Net Zero – Roadmap and Em Gen Reflections

Back in September, Jonty and Giacomo, facilitated a one day Em Gen workshop in London exploring Net Zero and the food system. After the event, the AFN Network+ (our event funders) launched the Roadmap for Resilience – a UK Food Plan for 2050.

Have you seen it yet? It’s a really well positioned and holistic plan that doesn’t suffer from net zero and carbon tunnel vision. Check it out.

The five key within messages are:

1. Change is coming – let’s shape it, not be shaped by it

2. We need stronger, more resilient farming and food production

3. Smarter land use will benefit the nation

4. Healthier diets must become the easier option

5. A better future will take joined-up action

Em Gen member, Sophie García Halliday, attended our event and wrote the following reflection, and we love it. 

Emergent Generation – Sharing Thoughts on the Net Zero Challenge

There’s a quote I think of sometimes when I feel a little rundown. The author escapes me now, but the gist is this: life can be heavy, too heavy, until you find yourself out on Wednesday night sharing an aubergine dish with a friend. Everything feels a little less scary then; the hard, heavy things might not be so hard or heavy as you once thought, all thanks to the good company of a friend. 

I was surprised to think of this quote again a couple of weeks ago, at an Emergent Generation workshop on net-zero food systems. Could the solution to the climate crisis be so simple as an aubergine dish and a friend? 

I arrived for the workshop at Natoora in Bermondsey soaked through by the rain. As I shook myself off, I took in the wooden benches arranged in rows and the presentation projected on a screen at the front. This was my first ever Emergent Generation event, and there were two things I noticed straight away: how friendly everyone was, and the fruit—dark purple plums, late summer strawberries shining like jewels—piled at the back of the room. You could hear people slurping juice from the plums as the first presentation began. 

The first speaker was Jonty Brunyee of Conygree Farm, who reminded us of Britain’s Net Zero Challenge and what exactly regenerative agriculture is. He made us all laugh as he introduced the other sessions, and he made us feel like we were part of something important, bigger than ourselves, in joining Emergent Generation. He introduced us to his regenerative farm and the effects of climate change on farming and food systems. This past summer was one without precedent, Jonty reminded us, with its soaring temperatures and drought. He’d had to sell half of his cattle. £6,000 worth of seeds had never sprouted in his fields. He hadn’t lost any lambs to cold this year, he said, but for the first time ever, he had lost a lamb to heat. The room went quiet. No one slurped at their nectarines. It was a concrete reminder that the challenge we were gathered to discuss had real, high stakes for both food systems and people’s livelihoods. For a moment, it felt too big to take on. What on earth was I going to contribute to the net zero challenge?

The presentations continued. We heard from Neil Ward, Professor of Rural and Regional Development at the University of East Anglia and author of a book about the net zero challenge, about possible scenarios for achieving a net zero food system. As he discussed each scenario, Neil drove home a few home truths: that change in our food systems is inevitable, and that reaching sustainability would require changes in what we grow, what we eat, and how we use land. 

After Neil we heard from Robin Clark, who presented a more commercial take on the net zero challenge. The ultimate conundrum, he explained, was that grocers and retailers are motivated by one factor only: customer preference. And customers, unfortunately, are not aware of their food’s impact on climate; they continue to be influenced primarily by price, taste, and convenience. 

The atmosphere in the room turned heavy as it registered that making food systems sustainable required mountains of work, while the main suppliers of food might not be interested in a food system overhaul. Yet as I listened to the other workshop attendees speak, as we sat on our benches with courgette-and-almond-stuffed sandwiches on our laps during lunch, the task felt a little less overwhelming. 

All around me were other young people becoming experts in their own fields. Between bites of heirloom tomato and ricotta, I sat and listened to a woman who worked on her family’s farm near Edinburgh. Over a peppery bean salad I spoke to a sustainability consultant who also volunteered with Emergent Generation. And there were many other people researching and working in land use and agriculture and water. Often one of the speakers cited a report, and at least one of the other attendees had read it, or could speak directly to its conclusions. 

Yes, creating a sustainable food system requires enormous change, and that can be daunting. But it isn’t unprecedented; as Neil reminded us, the UK has been through enormous, systematic change before, in the post-war period. And all around were qualified people already trying to create that change. There wasn’t an aubergine in sight, but sitting and eating with them, sharing stories and seeing where we could help each other, made the change feel a little less heavy, and infinitely more possible. 

Sophie García Halliday

Emergent Generation Member

Student