Roots of change: a just wilding transition for the agri-food system

Rewilding has gained attention as a way to restore nature and combat climate change, but it has often left farmers feeling excluded. Rewilding agricultural land, seeks to create solutions that benefit both farming communities and food security while also delivering the land use changes needed to meet environmental goals. This project will bring together various stakeholders to explore practical agricultural wilding (introducing and conserving wild crops and plants for agricultural purposes) options. It will focus on two farming systems—upland and lowland—to identify the barriers related to knowledge, policy, and funding, and the solutions to overcoming them. The findings will inform advocacy efforts, promoting agricultural wilding as a viable and fair solution at a critical time for farming and land-use policies at a local and national level.

Project lead: Lídia Cabral (Institute of Development Studies)

Project collaborators: Ruth Westcott (Climate and Nature Emergency, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming), Will White, (Farming Coordinator, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming), Lily O’Mara-Adembesa (Sustainable Food Places), Christopher Sandom (University of Sussex and Wild Business Ltd), John Thompson (Institute of Development Studies and Sussex Sustainability Research Programme), Pedram Rowhani (University of Sussex and Sussex Sustainability Research Programme)