Helping farmers put real health on our plates

About

About WHAg

We are a not-for-profit organisation that helps farmers discover, learn and adopt whole health systems that promote vitality, resilience and immunity. 

Our online Learning Centre hosts course, webinars and information designed to help farmers end reliance on synthetic chemicals, antibiotics and intensive interventions. We also provide membership and community support services for farmers via live sessions and forums – managed almost solely on a voluntary basis.

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.

A Sustainable Agriculture does not deplete soils or people

Wendell Berry

Our Manifesto

Why we are so passionate about the health of the farm and the food you put on your plate

Our People

Meet our small yet passionate group of individuals, all with different backgrounds

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.  

Our Vision
Recognition and reward for wholistic farming and food production systems that respect the entire ecosystem.

Our Mission
To promote the concept and practice of wholistic farming systems which enhance the health and wellbeing of soil, plants, animals and people.

WHAg is on a Mission

Our ultimate aim is to show the potential and credibility of wholistic farming to help clean up the food chain and restore health to the land. In order to do this we need to engage farmers and citizens 

This is a big aim – we realise that – and our first step is to discover exactly what it is that the successful farmers are doing, in order to help and encourage other farmers to adopt best practice; and to inspire the public to support these farmers and to champion wholistic farming and growing methods.

We cannot do it without you; whether you are a farmer, grower, producer, or a concerned citizen, we need you to join our community (it’s free!) so that we can demonstrate that there is support for this important initiative.

Sign up to join our community >>

Our Partners

We believe there is a healthier way to farm and we are working together with our partners to challenge and shape policy.

Our Affiliates

Our Policy Partners

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.

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