INSPIRATION, INNOVATION AND INSIGHT AT GROUNDSWELL 2021 We weren’t quite sure how many people we could cram into the Groundswell site this year. We’d redesigned the layout, erected some large tents as lecture halls with double spaced seats to comply with covid restrictions and taken no end of advice from experts who all appeared to be making suggestions up on the spot. Then Boris pushed back ‘freedom day’ from the Monday of Groundswell week until some time in July. We thought what the hell, let’s just do it. We decided on a 3500 attendee limit, which we hit just before it started and that proved to be just about perfect. Written by John Cherry I’d love to tell you about all the hundred or so talks that were delivered, but as it was only physically possible for any one person to attend, at most, ten sessions over the two days, that isn’t going to happen. But we will eventually get them all up on the Groundswell YouTube channel h t t p s : // w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / c / GroundswellAgriculture . There is already some fascinating stuff on there: farmers telling their stories, soil experts explaining what goes on below ground, politicians sounding like they know what they are talking about, conversations about water, biodiversity, different strategies for building resilient farm businesses etc etc. What was more evident this year was the sheer joy that everyone there found in being able to actually talk to fellow enthusiasts, after being shut down on our own patches for
eighteen months. Farming can be a lonely business, especially if you are doing something which your neighbours think is bonkers, so it
is really lovely to chat to old and new friends while queueing for a cup of coffee or over a pint in the Earthworm Arms. One particular side-effect of the covid business was that we couldn’t fly in any big name speakers from the USA or, indeed, anywhere abroad. This resulted in a pleasingly UKcentric event, albeit with a fairly fluid line-up as some speakers had to bow out at the last minute due to positive tests or whatever. It shows how much the atmosphere has changed since our first Groundswell six years ago, when we were advised that we’d better only put the show on every other year, otherwise we’d run out of speakers...we had 170 speakers this time and had to put several more on hold. Meanwhile,
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ISSUE 15 | OCTOBER 2021
