent in submissions and spend some time investigating similarities and differences.To attend, please apply by Monday 12th May at 4pm. Priority will be given to people who submitted a response to the Land Use Consultation. We look forward to a lively and interesting discussion.
Calling all AFN members applying to GFI’s alternative protein grant funding
Our AFN Champion, Ali Morpeth, is looking for potential partnerships to submit a response on this collaborative bid. Ali is a Registered Public Health Nutritionist and Co-founder of Planeatary Alliance, a mission-driven organisation working at the intersection of health and sustainability. Her team specialises in translating cutting-edge academic research into real-world impact through policy and practice. If you’re looking for a partner with expertise in dissemination and implementation into public health, nutrition, and systems change, please get in touch with her. Ali@planeatryalliance.com
Webinars
Animal welfare and net zero – trade-offs and opportunities
At 2pm on 23rd May, we’ll hear from Dr Gareth Arnot (Queen’s University, Belfast) and Francesca Johansen (Teagasc) about the possible wins and trade-offs for animal welfare when focusing on net zero goals in farming. Look out for an email invite from our Knowledge Exchange Fellow, Jez Fredenburgh, soon.
Time to throw off ‘nanny state’ fears – what do UK citizens want from their food?
The FFCC’s The Food Conversation set out to find out what we really want from food. They will soon publish the final report from this phase of The Food Conversation. The author, Mhairi Brown, presented its main findings in this webinar, a few days ahead of publication.
News from the wider agri-food sector
Webinars
Food Fight: From Plunder and Profit to People and Planet
In this Food Foundation Quick Bites webinar Dr Stuart Gillespie discusses his new book, Food Fight: From Plunder and Profit to People and Planet with Food Foundation Executive Director Anna Taylor. The book charts the historical evolution of the food system and offers an alternative path that prioritises a future based on global health and justice.
Baby foods in crisis
Thursday 8th May 2025, 12:00 – 1:00pm
This webinar will look at the findings of research by AFN Champion Ali Morpeth and Diane Threapleton from the University of Leeds, who analysed over 630 UK baby food products. The webinar will also include the perspectives of over 1,000 parents polled by Savanta in partnership with the Children’s Food Campaign and their parent ambassadors. The webinar will shed light on the current state of the commercial baby food market and its implications for child nutrition and public health.
Bridging Fields: how to work effectively with farmers
Thursday 8th May 2025, 2:30 – 4:30pm
This is the first event in the Royal Agricultural University ‘Bridging Fields’ programme. There is increasing funding and support for research that prioritises the challenges, knowledge, and experience of farmers. Yet, on-farm research requires practical and personal skills that can take years to acquire ‘in the field’. This programme aims to bring those skills together in one place. In this first webinar, why funders are backing this approach, what it can achieve, and what the pitfalls are.
Decarbonising Vertical Farming: Accelerating Innovation through the V-FAST
Tuesday 20th May 2025, 1:00 – 2:00pm
Hosted by the V-FAST Project, in collaboration with Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), RheEnergise (RHE), and the James Hutton Institute (JHI), this online event brings together leading experts from across the food-energy-tech landscape to share insights, solutions, and strategies to make vertical farming more energy-efficient and climate-friendly.
Carbon Accounting for SME Food Retailers
Tuesday 20th May 2025, 1:30 – 2:30pm
One of our Stakeholder Flexfund projects is running this webinar, open to anyone but aimed at retailers and SMEs. Learn what carbon accounting is, how food SMEs can do it, and Better Food Traders’ research findings about carbon footprinting of food businesses and short supply chains. Hattie Hammans, Better Food Traders’ Data Projects Lead, will talk through practical opportunities to apply carbon calculations in a small-medium food enterprise, as well as challenges, gaps and potential for further research.
National launch of Good Food Local
Thursday 22nd May 2025, 11:00am – 12:00pm
This online launch event showcases Good Food Local, Sustain’s new self-assessment tool aimed at helping local authorities to understand where they are now, and how they can take meaningful action for a healthy and sustainable food system and environment in their local area.
News
How will farmers measure and manage soil health in the years ahead?
