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Welcome to Whole Health Agriculture
We are a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to advancing whole health farming systems that engender vitality and resilience in livestock and crops while protecting our natural world.
Through initiatives in education and investigation, and with our strategic partnerships, we empower farmers to transition away from synthetic chemicals, antibiotics, and intensive inputs. Together we can create a sustainable farming future that benefits and protects our collective health.
Inclusive & Sustainable
WHAg is a community of farmers, professionals and citizens, dedicated to teaching, supporting and promoting whole health farming systems and practices.
We document the experiences and amplify the voices of farmers who protect our collective health through the effective use of low residue, nature-friendly systems of farm management.
Read our Dairy Report.
“You have to join the dots as everything is linked. For true health you have to consider every element of the farm“
Sally Wood – Organic Dairy Farmer
Supporting Farmers
Farmers are increasingly under pressure to reduce antibiotics and synthetic wormers, and to use fewer pesticides and herbicides. But those seeking alternatives can struggle to find reliable information on options that will work for them, or support on how to implement new systems.
We signpost alternative methods successfully used by farmers, teach and share knowledge on best practice, and provide community and support to help farmers adopt and integrate changes.
Explore our Farm Health Hub for a wide range of information. Visit our Learning Centre for farmer-tested courses, webinars and community options.
Joining the Dots
We are building connections between farmers and citizens to increase awareness and build support for whole health farming practices.
Whole health farming respects the entire farm, working with rather than against nature, employing systems that encourage biodiversity.
A whole health approach fosters vibrant health and resilience in livestock and crops which ultimately protects and improves our collective health.
We believe our future health depends on the health of the food we produce and eat. With this in mind, Whole Health Agriculture (WHAg) is committed to:
1. Investigate and document farm health management practices that refine or reduce antibiotics and synthetic chemicals in the food chain and on the land.
2. Champion farmers and growers who use wholistic farming* practices, and empower them through knowledge exchange on best practice.
3. Raise public awareness of the benefits and importance of wholistically produced food.
4. Provide progressive farm education resources and programmes
*Wholistic farming avoids synthetic drugs and toxic chemicals, and fosters natural resilience and vitality in livestock and crops, working with, rather than against, nature. Critically, these approaches protect our health.
WHY THE NEED?
Having been engaged for many years in the development of alternative agriculture and food systems, we are aware of several underlying and longstanding needs which need to be addressed. These include:
– A need for consistent and effective support within the industry for farmers and growers – conventional and organic – who choose an alternative and/or wholistic approach to farm health management
– A need for synergy and coherence within the ‘alternative’ farming movement in the development and practice of ‘whole farm’ or wholistic health management
– A need to identify and explore the success of wholistic health approaches to provide a framework for development and knowledge transfer.
– A need to increase public awareness (including within the food & farming sector, the media, and the medical & veterinary professions) about the success and potential of wholistic food production to improve our health
We believe that the need to address these issues is important because of:
– The emergence and increase of antimicrobial resistance which is predicted to have a catastrophic impact on our health
– Efforts to suppress, negate and discredit ‘all things natural, wholistic, alternative’ instigated by specific corporations and organisations, often proliferated by the media
– A lack of transparency around food production which denies people the freedom to make informed choices, eg Glyphosate, GM, etc
We have concluded that in this situation;
a) the failure to recognise wholistic livestock health approaches as a valid and valuable strategy is a dereliction of duty on the part of the relevant authorities,
And
b) a new initiative to bring collaboration, coherence and a robust higher profile is needed to ensure that wholistic or whole farm systems fulfil their potential to have a significant and positive impact on farming and public health.
Our 'Natural Health Service'?
Wholistic Farming could be our ‘natural health service’. Most farming and food production systems – even organic – do not currently prioritise health; moreover, industrialised agriculture has led us in an entirely unhealthy direction, resulting in:
– antibiotic resistance via intensive livestock systems
– food that is low in nutritional value, high in toxic residues
– disconnection between farmers and their communities
– environmental and planetary damage
We are starting to see challenges to conventional farming attitudes and practices but we are a long way from fully joined up thinking in terms of what is really ‘healthy’ in farming and food production.
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It is vitally important that…….farming delivers the highest quality, best-tasting food, produced without artificial chemicals or genetic modification, and with respect for animal welfare and the environment, while helping to maintain the landscape and rural communities.
His Royal Highness
King Charles III
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