Arts & Culture

In Our Hands – Seeding Change

The inspiring story behind the blood, sweat and tears of the British farmers seizing the Brexit moment to outgrow the industrial food system.

Our current industrial food system is a vast wheezing giant propped up by an outdated subsidy regime, one that pays out to landowners and leaves many farmers adrift.

But in the UK… from the hedgerows and by-roads, in the fields and furrows, can be heard the stirring of change. 

Stories of struggle from the global South have spread like pollen on the wind and inspired farmers and food activists. They have learned the idea of food sovereignty and have heard of a global movement to take back control of the food system.

We stand on the brink, the future is uncertain, but the seeds of a better food system are In Our Hands. 

“A powerful and inspiring film, one that deserves a wide audience who will no doubt champion a better way of growing, shopping, cooking and eating” – Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall – River Cottage

“Marvelous to see the rebirth of serious discussion about the future of UK land use. It’s time we put our own house in order” – Professor Tim Lang – Centre for Food Policy

“A meditative and eye opening journey into a world that closely mirrors our own challenges in the US and the world over” – Delila Vallot – Director, Can You Dig This 

Running time: 67 minutes

This summer the Landworkers’ Alliance is releasing its album: Stand Up Now. Buy your CD copy on this page (head here if you would prefer a digital download)

This amazing collation of songs draws on the collective talent of our membership and musicians who support our cause. Stand Up Now collates traditional and original music gathered from the farms, woods and cities of our contested nation, and stands in a proud tradition of peoples’ music and peoples’ history. Recorded the cold wet spring of 2021, these fifteen songs raise the eternal themes of our present and of our past; love, liberty and the struggles of labour.

Stand Up Now includes recordings from Robin Grey, The Norfolk Broads, Ewan McClennan and many more. It includes contemporary stories such as Owen Shiers’ ballad of the community farm Trecadwegan, as well as the timeless classics, such as that which gives the album its name. Our countryside is bedevilled with struggle, but a better world is coming, and it’s singing as it comes. They may own the land, but the songs belong to no one…