Can you help with a short survey about new handheld soil scanners, soil carbon, and soil health monitoring on farms, led by Jessica Underwood, a PhD researcher at the University of Reading? You don’t need any prior knowledge or experience with these scanners — the survey is looking for farmers’ and growers’ views on the technology, how it might fit within farming practices, and perspective on soil monitoring and soil carbon markets. The survey should take around 15 minutes to complete and will be open until 1st June 2025.
Low input agriculture research
The Sustainable Nitrogen Alliance is planning a piece of research looking at a UK food production system using zero synthetic nitrogen, and the policy drivers that would help to achieve this. They see it fitting well as a steer for what they want to see from the 25 year Farming Roadmap, and the Food Strategy (and all the other Defra policies currently being produced). They are keen not to recreate any work already done or in motion, so please get in touch with Ellie (eroxburgh@soilassociation.org) if you are working on anything that sounds similar so they can avoid multiplication of work.
Funding
Innovate UK: ADOPT funding
ADOPT supports collaborative farmer-led, on-farm trials or experiments to generate, test and demonstrate innovative solutions to farming challenges. Project outputs will provide knowledge of new approaches which will be shared to the wider sector to provide confidence for others to adopt.
There are are two different types of grants available:
- A small Support Grant to access professional assistance from an industry expert to help develop an application to the Full ADOPT Grant.
- A Full ADOPT Grant to support collaborative farmer-led, on-farm trials or experiments.
The first call opened on 28 April and has a deadline of 11 June 2025.
Innovate UK: Farming Futures R&D Fund: low emissions farming
The aim of this Farming Futures R&D Fund competition is to fund collaborative projects that will develop new solutions to support UK farming working towards achieving low emissions. These must address major on-farm or immediate post-farmgate challenges or opportunities.
The competition opened yesterday, and closes on Wednesday 25 June 2025.
NIHR: Greenspace and natural environments
The Public Health Research (PHR) Programme is looking to fund research which evaluates the health impacts of interventions which change access to green and blue space. This is a two-stage funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an outline application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a full application.
Deadline for outline applications: 12 December 2025
UKRI policy fellowships 2025
Spend 18 months as a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Core Policy Fellow, a Natural Hazards and Resilience Policy Fellow, or a What Works Innovation Fellow to inform policy to address pressing national and global challenges.
Applicant webinar on Tuesday 20th May 2025, 11:00am
Events
BES Symposium 2025: Nature, Farming and Food: How we value our land
19–20 June 2025, University of Oxford
Carbon Calling
24–26 June 2025, Cumbria
Carbon Calling is a farmer-led movement aimed at farmers who are just “on the turn” – they know what they are doing isn’t quite working but not sure what to do next. It aims to empower all livestock farmers in the UK to develop their systems to ensure they are profitable, environmentally aware and improving well-being.
HealthySoil4Life Summer Camp
30 June–11 July 2025 (on-line)
28 July–1 August 2025 (in-person week in Portugal, by invitation only)
RIS Inspire – HealthySoil4Life provides training in entrepreneurship and innovation in Soil Health and Food. Over a period of three weeks, this programme provides a dynamic and supportive environment for you to develop your knowledge on soil health, soil microbiology, eco-friendly farming practices towards sustainable agriculture while contributing to the creation of new business opportunities.
Deadline for applications: 15 June 2025
Groundswell
2–3 July 2025, Lannock Farm, Hertfordshire
The Groundswell Festival provides a forum for farmers, growers, or anyone interested in food production and the environment to learn about the theory and practical applications of regenerative farming systems. The AFN Network+ will again be having a stand, with a variety of sessions throughout the two days. Tickets for this year’s event are now on sale.
Multidisciplinary Food Systems Catalyst
2–3 July 2025, Central London
In partnership with UKRI BBSRC and ESRC, Zinc is launching a new initiative: the Multidisciplinary Food Systems Commercialisation Catalyst. This programme is designed to bring together researchers from across the social sciences and biosciences to break down disciplinary barriers and cross-pollinate skills, ideas, and expertise. Together, participants will explore and address critical challenges in building healthy, sustainable, and resilient food systems. This two-day workshop in Central London will bring together multidisciplinary researchers to connect, collaborate, and co-develop innovative solutions to complex food systems challenges.
