LOCAL farmers and producers were brought together at a conference last weekend.

Talks, demonstrations and debates drew a crowd of almost 200 people to the first Marches Real Food and Farming conference, dedicated to emphasising the need to produce good quality local food.

The event was held on September 15 and 16, organised by the Shropshire Good Food Partnership and held at Partridge Farm on the Linley Estate near Bishop’s Castle.

The schedule featured local and national scientists, farmers, growers and chefs in a programme focused on creating a regenerative and resilient food and farming system in the region. 

Shropshire Good Food Partnership founder Jenny Rouquette said: “We were looking for a way to launch a broad debate about the future of our food and farming systems in the Marches and we hope we achieved that.

“We were thrilled that there was a real energy at the conference inspired by so many people engaged in different aspects of producing good, local food, and its journey from farm to fork.”

The conference also included a collaboration hub and culminated in a people's assembly. Views and debates from these will be used to shape a vision for the local food future and how all those involved can work together to achieve it.

One of the keynote speakers at the event, author Chris Smaje, said: “As communities we need to be taking more responsibility for our food supply and produce more food for ourselves.

“That obviously includes local farmers, but it also has to include wider local communities more than has been the case historically.”