The Missing Numbers: Addressing Financial Data Gaps in Agroecological Farming

Cultivating Wisdom
Day 2 Session 4
22nd October 2024
Rowan Dumper Pollard, Organic Research Centre and Bee Laughton, Land Workers Alliance . Also speak about Welsh Veg in Schools as an example use of the data.

The consumption of more locally grown, agroecologically produced fruit and vegetables is a key objective of local food strategies promoted by the Landworkers Alliance, SUSTAIN and other civil society groups. But there is a lack of reliable business data to guide production and management decisions of organic/agroecological farmers and growers and financial risks are still unclear. This barrier needs to be addressed if local food strategies are to be implemented e.g. through working with schools, councils, public procurement initiatives to support local agroecological growers. In this session we will review publicly available farm business data and highlight where the Organic Farm Management Handbook (published by Organic Research Centre) as well as other work undertaken by the Land Workers Alliance and Welsh Veg in Schools, is attempting to fill these gaps. In this work we hope also to highlight policy and growth opportunities when a clear business case can be demonstrated. Our methodology for collecting data for the handbook will be introduced showing the participatory research process, with approaches taken by the Landworkers Alliance and Welsh Veg in Schools as case studies. The benefits of access to good financial data will be demonstrated through these examples. The value of working collaboratively with growers to gather and share financial information will also be highlighted during this session.