Students who spoke at a farming conference on Friday hope they will help inspire UK farmers to ‘regenerate’ the food system, through the use of ‘non-normative’ methods.
Saraya Haddad and Warami Jackson spoke at the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) which took place virtually this year due to the pandemic.
The conference highlights alternatives to conventional farming such as organic and regenerative farming, it aims to offer ‘all farmers a different kind of farming conference’.
READ MORE: Clarkson’s Farm season two: Everything we know so far
Saraya Haddad, a PhD student at the University of Birmingham, explained their talk focused on a “transition towards a just and regenerative food system”.
The 24-year old student said: “Many people unfortunately do not realise the food system is broken. It is designed in order to support capitalism by maximising profit. Most of the big supermarkets that we go to care primarily about profit, rather than sustainability.
“We discussed how we can all change our shopping habits in order to support the planet rather than harm it when we do our food shop.”
Had a fab time presenting with @feedbackorg at the @ORFC about how we can transform the food system to make it more regenerative 🌎 Loved getting to discuss how queer theory and queer ecology can be applied to reasons behind wasted “wonky” (queer) produce 🍅 🍎 🍉 #ORFC22 pic.twitter.com/ChDtgL94Xw
— Saraya Haddad (@SarayaHaddad) January 7, 2022
Miss Haddad added they also used the concept of ‘queer ecology’ to transition to be better food system.
Although the word ‘queer’ is often used to refer to sexuality or gender identity, the context of ecology is means “anything anti-normative, that is, anything which disrupts normative systems”, Miss Haddad explained.
She said: “Queer ecology looks at how, as humans, we have warped nature by imposing our own categories onto it
“One example is wonky fruit and veg. One-third of food produced globally goes to waste, that's an astronomical 1.3 billion tonnes of food a year. ‘Ugly’ or ‘wonky’ produce makes up to 40 per cent of annual food waste.
“For years, myself and many others were conditioned to believe that the fruit and veg we saw in supermarkets was what all fruit and veg looked like. I had absolutely no idea that carrots could have multiple bodies, or that tomatoes weren’t always the ‘perfect’ glossy red I saw in the vegetable aisle.
“It had been conveniently left out that potatoes, the most wasted food item in the UK, could come in many different shapes.”
Both Miss Haddad and Miss Jackson hope their talk with inform people how they can change their habits to support the environment.
“Shopping local, seasonal, and sustainable are key to this. We need to start shunning mainstream supermarkets more and spending more time at local farmers markets.
“It is important to note that not everyone can afford to buy organic or local produce, but it is about all of us doing what is possible within our means.”
-
Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here
Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on news@nqo.com or 01865 425 445.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article