It is a lovely way to start the year interacting with like minded folk who understand the importance of farming in a way that respects the magical interaction of farming practices with the surrounding environment. The Oxford Real Farming Conference has been running for many years and can be a great way to make new connections and meet up with old friends.

There are so many aspects of the conference that are amazing. Now, in its thirteenth year, each year has got bigger and better.  The world pandemic has necessitated that last two years being digital, which is never quite the same, though it does have the advantage that the wide variety of topics can be revisited online. 

This year I was part of the presentation looking at: “Reducing antibiotic and anthelmintic use through homeopathy, herbs and medicinal plants on livestock farms in the UK.”

Our team consisted of myself, medical herbalist Kate Scott as a co-speaker and Lawrence Woodward as the chair.

Lawrence set the scene in classic style outlining why reducing dependency on antibiotics and anthelmenitcs is important. He then spoke about the “uncomfortable truth” about how farmers really do find the CAMs approach very useful.

We reviewed the findings of the recently published survey of farmers who used Complimentary and Alternative Medicines (CAMs) on their farm. This survey clearly demonstrated that the answer was yes, many farmers were able to achieve low, reduced or zero use of antibiotics and anthelmintics with the addition of CAMs approaches to their already good husbandry. And if some farms can achieve this, then why not more? And if more farms can achieve this, then why not all farms.

I reviewed some of the homeopathic approaches that can be useful. Kate then went on to give a lovely introduction to some of the herbal approaches that can be useful. Then finally we watched a great little film with two welsh dairy farmers, Sally and Gary, talking about how the farm has been transformed as they used an integrated holistic approach.

Lawrence rounded the presentation off with a succinct summary, followed by a section of Q&A for the audience. 

There were 135 sessions altogether reflecting many aspects of the real farming approach. So wonderful to see so many people keen to share their knowledge and experience. 

To check out the results of the ground breaking Whole Health Agriculture CAMs survey, check out: https://wholehealthag.org

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