The detailed timeline aims at showing the evolution of the agricultural context at the UK level and also on the Coventry region and to highlight the specific features of this urban area in terms of change in the agri-food system.

The Industrial Revolution emerged in the Midlands region of the UK because of the rich underground reserves of coal, iron ore and limestone. Wealthy landowners established mining and manufacturing companies, and organised a mass exodus of rural people to move to new cities to work in industry. This large scale and relatively rapid removal of people from the land – and from their rural cooking habits – has had a chronic effect on human and environmental health that is just as prevalent today. The organic movement arose as part of a wave of environmentalism that sprang up in opposition to the industrialisation of British agriculture that occurred in the immediate post-war years. The term “organic farming” was coined by Lord Northbourne, in his 1940 book, “Look to the Land”. The Soil Association, which has long been at the head of the British organic movement, was founded in 1946, by a group of farmers, scientists and nutritionists who posited direct connections between farming practice and plant, animal, human and environmental health. In the immediate aftermath of the war, concerns about food shortages ran high, and self-sufficiency in food production was deemed an important national goal. At the same time, successive governments were keen to keep food prices low so as to assist domestic economic recovery. Low food prices were also necessary to retain export markets, with the emergence of the USA and USSR as the world’s agricultural powerhouses.

With cost imperatives driving farmers off the land and causing widespread consolidation of the industry, factory farming developed as the most efficient means of production. The intensification and upscaling of agriculture during the 1960s was supported by Government and EC grants, and the widespread use of chemicals and pharmaceuticals was encouraged by the Common Agricultural Policy’s sole focus on production.

The social unrest of the late 1960s, leading up to the oil crisis of 1973, were central to the development of the “back to nature” philosophy of the modern environmental movement. Organic farming in particular condemned the environmental degradation inflicted by the CAP. The demand for Governmental and EU regulation of organic standards grew in the 1980s, following the formation of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) as an international advocate for organic farming. In 1991, the EU passed Council Regulation EEC 2092/91, which sets the standards that all EU organic producers are required to meet. In the UK, the majority of the Regulation’s stipulations are implemented under the Organic Products Regulation 2001. Moreover, in 2002, the Government produced an Organic Action Plan as part of its Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food, drawn up in response to the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic. Environmental concerns and a series of food safety scares, such as BSE, then stimulated demand for organic produce in more recent years, leading to a substantial annual rate of growth for the sector.

Following Britain’s exit from the EU in 2020, it was announced that agricultural subsidies would vary depending on the different levels of soil protection. The government said it had chosen to start with soil because it applied to most farmers in England and benefits both carbon storage and biodiversity. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it “recognises the benefits that organic farming can offer to the wider environment” and said it is exploring how to reward organic producers for their existing and long-standing nature-friendly farming methods”.

Coventry itself is a mid-sized multicultural city in the West Midlands, with a population of roughly 345,300 inhabitants. In recent years, the city has experienced significant growth in its population, from 316,915 in 2011 to the actual 345,300 residents on Census Day 2021 (4). The city’s population has grown particularly amongst younger adults, alongside the growth and success of the city’s two universities (Coventry University and University of Warwick) in attracting students locally and internationally.