Colin Tudge is a biologist and writer. He’s also a passionate advocate for sustainable farming, and co-founded the Campaign for Real Farming in 2008. He was part of the team that set up the Oxford Real Farming Conference, a rival to the Oxford Farming Conference held every January.
Colin’s book Six Steps Back to the Land is his passionate manifesto for achieving ‘Enlightened Agriculture’, a phrase he coined to describe agriculture that is “expressly designed to provide everyone, everywhere, with food of the highest standard, nutritionally and gastronomically, without wrecking the rest of the world.”
In an era where the world’s growing population is putting increasing demands on food systems, the conventional approach is to intensify our farming systems, with more chemical inputs, larger farms, more sophisticated machines, and a drive to ever more efficient practices.
Colin, on the other hand, argues that there needs to be a complete rethink of our approach to farming, to restore balance to farming, and feed 10 billion people in a way that works with nature rather than against it.
He calls for a move to low-input mixed farms that are firmly rooted in the local community, providing jobs and skills. He advocates dealing with the practicalities of this form of farming in today’s world, and shows us how we can all get involved in creating a sustainable, equitable and healthy food system.
This book is an accessible, compelling and positive account of a new way to grow our food, and is indispensable reading for everyone interested in truly sustainable, resilient and productive agriculture.
You can order Six Steps Back to the Land from Green Books.