I did a workshop at Oxford Real Farming Conference at the start of the month talking about the potential for fibre crops on farms. It was a really interesting discussion bringing together folk who are passionate about regnerative, hyperlocal textile supply and folk who are supporting the decarbonisation of automotive and aerospace. It got tense, we broadly agreed on the need for change but wildly differing views on what the end goal looks like in terms of scale.
I hadn't realised at the time that there was a reporter from The Times in the front row. He asked some interesting questions about the ethics of using land suitable for food production for fibre. It was an easy one for me to answer because I know without doubt that our farm can produce a lot more food as part of a rotation that involves both fibre and food than it did when we had the suckler herd.
The article that appeared freaked me out a bit - hadn't really occurred to me that we could be 'betting the farm'!!!
Did our grandparents bet the farm? I suspect that reporter might not be too conversant with the concept of mixed farming 😉