The singer-songwriter, actress and presenter Charlotte Church opened this week’s Organic Real Farming Conference by leading the audience in an improvised song, inviting participants to reflect on why they were there and what the land means to them. 

At the opening plenary event farmers, food producers, organisers, and sustainable agriculture advocates were invited to celebrate humanity’s deep connection to the land through stories, music, and lived farming experience.

The plenary featured seven farmers, each sharing a chosen symbol of their relationship with the land.

Andy Dibben, organic vegetable farmer and Head Grower at Abbey Home Farm, reflected on accelerating environmental and political instability, noting that the UK has just experienced its warmest and sunniest year on record.

“Global politics continues to fragment and become more volatile. Fascism, open corruption and oppression seem to be on the rise.  Destruction of natural ecosystems accelerates despite the increase in awareness of its importance…  [but] change will come from the bottom up.”

Claire Whittle, known as The Regenerative Vet, spoke about dung beetles as a symbol of resilience within regenerative dairy systems. She described her journey of realising that common antiparasitic treatments prescribed in veterinary medicine are highly damaging to these vital insects.

Her aim now is to do herself out of a job as she believes healthy animals as part of healthy ecosystems should not require vets as “dung beetles are nature’s own parasite control.  They do it free of charge with no chemical inputs required.”

Andy Bragg, of West Town Farm in Devon, spoke about the oak tree as a symbol of resilience. Having farmed 170 acres of pasture and woodland throughout his life, he described how resilience is built through healthy soil, traditional breeds, biodiversity, and farm diversification. He also shared his recent decision to gift his farm to the Fordhall Community Land Initiative.

Victoria Llorens, of Asparagus, is a farmer, organiser and learner in waawiyatanong aka Detroit, Michigan. She is the co-manager of the Grow Moore Produce Co-op, which is a coalition of farmers building power through worker-owned cooperative development. Her chosen connection to the land was asparagus, as ‘just like the asparagus sending nutrients down and pulling their kin up, we too produce resources to make us all stronger together.”

Jake Waller, of Botton Farm, reflected on working in the rain and the reality that farmers cannot control the weather and only work with nature.

“I speak not as a meteorologist, biologist, socialist but as a farmer that spends a fair amount of time in the rain.  A healthy food system is at the mercy of nature and there is no getting away from that. This conference is not obsessed with controlling nature but thankfully more interested in working with nature.”

Callixta Killander founded Flourish Produce in 2017 with 56 acres of farmland. She spoke about her connection to the land through horses. She said: “Horses are characterised as vehicles for travel, symbols for the endurance of spiritual journeys and transformation, reflecting the interconnectiveness of us all today as we work together to make changes big and small.”

Oliver Moore and Leonie Nimmo, from Landworkers Alliance and La Via Campesina, spoke on behalf of friends and farmers from Palestine. They said: “Farming the land you were born in to feed your communities is not a crime. Seed saving is not a crime. Solidarity is not a crime.”

A new session with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was announced during the conference. At ORFC 2026, he will discuss the demise of plant-based foods, and how hospitality can support a fair and thriving farming system.

The opening plenary closed with a powerful performance by the Shumei Taiko Ensemble Drummers.

The conference continues today with multiple sessions across nine venues on farm practice, social justice, climate change resilience, food and farm policy, community cohesion and much more. As well as the in-person audience, thousands are attending this year’s event online.

All images, Hugh Warwick