A UNIVERSITY of Exeter researcher is due to complete an epic cycle ride of more than 2,000 miles today (July 5).
Veronica White left Land’s End in Cornwall on April 12 for her Farming Futures Cycle tour, during which she interviewed female farmers and food producers about their experiences and visions for the future.
Today (July 5), Veronica, who is a second year PhD candidate in Exeter’s Department of Geography, is due to reach the Scottish border at Gretna Green.
She has met a range of women who work on a range of farms from market gardens to large dairy farms supplying supermarkets. In total, she has interviewed 50 women across 40 different farming sites.
“It’s clear that, even across farming types and scales, there are several themes that arise in almost every interview,” Veronica said.
“Whether you are an organic dairy in Devon or an arable farm in Cambridgeshire, the uncertainties presented by a changing policy landscape and climate extremes are making it increasingly difficult to plan for the future.
“The importance of educating the public, moving towards national food self-sufficiency, and farming with nature were other themes that came up regularly in my interviews with farm women.
“All of these are tied into visions for the future that see farmers respected by the public and government, with consumers choosing to buy local, seasonal food, and land being used to produce food while protecting the natural environment. Importantly, the visions described by my participants rarely reflect the high-tech, farmer-less images we often associate with ‘future farming’.”
Veronica’s PhD focuses on the perspectives of women in agricultural communities across different geographic and farming contexts.
“One of the best things about this experience has been seeing the incredible diversity of farms and hearing how people got into farming,” she said.
“While the women I spoke to held a range of on- and off-farm roles, they often sit at the very heart of the farming business. They described the specific challenges they face as women in the farming industry, but also the ways they are driving forward changes to make their farms more financially and environmentally sustainable – to help contribute towards building the futures they envision.”
Using the Sustrans National Cycle Network, Veronica has spent more than 70 days on the bike, and travelled up to 70 miles per day.
“What is shocking is that despite camping for 39 nights, at no point have I had to put up or take down my tent in the rain,” she added.
“And while on one level I have appreciated the dry spring, I’ve been conscious that this isn’t such great news for British farmers.
“As I have cycled through these landscapes, it has brought home to me how farmers are also outside every day, and they don’t have the luxury of taking a day off because it’s too hot or too wet.
“It’s given me a lot of respect for the physical nature of their job and their ability to cope with the uncertainty of the weather.”
Read more on South West Farmer
