Groundswell here we come!
from email 23rd June 2026,
When I received the call from the Groundswell team a few weeks ago, I was in the middle of a conference call with London Doughnut Economy Coalition (LDEC), planning for London Climate Action Week. The phone line was terrible, and at first, I could only make out fragments of a sentence something along the lines of, “…swell.” And I thought, maybe my GP had finally decided to call about the swelling from my torn MCL.
We had applied to host a workshop back in April, but when we heard nothing back by the expected date, we assumed our application had been unsuccessful and moved on. As it turned out, a slot had opened up when Kate Raworth’s (the author of Doughnut Economics) schedule did not quite align with the festival. So Tansy (my co-lead of Food Project at LDEC) and I were invited to fill the Doughnut hole!
Groundswell Agriculture Festival is celebrated for its "by farmers, for farmers" ethos. Rather than traditional indoor exhibition halls, the festival is held directly on a working farm, allowing hands-on, practical learning opportunities. Being invited to host a workshop– as two Londoners – felt like a meaningful affirmation that the vision behind our workshop had resonated with the regenerative farming and food community. Although, admittedly, having Doughnut Economics in our name helped.
The central question we are exploring at LDEC’s Food Project is this: what if London shifted the way big cities are fed, to contribute to regenerative food systems grounded in ecological boundaries and reciprocal relationship between urban and rural communities?
It’s designed to build bridges between urban and rural communities, exploring how city residents can actively support the regenerative agriculture through Doughnut lenses.
London produces only around 1% of the food it consumes to feed its nine million residents. At the same time, around 80% of the UK population live in cities. As a major centre of consumption, cities hold enormous power in shaping what gets produced, but also how it is produced.
Image Credit: Bumjoo Maclennan, Kamut, ancient organic wheat grain
Contrary to what we are often led to believe as “consumers” – that we have little influence over what ends up on our plates – we can, in fact shape what appears on store shelves. Through conversations with farmers, farming and trade associations, wholesalers, convenient store owners – across the various hats I wear, I have come to appreciate just how closely producers, and sellers at every level pay attention to demand. Consumers purchasing patterns are one of the dominant themes discussed.
What sells matters.
When we choose to purchase regenerative and organic butter, lettuce, or strawberries because they simply taste better and demand exceeds a wholesaler’s supply, wholesalers begin searching for producers who can meet that demand. Markets respond to demand signals.
A brief clarification here though. When I talk about organic food, I am not referring to products that merely satisfy the minimum certification requirements in order to command a premium price. Organic is a legally defined standard, and it is possible to qualify through a largely box-ticking approach. While this is generally preferable to conventional farming, it does not necessarily result in food grown with the same ecological intention or flavour. Some of you who have purchased these types of organic food may have felt short-changed as a result.
This raises another important question: what does it actually mean to farm organically and regeneratively?
From The City St. George's Food Policy Symposium where I learned about the realities of food insecurities and convenience stores
The term, “regenerative” is increasingly co-opted by Big Ag such as Syngenta and Big Food such as General Mills and Nestlé. Too often, no-till agriculture is promoted as a silver-bullet solution for carbon sequestration while heavy reliance on herbicides such as glyphosate allows farmers to achieve no-till.
Tillage does release significant amounts of carbon, as many of you may have seen in the documentary Kiss the Ground. However, the ecological damage of agrochemicals can persist in our ecosystem, affecting soil organisms, waterways and our gut biome.
Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide, and despite assurances regarding its safety at approved levels, concerns about its carcinogenic attributes have fuelled scientific debate and lawsuits for decades – such as those against Monsanto which was sold to Bayer in 2018. Roundup is the retail version of glyphosate, commonly sold in your garden centres. Industry-funded research often focuses on exposure thresholds deemed safe for consumers, ignoring the fact that chemicals persist long after application - not to mention the validity of those "safe" levels themselves. They move through ecosystems and accumulate and have consequences that extend beyond the conditions under which they were originally assessed.
Your seemingly healthy bowl of oat porridge might contain traces of glyphosate, as it has been used as a pre-harvest desiccant as well, sprayed shortly before harvesting to dry crops more evenly and maximise the yield. Please sign this petition to help BAN Pre-Harvest Desiccation!
Image from Wicked Leeks
By contrast, regenerative approaches rooted in organic, biodynamic, permaculture principles seek to restore life both above and below the ground. Healthy soils support biodiversity – and biodiversity, in turn, helps build healthy soils. These systems improve water retention, strengthen ecosystem resilience and contribute to carbon sequestration.
Farming has always been an inherently risky business. The apparent simplicity of industrialised monoculture and chemical-intensive agriculture has made it seem predictable: it is linear and standardised. Yet this system is becoming increasingly unpredictable and vulnerable as the stable climate conditions of the Holocene give way to greater volatility. Add to that widespread soil degradation and topsoil erosion, and the limitations of the conventional model become increasingly apparent.
According to Rodale Institute’s long-running side-by-side trials, organic farming matches conventional yields and outperforms them up to 40% during extreme weather, all while reducing operating costs and enhancing the ecosystem resilience that sustains our food system.
I’ve been told that transitioning from conventional to organic farming can take five to seven years before significant improvement in soil health become visible. Even worse, in the early years, farmers may even experience lower yields. During that period, farmers often face scepticism from peers who have been trained in conventional systems. I have been told I am living in “cloud-cuckoo land” simply for arguing that transitioning to organic farming method is for future-proofing.
At the same time, farmers making the transition frequently need to develop entirely new markets and sales relationships, while managing financial risk and undertaking substantial research to understand what is happening in their soils.
This is why we believe cities such as London have a vital role to play.
Image Credit: Nithish during LDEC's Food Project Workshop at Somers Town Community Association (London Climate Action Week 2026)
Urban consumers, institutions, businesses, and public bodies can help create the demand and purchasing power needed to make regenerative transitions economically viable. By intentionally purchasing food produced through genuinely regenerative and organic methods, cities can become active partners in supporting farming communities rather than simply distant consumers of their products.
If you happen to be at Groundswell, please join our workshop! If you know someone attending the festival, please share this with them! I have been told that only around one in ten applications were accepted this year as speakers. And we were first-time applicants! Even though it is one of the last workshops at the festival, we are super excited and deeply grateful for the opportunity. We very much look forward to the festival and conversations.
On a personal note, I’ve been quiet lately because my mother-in-law passed away in February after a short illness. She was such a huge part of our lives that the trauma of that loss was profound. For a while, I couldn’t read, think – let alone write or make any decisions.
With love,
Bumjoo
Image Credit: Ruth Maclennan
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