Excerpted from Ed Dowding‘s presentation at TEDxOxbridge, entitled “The Great Feast”:

“In the UK over 50% of farmers have a twitter account.

On Thursday evenings, many of them converge online in a conversation using the hashtag #agrichatUK. It regularly ‘trends’ in the UK – which is to say it is one of the most active conversations in the whole country.

Even our agriculture ministry now joins in.

Across the world people are self-organising around themes which they find useful or interesting, and helping each other learn.

These are the conversations, and these are the tools which make sustainable food systems find their scale.

And here are some of the other companies providing those structures which empower people to find new ways to rewire the food system.

Farmeron help farmers improve yields by monitoring nutrition and herd health

BuckyBox saves 90% of the time it takes to run a farm delivery scheme.

There are services which let customers order direct from local farms – making sales and marketing marvellously efficient,

and others who take this a step further, letting customers cluster together to buy in bulk at wholesale prices. Less hassle for the farms, cheaper produce, AND you build a community.

Housebites is clever. They connect people ordering takeaway meals with chefs cooking at home, all delivered by couriers in the city. Just be connecting the dots, everyone gets more choice, better food, and more business.”