What can we do about speculators and millionaires buying or leasing all available farmland? Why are there so few vegetable growers left, supplying local markets? How, in these troubled global times, with trade tariffs and wars for oil shaking the structural realities of business-as-usual, can communities feed themselves without costing the Read more…
At Feeding Ourselves in Cloughjordan this year, we continued with our joint struggle, shared solidarity activities with farmers in Palestine. We brought Mahmoud Zwahre in from the West Bank via live video link on the Friday night, to tell us about farming there with settler attackers constantly increasing. Mahmoud pointed to Read more…
Welcome to Feeding Ourselves 2026! This is our annual gathering, one which serves a growing Community of Practice of local food producers and organisers, community food advocates, agri-food and land-use researchers, food justice campaigners, Short Food Supply Chain (SFSC) advisors and local food facilitators. Feeding Ourselves the gathering takes place Read more…
With the rapid spread of digital technology, how is this impacting the local food economy? To address at least some aspects of this question, a farminar (aka webinar with a farmer focus), organised by Cultivate via its work with the CODECS Horizon Europe project, was held in January 2026. The Read more…
The first Feeding Ourselves newsletter of the year is out. In the issue you’ll find: A lot of great work and collaboration is taking shape across the network. Have a read and see what’s coming up.
Resilient food systems in Ireland rely fundamentally on small farmers and growers, they are the backbone of resilient food systems, yet they remain largely unrecognised in Irish and EU policy. Talamh Beo is actively working to gain essential recognition for local food producers and secure specific supports to sustain their Read more…
Unpacking the role Digital Farmers Markets can play for building resilient local food economies. January 19th 2026 15.00-16.30 Location: Online (zoom) Free to attend – booking essential – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/nt96D4sjRcKUR9n3nJcaFQ This webinar explores the potential of digital platforms to transform local food systems. We will examine the opportunities and constraints of Read more…
The Feeding Ourselves Local Food Symposium, held on 30 October in Regent’s House, Trinity, marked a major milestone in the Strengthening Local Food Economies in Ireland project — a two-year collaboration between Talamh Beo, Cultivate, and Feasta, supported by the Irish Environmental Network and in and delivered with over a Read more…
How do you fit complicated conversations about food system transformation into an enormous music festival?
Since the Talamh Beo participation in the La Via Campesina delegation to the West Bank in December 2024, a working group on Palestine solidarity has been formed in Talamh Beo. Led by Ollie Moore, who participated in the delegation, this has resulted in a deepening relationship with Palestine’s Union of Agriculture Work Committees (UAWC).
Thursday 30th October I 13.30 – 17.30 I Regent House, Trinity College Dublin
How can we better support local food producers and nourish communities through stronger local food economies in Ireland?
A workshop was held with the Open Food Network Ireland (OFN) and the CODECS project, which focuses on living labs. OFN is a non-proprotory digital farmers market platform, while CODECS is a Horizon Europe initiative involving partners around Europe working on “sustainable digitalisation”.
Feeding Ourselves saw 20+ partners from 40+ organizations, and 180 people over 4 days and nights in Cloughjordan. As a snapshot of the food sovereignty (agroecological and good/fair food) movement in Ireland, it’s a great barometer of where things are at. There are many different ways to try to encapsulate what it is and how it works, but, for this author, here are four things which emerged from Feeding Ourselves 2025. Oliver Moore reports.
At Feeding Ourselves, we held a session on the situation for farmers and food producers in Palestine. This featured a presentation from Oliver Moore, who visited the West Bank in December 2024, and interventions from Edwin Brookes of the Land Workers Alliance in the UK and Yasmeen El Hasan from Union of Agricultural Work Committees, (UAWC) live from Ramallah.