For this year’s Annual Forum, we are delighted to be hosting a Food Production and Nature in Harmony event for Dorset at The Exchange in Sturminster Newton.
Food is at the heart of the some of the biggest challenges we face – including food security, ill health related to diet, access to healthy food and the impact of food production on nature and the climate. Our Annual Forum for 2025 will concentrate on food production and nature in harmony. Our focus is on the climate and ecological emergencies, and we know we can’t recover nature without farmers and landowners who are also working to address food security. And we need to work in together with a wide range of partners to address these issues.
In March 2023, the People’s Plan for Nature made recommendations for urgent action to protect and renew nature. In response to this the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) proposed a plan to hold a national conversation on food, asking people what they expect from government and business and how the food system can deliver more for health, nature and climate.
Dorset is home to a lots of fantastic food projects. Our Annual Forum aims to celebrate some of these projects, share issues raised within local and national Food Conversations, as well as other related discussions, and have a workshop to talk about possible local solutions.
Booking essential: please book your place here.
Pre-event Prep!
In order to focus on solutions at the forum, we ask that if attendees are interested in doing so they complete the following FORM asking questions raised at the Food Conversation sessions, which we will collate and feed back at the forum (this is optional, but please complete this form by end 23 March).
Programme (to follow)
9.30 Registration
10.00 Welcome and Introduction – Imogen Davenport (Vice Chair, Dorset LNP)
10.05 The Food System in Context – Joanna Lewis (Chief Executive, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust)
10.25 A Land Use Framework – Georgie Barber (Countryside and Land Use Lead, Food, Farming and Countryside Commission)
10.40 Dorset Food Stories
- Feeding Dorset Partnership – Jon Sloper (CEO, Help & Kindness)
- Access to Food Partnership – Jessie Budynkiewicz (Environment Community Engagement Officer, BCP Council)
- Farming perspective – Dougal Hosford (Farmer / JHR Hosford)
11.25 Break / Networking
11.45 The Food Conversation: What are the issues? – Maria Clarke and Sophie Burry (Dorset LNP)
12.10 Developing local solutions – workshop session
12.50 Next Steps
13.00 Close
Download a copy of the programme here.
If you have any queries, please email: info@dorsetlnp.org.uk