A discussion worth having...

Hi there, I'm Anisa. Final year BSc Geography student at UCL. I’ve always had a huge interest in the food we eat and where it comes from - this was a key reason why I chose to study Geography at degree level. Geography encourages us to connect physical, social, economic, political and environmental issues and therefore geographical thinking is fundamental to enabling a broad and holistic understanding of a topic which is so diverse and complex. The environment can be perceived in many ways, but we must recognise the role humans play within rather than in parallel to it. With growing populations, climate change and vast socio-economic divides on several scales, I believe it's of huge importance that society rekindles a more physical relationship with the food we eat in order to fulfil global nutritional needs and preserve a functioning landscape into the future.

Sat at the summit. High Stennerskeugh is the highest farm on Wild Boar Fell.

Gathering clouds. Weather shapes this landscape.

I grew up spending weekends, holidays and whenever else I could on my grandparents' hill farm in Cumbria. It was a privilege to have this landscape as a classroom for my childhood. Over time I have seen significant change on the farm and within the community it lies in the heart of. My personal relationship with it has also changed- indeed, today I'm a vegan. My personal reasons for this choice aside, I recognise the imperative role of farming in the British landscape. UK agricultural economies have been declining over several decades and today, Brexit provides a new and infinitely complex set of challenges for the sector. Through this blog I’m going to be exploring some of the issues facing the way we produce food in the UK with a hope to better understand how possible futures of farming might look.

We, the consumer, play a key role in the demands placed upon these systems. Recent environmental protesting has illustrated that rebellion starts from the bottom. This is a debate we must engage in! It is our food supply.

Photos: author's own. Where source is not given, images are free access from Wix.com