The Future of Food in the Lincolnshire Fens

Workshops to explore challenges to ongoing food production in the Lincolnshire Fens, and develop thoughtful and deliberate responses

Catch up with the most recent webinar here:

Next online event

Wednesday 12th June, 10-11:30am

This will be of particular interest to people living and working in South Lincolnshire, and anyone involved in the wider food system.

About the workshops

Approach to co-design

The Future of Food in the Lincolnshire Fens events are co-design workshops. Participants are not told what to think or do. Rather, they participate fully in formulating questions and researching responses.

The workshops are intentionally diverse: they bring together different stakeholders, all with a stake in the south Lincolnshire food system yet belonging to different sectors and organisations. All stakeholders are individually engaged in one-to-one conversations before the workshop.

The workshops operate as a space for sharing concerns, information and aspirations, to explore possibilities, to disagree and to change one’s mind. They follow Chatham House rules.

The moderators’ role is three-fold:

Protect participants to ensure everyone in the room can speak their mind freely
Challenge participants to consider other dimensions and point of views than their own
Support participants in growing a multi-stakeholder agenda, finding information, and growing their own responses

The workshops are inherently dynamic. They evolve with their participants’ inputs. Their structure changes from one event to the other, to ensure it remains a fully interactive space, rather than a predictable one.

Workshop #3 – March 2024

What future for those working the Fens? Farmers’ experience of the present and anticipation of the future.
The long view: What outcomes and values should drive the investment strategy for flood risk management in the Fens?
A robust response to multiple, interacting challenges

Workshop #2 – January 2024

Online dissemination #2 – 21st February 2024

The importance of the Fens for the food system of South Lincolnshire and the UK’s
The challenges, current and future, to continued food production, processing, transport, and distribution in the area
Coastal environments and how to manage the risks of tidal flooding as sea levels rise
Soil maintenance in the Fens
Road maintenance in the Fens

Exploring dimensions in depth

Coast

Saltwater inundating fertile Fenland would make it unsuitable for growing food.

The historical approach has been to hold the line through “grey” defences, but this implies a high maintenance cost, and will be ineffective in the long term.

Alternative approaches could involve a hybrid of for example, salt marshes and seawalls, with a low maintenance cost and resilience in the longer term.

What pathways are there for incremental responses, and farmers making their own choices and actions? Valuing land used as buffer salt marshes may need to be supported by policy change.

Soil

Growers in the Lincolnshire Fens rely on the rich soil for cultivation of vegetable crops, but maintaining the soil is becoming increasingly challenging:

The drained soil of the Fens are susceptible to soil erosion and shrinkage, especially in the hotter, drier summers that we are experiencing and expecting more of in future.

The dried out soil also emits high levels of CO2. As farming intensifies and agri-machinery becomes bigger and heavier, the soil becomes more compacted and less hospitable to the soil life needed for healthy soil, and makes cultivation more difficult.

Growers recognise that the pressure on them to maximise production in the short term risks exhausting the soil and diminishing the long term productivity of the Fens, and were interested to explore the options of growing food while maintaining the soil.

Roads

Increasing shrink-swell and compression of Fenland roads’ underlay is leading to more road failures, driven by:

road weight
more vehicles
heavier vehicles
longer dry seasons
higher temperatures
underlying geology

What are the implications of deteriorating roads and the high cost of maintaining roads on projected economic growth for the region, and on transport logistics for a region that grows and processes a high proportion of the UK’s fruit and veg?

With thanks to AFN Network+ for supporting this workshop

Workshop #1 – November 2022

A diverse group –

The group of 25 participants includes farmers and processors, retailers, consultants, landowners, representatives of district and county councils, Local Enterprise Partnership, Environment Agency, Natural England, Defra, Fenland Soil, the Lincolnshire Rural Support Network, Lincoln University, Business Lincolnshire.

Exploring multiple futures –

Participants think of the future at different timescales: from the next few years to the 2100s and beyond.

They have different views on whether solutions to the future of food in the Fens already exist or not, and have in mind a range of different challenges to solve.

They also differ in their perception that any solutions will satisfy everyone, or will rather imply trade-offs and compromises.

Taking stock –

The group enriched and discussed a map of the challenges to the South Lincolnshire food system.

This confirmed the multiple, interlocking dimensions underpinning the future of food in the Fens.

Exploring dimensions in depth

Policy –

The uncertain future of national food policy was a concern frequently mentioned. There is a perception of short-termism, silo thinking, and a lack of consideration for the broad food sector.

The range of policy issues of concern extends beyond food and agriculture: the state of the economy and the impact of inflation on consumers are also relevant. Participants discussed ways of making the case for supporting the South Lincolnshire food system.

Weather/Climate –

Participants have experienced extreme weather more and more frequently. Local data shows notable increases in overall rainfall volumes in recent years, and more extreme highs and lows than at any time since 1944.

Threats of flooding (tidal in particular) and drought are major causes for concern. The value of what is at risk if a major tidal event occurred does not stop at the land, and includes also the businesses and major infrastructures in the area.

Infrastructure –

The South Lincolnshire food system depends on transport, drainage, and flood control infrastructures. Participants noted the area’s poorly developed electrical and digital grids, and lack of major roads.

Geology, climate and usage are making the maintenance of roads in the Fens increasingly challenging.

Studies on the works needed to upgrade flood defences are anticipating bills running into billions. Reservoirs, irrigation, and a tidal barrier were mentioned as desirable or indispensable new infrastructures.