Nature, Farming and Food: How we value our land

British Ecological Symposium explores project topics...

Members of FRAMEwork recently attended the British Ecological Society's 2025 symposium "Nature, Farming and Food: How we value our land," held on June 19-20 in Oxford. This two-day event, organized in partnership with TABLE, the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery and the Agile Initiative, aimed to explore the environmental impacts of food production by bringing together scientists, farmers, policymakers and the public to find solutions.

© BES 2025

The symposium program was structured around four core themes, valuing farming, biodiversity, food and knowledge. Key questions addressed included: "What does a just transition to ecologically-friendly farming look like?" and "Does sustainable food production at home mean biodiversity loss elsewhere?" The event featured both keynotes from invited speakers as well as talks and posters from attendees from around the world.

Notable keynote speakers included Tony Juniper CBE, Chair of Natural England and a prominent environmental figure with four decades of experience including roles at Friends of the Earth, WWF-UK, and as advisor to HRH The Prince of Wales. Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of Sustain, an alliance for better food and farming, also spoke, bringing insights from her work on initiatives like Good Food for London and Beyond the Food Bank reports.

Representatives from The Food Foundation and other organisations contributed to the cross-sector dialogue, with presentations from attending researchers including the project's Trinity Ndlovu (James Hutton Institute). Work Package Two 'Advanced Farmer Cluster Network' Lead Dr Niamh McHugh also attended (Game and Wildlife Trust). Both report that it was a great opportunity to network and explore project topics.

FRAMEwork has been actively researching and piloting initiatives around these issues for almost five years. So If you would like to dive into our activity and perspectives on valuing biodiversity and ecosystem services in agriculture, we warmly invite you to explore our hub, project publications and media.

Overall, the symposium emphasized collaboration and dialogue, with sessions designed to give delegates actionable insights to implement in their sectors for transforming agricultural systems. Attending this conference as a knowledge exchange opportunity formed part of the ongoing events series associated with our Recodo platform, to share key activity and outputs with stakeholders.