Thirty-four days of going backwards: Bridging the urban-rural food divide

Creating meaningful connections between producers and consumers is not just an exercise in goodwill; it’s essential to gaining public support and securing the sustainability of our food systems, writes Rachel Martin

British adventurer Olly Hicks said that success in his missions boils down to a trifecta: 30% rower, 30% weather, and 30% luck. He declined to account for the final 10%, but I like to think it’s a stroke of madness — the same stroke that perhaps led him to study agriculture at college. Picture: Oxford Farming Conference

It was nearing the end of the Oxford Farming Conference when I heard ocean-rowing adventurer Olly Hicks explain that success in his missions boils down to a trifecta: 30% rower, 30% weather, and 30% luck. He declined to account for the final 10%, but I like to think it’s a stroke of madness — the same stroke that perhaps led him to study agriculture at college.

Farmers are used to navigating storms of a different kind whether it be policy, weather, disease, volatile markets — the equation feels similarly precarious.