Just Farming Futures: using creative methods to explore innovative alternatives in Welsh agriculture

This project uses creative methods (CM) to co-design a vision of a sustainable and just future for farming in Wales with young farmers (YF). UK farming is currently undergoing significant upheaval with a difficult economic environment exacerbated by the regulatory push to a ‘green transition’. Farmers are often forced into survivalist strategies dictated by homogenising policy agendas, leaving limited opportunity to develop alternative, forward-facing practices. Our research responds to this critical need to identify routes towards just and sustainable farming futures. Current policy solutions are primarily informed by STEM disciplines, often operating in siloes and offering new technologies as a silver bullet (e.g. significant government investment in AgriTech). Instead, STEAM centres criticality, reflexivity and values, opening up problems relationally rather than narrowing specialisms. This project’s arts-led approach offers a novel sphere to engage in holistic, place-based and farmer-led solutions. We utilise transdisciplinary CM exploring alternative futures to co-design strategies with two groups of YFs and support them in visioning their own farm transitions by creating an ‘alternative’ farm site plan demonstrating potential transformations. We draw on our extensive fieldwork experience to create a series of three workshops, leading participants from current frustrations to desirable alternatives, supporting YFs to think creatively beyond family/policy norms. Using group decision-making tools, scenario-ing, digital storytelling and utopia sketching, each group will reflect on what makes a just and sustainable farm, farmer and food system. Discussions will be captured in digital stories alongside two Time for Geography videos to engage with policymakers and the public. We will also recruit six participants for walking interviews to explore how the workshop re-imaginings could be practiced in specific farm spaces; we work with a participatory architect to bring these visions to life by providing an alternate farm site plan. Wales provides a pertinent location for this research. While 2024 has seen farmer protests across Europe, Welsh farmers specifically argue that the devolved post-Brexit Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) will negatively impact on food production and the rural economy, highlighting a gap between the state’s agricultural strategy and the everyday realities of maintaining a viable farm. Welsh farms are typically smaller, more remote and of poorer physical quality than their English counterparts, and so less suited to high-tech, productivist policy visions, restricting farmers’ ability to explore alternative strategies. Only 3% of Welsh farmers are under 35 according to Farmers Union of Wales and are currently marginalised within the industry. It is therefore critical to make space for the voices of YF, who represent its future practices, relations and ideals. This project has immediate and longer-term applications/benefits for participants/wider agricultural stakeholders: Providing participants with peer-learning space, time and support to explore creative alternatives within farming; Contributing to more inclusive governmental policy through developing an evidence base detailing farmers’ lived understandings and relationships with the environment/nature; Building a creative participatory toolkit appropriate to farmer needs, which can be applied by diverse partners; Exploring the utility of the creative participatory toolkit and ‘alternative site plan’ for participants and industry stakeholders.