A horrible history of British agriculture...How We Lost Our Connection to the Land And How We Can Get It Back!
I recently started a Level 4 course in Regenerative Land-Based Systems and Agroecology at one of my favourite small, biodynamic farms, The Apricot Centre.
Before we start, this is an illustration (by me ;) of Damson from The Apricot Centre - she has been living on their biodynamic farm for nearly 10 years! She doesn’t give any milk, she’s allowed to roam the fields freely with her friend Dandelion, as a ‘biodynamic gardener’ keeping the land fertile with her poo, and nibbling the pastures to keep them all in great condition for growing veg. She’s part of a beautiful system and she’s not being forced to create milk for humans, which as we know, most female cows are.
I want to share the wisdom I gain from my course with you all, and a great place to start is our history - how did we end up here, in a supermarket-dominated world of cheap, ultra-processed food and cruel animal mega-farms that prioritises profit over nourishment?
Well, here’s a brief and fascinating ‘horrible history’ of how we got here, and, more importantly, how we can find our way back. Because it’s not just about what’s on your plate, it’s about how it was grown.
Soil health does = human health.
As someone who’s had cancer, I’ve learned first-hand how much food impacts health.
I can tell you now that since learning about the chemical inputs used in industrial farming, I choose to avoid non-organic supermarket vegetables at all cost.
Certainly in my experience, said ‘cheap food’ doesn’t taste good either. I am reading a book about how animals self medicate in the wild, but we as humans also know this, that taste is one of the most important signs of nutrition.
The idea that organic can’t feed us is one of the biggest misconceptions out there. Studies show that regenerative and organic farms can be just as productive, while protecting soil and biodiversity for the long term.
My diet is mostly organic - I allow myself a treat, but my day to day is made up almost entirely of organic fruit, veg and legumes and I credit this as being a big part of my recovery.
Like me, they are motivated by health concerns, are actively looking to avoid synthetic pesticides and chemicals in their food and are willing to spend more for better quality.
It’s a sad fact that many people still don’t have access to better food options, and that this march to scale and intensification has been allowed to happen to give us the ‘cheap’ food system that benefits corporations far more than the people eating it.
But I digress, back to the history of our food…
12,000 years ago: The first big shift
Humans started to settle. Before this, we moved with the seasons, foraging, hunting - completely in tune with the land. Then, one day, someone stayed in one place long enough to notice that plants will grow where you take a poo, and agriculture was born - or something to that effect!
At first, it worked quite well. We planted crops, we domesticated animals. The land was complex, diverse, resilient. And around 90% of humans worked on the land. Women’s roles were equal to mens. Growing, gathering, preserving, cooking, raising children - all were valued.
We followed the rhythms of nature. The pagan wheel of the year guided us - solstices, land festivals, rituals honouring Earth’s cycles.
Then the Romans arrived. And with them, the Gregorian calendar and a severing of our natural connection to the land, by disorientating us from it. July was named after Julius Caesar and August after Augustus, you get the gist.
1066: The Land is Taken
Then the Normans arrived. Land was seized and given to the ruling elite. Villages were carved up. People bound to their lords. Serfs worked the land but owned nothing.
At least, they had rights of pannage, like the right to graze pigs in the forests. Until those rights were stripped away too.
The Enclosures: Fences, Factories, and Food Control
Common land was fenced off. People were forced from the fields into factories. The Industrial Revolution marked the first great privatisation of food.
Then came war. And hunger. Britain nearly starved.
So we waged war on the land itself.
Fertilisers made from weapons.
Tractors built like tanks.
Monocultures. Pesticides.
Soil stripped bare of life.
The food system became about control. Supermarkets. Mass production. Cheap food at any cost. A handful of corporations now dictate most of what we eat, how we farm, and what we know. In fact in the UK over 90% of our food is sold through the major 9 supermarkets. Corporations even control the seeds from which our food can grow.
But History is Not a Straight Line
There has always been resistance.
A parallel path of farmers, growers, visionaries who knew another way. Regenerative. Organic. Biodynamic. Agroecological.
Slowly, the tide is turning.
Farmers who once ripped out hedgerows are now replanting them.
Those who farmed animals are rewilding their spaces and growing organic veg.
A light is being shone on false narratives. For example, supermarkets have been criticised publicly for misleading branding - known as farmwashing - where industrial food is marketed as small-scale and ethical.
There are so many good things already happening.
Because here’s the Truth:
Food is not just about eating, it’s not just about what is on your plate it is about understanding the farming methods behind it - where did your food come from and who grew it, and how? These are the questions we should all be asking.
We live in a time of misinformation, where supermarket shelves are lined with ultra-processed food (UPFs) masquerading as ‘healthy choices’.
We are told that people just want cheap food, but research from the FFCC shows that 77% actually want better.
There are so many people already doing great things, which should give us all hope. To heal the land and ourselves, we need a bit of radical imagination, to remember what was lost—and dare to imagine what could be.
A future where land is wild and thriving through farming systems that work with nature and not against it.
A food system that is fair for everyone - from the growers and farmers, to the supply chain and the end consumer. And one that nourishes, not destroys. Where we focus on regeneration not extraction.
A world where we are custodians of the land, not owners of the land.
What a beautifully written timeline. I'm both angered and inspired in equal measure! Keep it up Fields of Imagination, your commentary on these subjects is exactly what we need! :)
What a beautifully written timeline. I'm both angered and inspired in equal measure! Keep it up Fields of Imagination, your commentary on these subjects is exactly what we need! :)