In the midst of a global polycrisis, a variety of different sectors continue to talk about the importance of a ‘just transition’ for societies and economies - in terms of climate and nature.

At Shared Assets, we believe a just transition can only happen if those most marginalised from the land have a say in, and (if desired) responsibility for, how the land around them is managed.

We believe in the climate, nature and wellbeing benefits of communities collectively stewarding land. We also believe, for these community assets to be truly valued, people connected to them should be able and enabled to make sustainable livelihoods from the land.

In a previous blog, our non-Executive Director Julia Beart spoke about the need to bridge between the dominant and emergent land systems as part of achieving a ‘just transition’. Six months in, I see the role Shared Assets plays as part of an ecosystem of actors supporting this transition.  

Leaving my very young family at home and turning up at national events to represent Shared Assets, after nine years doing local food systems work in Oxfordshire, has been enlivening. And it has been interesting starting to hone my thinking and get my ‘lift pitch’ in order.

When I talk to people about land, some people already ‘get it’ - their eyes light up (they’ve found an ally) - and they tell me, “Oh yes, land. Land is a problem.” But sometimes, talking about land at events feels like talking about food ten years ago. People didn’t think it was a problem. Covid changed all that. I hope it won’t take another pandemic to change our relationship to the land.

On reflection, what I have seen all around me, at the events I have been lucky enough to attend, are people taking land as a problem, and turning it into a solution.

Visions of our future food system

At the TABLE event in October 2024, The Politics & Economics of Food System Transformation, hosted by the Oxford University Martin School, representatives from three different sectors presented market-led, state-led and bottom-up visions of our future food system.

They asked a cross-section of representatives from these sectors to critique and most importantly build on these visions to develop a shared understanding of the economic and political conditions needed for a positive future.

At the end of the two days, three participant groups shared our collective visions for a positive food future. They all shared common themes of diversity, equity and justice. They all represented the key actors of state, community businesses, and the market.

What surprised me was that all of these options represented compelling positions - the energy of the market, the guardrails of the state, and the diversity of the grassroots. Of course all of our final visions contained elements of each. And behind each element of our positive visions, or indeed underneath the feet of them, was the land. The soil from which we all (ideally) thrive - in a reciprocal relationship of diversity, equity and justice.

The Future is Now

Attending CTRL Shift’s event The Future is Now in Birmingham in November 2024 was enlivening in a different way - there was a lot of commonality in terms of frustration with the system and the state, and in the midst of that, so much power emanating from groups organising for the alternative.

I was inspired by CIVIC SQUARE’s community land contract for a new project that will be held in perpetuity, genuinely transforming ownership; Stroud Commons creating a ‘housing commons’ with investment opportunities termed as ‘rent-credit obligations’ as a pension alternative; CSA Network’s programme of support for ten new farms; and Urban Agriculture Consortium’s Landed Community Kitchens pilots.

I tried out my new ‘lift pitch’: Shared Assets supports communities to develop initiatives and enterprises with land, and we support land- and wealthholders to find new ways to relate to the land. Yes, that felt good.

How can land be the solution not the problem?

I was so delighted to have a paid ticket for the Oxford Real Farming Conference in January 2025 for the first time since 2014! (I ran the logistics for six years and was a volunteer after that). The sessions I attended? Transforming Land Relations, Learnings from Pathways to Land for BPOC, How Do We Actually Fund an Agroecological Transition, The Interbeing of Agroecology, and Graphic Journalling and Map-Making to Explore Your Farming Journey. As ever at ORFC, the sessions I went to (which were great!) were of most value as a launching-off point for the interesting conversations I had with the people who I happened to be sitting with.

Holding the question, “how can land be the solution rather than the problem”, I spoke to: Patrick from Hempen, whose landlord has transferred ownership of the land to the community enterprise; Simon from Radici, who follows the ethos of investing not just in the land but in the soil and the community who gather around it; Agnes from Lauriston Farm, who is offering allotments for more than three households to work in common, which fosters a collective sense of responsibility for the whole of the shared allotment space.

These are the green shoots of the solution, growing through the widening cracks in the dominant system.

The most soul-grabbing session I attended at ORFC was a talk about The Happy Farm at Plum Village, which seeks to live out Thich Nhat Hanh’s insight of ‘interbeing’:

“Our body is a community, and the trillions of non-human cells in our body are even more numerous than the human cells. Without them, we could not be here in this moment… we do not exist independently. We inter-are.”

Volunteers and retreatants at The Happy Farm are regularly called by a bell to contemplate their interbeing, experiencing first-hand “the interconnection between earth, rain, sun and seed with the hand and food of the farmer”.

Spanning our unique and beautiful planet, land is the great connector. And we are all connected through our connection to the land. What’s more, our multiple crises are no longer over there, they are on our doorstep. And we can make a difference with and on and in relation to the land.

Land is the solution! In terms of principle, policy, process and practice. Perhaps more deeply in terms of relationships, narrative and public mindset. The time to shift our relationships, with land and each other, is now.