Developments on the 50th anniversary of the Aberfeldy Manifesto. Now, as then – call to governance on the need for food self-sufficiency, care of the soil and minimal environmental impact. Spreading the knowledge. The pioneering Dr Walter Yellowlees and the Aberfeld Group in the 1970s.
[Ed: article in progress at 30 January 2025, minor editing likely]
The Healthiest Town Team from Aberfeldy in Perthshire held an open event on 24 August 2024 to commemorate and revisit the Aberfeldy Group Manifesto on its 50th anniversary [1]. The Group’s statements and aims are still very relevant today: the country remains food insecure, its soils are degrading and pollution continues.
Bioregioning Tayside decided to develop the 1974 manifesto into a challenge for today as part of their Recipes for Action programme [2]. And to define what needs to be done, they want to know the views of the people of Tayside on issues such as food security, local production vs imports and safeguarding the environment.
A Food Manifesto for Tayside
Bioregioning Tayside writes [3]: “Reading (the manifesto) today, the points are still as relevant, and even more urgent. 50 years ago, people didn’t really take it that seriously. Now, though, the impact of climate change and biodiversity collapse means many more people recognise that they were right about the concerns they raised. So, with the help of Aberfeldy Healthiest Town we are looking again at the Aberfeldy Manifesto and using it as the basis for a modern Manifesto, which we can use as a mission statement from Aberfeldy to Arbroath, and beyond: A Food Manifesto For Tayside!
“We are asking people across the community for their views, from primary schools to community growers, policymakers, and farmers. We’ve created a very short survey to capture your views. Looking at the Aberfeldy Manifesto, what comments or changes would you make? There’s further explanation and links to the online survey at [3].”
The Aberfeldy Group manifesto oF 1974
The Manifesto opens with a view of the state of Britain in the 1970s and the pressing need to strive for self sufficiency. It gives three warnings (transcribed from the newspaper cutting above):
- In the face of increasing world population and dwindling food stocks no country can have security without producing to the utmost food from its own land for its own people.
- Any country which is dependent for its standard of living on the whim of money-lenders can have no true independence.
- When nations over-develop their industries and neglect the husbandry of the soil, the quality of life of that nation sooner or later deteriorates.
And four objectives:
- To urge by every means possible government policies which will enable our agriculture and horticulture to make Britain self-supporting in essential foods and in the requirements for their production.
- To grow in the land of the upper Tay Valley as much food as possible in as much variety as possible for consumption by those living in the valley, and for sale of surpluses to any who want to buy.
- To achieve these objectives without impairing soil fertility for the future, without polluting our surface waters, and without the extravagant use of fossil fuel energy.
- To spread the knowledge of the relationship between soil fertility, food and health.
Walter Yellowlees of Aberfeldy
The GP for Aberdeldy and area – Dr Walter Yellowlees – was a lead actor in the Aberdeldy Group [4]. He recognised then that the physical and mental health of the people was inextricably linked to the quality of their food and the means to grow and prepare the food.
‘Ill fares the Land’ is the title of his presentation at a scientific meeting in 1978 [4]. He stressed the increasing disconnection between people, agriculture, soil and land, and urged that the connections would have to be restored for the country to achieve food security.
Ed: The arguments in ‘Ill Fares the Land’ are more pressing today than in the 1970s. The deficiencies are not in technical knowhow but in getting the four spheres – political, economic, social and environmental – to connect and work in unison.
Sources | Links
[1] The commemorative event for the Aberfeldy Group Manifesto was held on 20 August 2024 as part of the Open Gate Festival.
[2] Thanks to Ruth Watson, Kevin Frediani and Clare Cooper of Bioregioning Tayside for giving the Living Field several links and background stories to the Aberfeldy Group Manifesto and its lead Walter Yellowlees [4].
[3] Bioregioning Tayside’s short online survey is linked at Help us write a modern manifesto for Tayside’s food system. The survey is part of their Recipes for Action Programme.
[4] Kevin Frediani (Dundee University) sent the link to this written version of The James MacKenzie Lecture 1978 by Dr Walter Yellowlees, General Practitioner, Aberfeldy, Perthshire: Yellowlees, W W (1979) Ill fares the land. Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners 29, 7-21. Available online at journeytoforever.
