Community-led innovation meets ancestral knowledge to tackle weeds, erosion and accessibility.

Planting Futures showcases a story of innovation, community action, and sustainable growing in practice. Discover how Fallowlees Farm and West End Women and Girls Centre used Participatory Action Research to overcome soil erosion, weed pressure, and accessibility challenges by co-designing and building lynchet terraces and developing inclusive growing tools.

The session also explores findings from a complementary dissertation study, revealing that raw wool mulch can dramatically reduce weed growth across a range of crops, regardless of weather conditions or soil microclimates. By blending traditional and ancestral land-management techniques with rigorous statistical evidence, these projects showcase practical, low-cost solutions for creating more resilient and productive food-growing spaces.

Attendees will leave with a wealth of free resources, including step-by-step SOPs, crop rotation plans, and pig-safe lynchet blueprints, enabling community farms and growers to adapt and replicate this inclusive, evidence-based approach in their own settings.

Description supplied by the event organiser.