A barrister-turned-farmer - who last year published a best-selling book about her entry into the industry - will be sharing her insights with a Suffolk audience.

Sarah Langford - who is guest speaker at Deben Farm Club in February - left the City with her husband in 2017 to take on a small family farm just outside Debenham.

Her other half - former Ipswich MP Ben Gummer - had just lost his seat in a snap general election.

She published her first book - In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law - in 2018 offering an insight into her career as a city barrister in London.

Ipswich Star:

Sarah - whose uncle and grandfather were farmers - decided to turn her hand to agriculture, believing that farming was in her blood.

She admitted there was "an extraordinary arrogance in me coming in and saying: 'Well I’ve just decided to have a go at farming and I think this is how it should be done'".

But after choosing to join the industry she discovered it was beset with the challenges of climate change, Brexit and falling incomes - and that farmers were facing accusations of ecological mismanagement from a hostile media and public.

As she looked to other farmers to teach her about the land, she also found a new generation of farmers on a path towards regenerative change.

Ipswich Star:

Her second book - Rooted - was published in March 2023. It charts her story as she meets different farmers from dairy to arable and traditional to experimental.

Her stories are aimed at showing the "human side" of modern farming and how land connects us. 

In her personal account she argues that restoring ecology and ensuring a sustainable future both for our food and ourselves lies in the hands of those who live closest to the land.

Ipswich Star: ”Food is only going to get more expensive - and it needs to," she said. “A chicken should not cost less than a pint of beer. It’s too cheap in an ecological respect, in a nutritional respect, but it’s too cheap in a human respect.”

Ipswich Star:

The book also charts the "light tension" between Sarah and her contractor, Richard Scott.

Richard is chairman of Deben Farm Club, which is hosting the speaking event on Thursday, February 22, at 7.30pm at  Fynn Valley Golf Club, Witnesham IP6 9JA.

A finger buffet will be served afterwards.

The meeting is open to all. For details and if you would like to attend, please contact the Secretary Alan Gray on 07885 711848 or email: alan.gray@originfertilisers.co.uk

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