by Josiah Meldrum June 09, 2021
Last year (year 2 of field scale chickpea production) was a real struggle: drought through much of the season, intense heat in late May, then extraordinary rainfall in August (⅛ of the annual average fell on the crop in 4 hours!) presented the chickpeas with successive challenges.
This year (chickpea year 3) hasn’t started much better to be honest: a cold start and prolonged wet conditions are not what chickpeas like.
It’s a funny old thing. This is a crop that we and Henry the farmer (he’s in the orange in the photo) are interested in as part of diverse cropping strategies that just might help adapt to a changing climate. They can fix their own nitrogen and cope with more water and heat stress.
But the fact is climate change - or perhaps more accurately climate chaos - brings greater uncertainty and more frequent extremes, not a gentle slide to a new steady state. What works in Norfolk now will almost certainly be a heck of a lot more difficult in a decade or so, and there are unlikely to be straightforward crop substitutions - system changes rather than just dropping lentils or chickpeas into existing rotations.
So it’s critical that we find crops that as well as being part of an adaptive process can also contribute to lower input and lower impact food and farming systems.
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by Amy Oboussier February 02, 2024
Chef James Taylor has been working since mid 2023 to transform school meals initiatives at two London primary schools - Sir Thomas Abney School in Stoke Newington and Harrington Hill Primary School in Clapton. The London Mayor's initiative to provide universal free school meals in primary schools from September 2023 is both a crucial lifeline for families nit by the cost-of-living crisis and an inspiration for change. James and the school have used this opportunity to provide meals that champion more nutritious, planet-friendly food.
by Amy Oboussier October 24, 2023
A few years ago we were looking for a sweetner for some granola recipes, something UK produced and minimally processed. When our apple syrup order from Liberty Fields arrived we knew we were onto something special - we quickly added them to our short list of brilliant Guest Producers
by Nick Saltmarsh September 19, 2023
We've launched ten pulses and grains from British farms as part of Holland & Barrett's transformation of their food range, available in their stores across the UK. It's a fantastic opportunity to make British-grown fava beans, carlin peas and quinoa, along with other pulses and cereals, available more widely and to support more diverse farming.
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Josiah Meldrum
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