The Land Skills Hub is part of the La Via Campesina Agroecology Training School global network. With over seventy schools worldwide, there is a growing movement founded upon the understanding that practical and political eduction in agroecology is a path towards creating a just and equitable society .

We are part of a global network of peasants who are deeply committed to the communities we serve and the crafts we tend.

We aim to create alternative ways of living that can solve the most deeply rooted structural problems our society is facing - nutrition, housing, exclusion and marginalisation.

Urgency

The loss of biodiversity, climate change and rising inequality stem from the rising control of capitalism over our daily lives.

Disconnection from nature threatens our livelihoods, ecosystems and communities.

There are currently only two agroecology training schools in the UK - one in Scotland and one in Wales. We therefore recognise the deficit in this type of training and support, which is needed to empower people in England and build a global movement.

Agroecology creates alternatives to capitalist agribusiness by building collective power.

Power is the ability to act.

We focus on relational power - this happens when people come together as equals, to work towards a common aim.

At the Land Skills Hub we empower through connecting people to land and sea, as a way to inspire action in building a better world.

We centre our processes of empowerment around popular education.

This is "a method and an approach that puts forward the scaling up of agroecology at the territorial level and the strengthening of peoples’ food sovereignty."

Popular education includes practical and technical skills sharing, peer-to-peer / farmer-to-farmer knowledge and skills transfer, discussions, storytelling and collective campaigns.

We recognise that knowledge and experience is socially produced -we are social beings. Here, knowledge is based on people’s experience on the ground - this is then shared with the collective. We acknowledge the multiplicity of knowledge and social and human diversity.

Political liberation

Popular education

Empowerment

Who we are

Our vision

Our objectives

• To provide progression pathways into agroecological living including:

  • introductory courses in land skills,

  • events in partnership with BPOC centred community groups

  • taster events to inspire more young people to get involved in sustainable landwork

  • political training empowerment weekends,

  • longer courses, internships & placements,

  • mentoring and microbusiness support,

  • activists in residency,

  • home education activities centred in multicultural traditions

  • retreats, gatherings and celebrations including crafts, song and art.

• To be part of, and build, the social movement, based on connecting people to the continuum of life.

• To keep traditional skills alive as a basis for developing new knowledge systems, weaving them into new ways of redesigning our society.

• To focus on becoming a community of practice, not a residential community

Our Activities

The Landskills Hub events are designed to:

1) connect people to nature,

2) impart skills in nature friendly farming, food processing, natural building, heritage craft and landscape management, wildlife and woodland management

3) provide a progression pathway for youth who wish to gain livelihoods in land work or climate and nature advocacy

4) share skills in advocating for action on equitable land use, climate change and biodiversity restoration

5 ) provide political popular education so people can understand the big picture of sustainable land management, healthy food systems and policies which support a sustainable farming economy

Who do we work with?

All of our events are open to anyone who wants to come along and contribute, but the project specifically works with youth, people of colour, and the LGBTQ community to encourage greater access to the countryside.