Eating Better

2026 has already brought record-breaking heatwaves and looking after the health of our water is more pressing than ever. This National Marine Week, Eating Better alliance member The Wildlife Trusts is focusing on the theme of ‘Incredible Journeys’, looking at migration patterns, tides and the ebb and flow of the natural world. We’re taking a more metaphorical approach, looking at the journey of water through our food systems and the threat of water scarcity.

Large industrial poultry production facilities are popping up all over the UK countryside, with campaigners and communities fighting planning permissions wherever plans are proposed. Within the egg industry, male chicks are culled at just one day old. But recent movements from Government suggest progress may be on the horizon, while pasture-based farmers are challenging the norm regardless.

Shanaghan Hill is an 80-acre livestock farm in Katesbridge, nestled among the undulating hills and valleys of County Down. The farm's landscape is varied, ranging from high, hilly, stony ground at one end to the sandy soils along the banks of the River Bann, which flows through the property. Louise Skelly, with the help of her son-in-law Timothy and daughter Esther, leads efforts to make the farm more nature-friendly.

In recent decades soy has become the backbone of the industrial livestock industry, with 90% of imports going directly to animal feed. Around 75% come from just three countries: Brazil, United States and Argentina. Last year, Brazil’s antitrust regulator, CADE, decided to suspend the Amazon soy moratorium from 1st January 2026. Since then major Brazilian grain traders have quit the pact, originally made in 2006. This dismantles one of the nation’s most important private sector pacts credited with slowing deforestation of the tropical rainforest for soy plantations. More information about the moratorium can be found here.

At Glanllyn Farm in Denbighshire, Sam Kenyon is proving that farming and nature can thrive together. By restoring soil health, managing flooding, and boosting biodiversity, she’s creating a resilient, nature-friendly farm - while keeping it financially sustainable.

Nestled in the rolling hills of one of Scotland’s key farming counties, The Lint Mill is more than just a place for nature-friendly food production: it embodies its owners’ deep commitment to sustainable living in harmony with the planet.

On the edge of Exmoor, NFFN England steering group member Holly Purdey is guiding a National Trust farm through a nature-friendly transformation, striving to remain financially viable while managing the land for livestock and biodiversity.

While campaigning against large pig and poultry units has focused largely on the negative impacts on waterways, such as the River Wye, the environmental, animal welfare and justice issues reach far beyond our waters.

Tropical forests are crucial to life on Earth, helping to provide the conditions for life to thrive on our planet. These biodiverse ecosystems provide us with a range of benefits, or ecosystem services, that range from sequestering carbon and climate regulation to air and water purification, from disease prevention to the provision of shelter, food and medicine. Not to mention the benefits we receive in terms of culture, awe and inspiration.

2025 marks a critical year for forests, with global leaders preparing for COP30, the major climate summit set to take place in Belém, Brazil—deep in the heart of the Amazon. At the same time, businesses are in a final sprint to meet their commitments to eliminate deforestation and habitat conversion from their supply chains by the year’s end.

Our report ‘Sourcing Better Checked Out’ found a lack of effective sourcing policies to support local soil health on farms. We found no publicly available reporting on specific soil health indicators, or policies to limit insecticidal veterinary medication use that is harmful to soil health.

Our recent report ‘Sourcing Better Checked Out’ found a lack of effective sourcing policies to support local biodiversity in farmed landscapes. While many retailers had topline statements of ambition, there is almost no reporting on biodiversity actions or indicators throughout their meat and dairy supply chains.

A new campaign from the Soil Association exposes the use of highly hazardous pesticides in supermarket soy supply chains for chicken feed.