ABOUT SOIL.ED
- Founded by former teacher and sheep farmer Olivia Shave
- Went to Parliament in October 2025 for a groundbreaking roundtable discussion
- Gained support from a number of MPs and Liberal Democrats
- Has support from a select number of high-profile ambassadors including Hannah Jackson and Helen Rebanks
Find out more about Soil.Ed here
Whitepaper
Soil.ED are developing a white paper focused on career pathways into food systems, sustainability, and land-based sectors. This includes education-to-employment progression routes, skills pipeline development, employer alignment and relevant policy frameworks to support long-term workforce needs.
Political and policy validation is a key supporting strand, demonstrating that the model has real-world traction and is aligned with emerging legislative priorities and cross-party interest. Engagement with parliamentary stakeholders and relevant consultations will be key in helping to evidence how the proposed approach could be operationalised through existing and forthcoming policy mechanisms.
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Parliament
MP Ellie Chowns has recently confirmed her willingness to table a series of Written Parliamentary Questions once Parliament returns following prorogation and the King's Speech. The questions will focus on cross-departmental oversight of food, farming and sustainability education, including curriculum coverage, vocational pathways and the role of food education in public health strategy.
The questions are informed by prior Written Parliamentary Questions and responses recorded in Hansard, facilitated through engagement with MP Terry Jermy. This evidence base has helped identify gaps in cross-departmental oversight, particularly in relation to food systems education and the consistency of policy evaluation across education, health and environmental departments.
There is growing cross-party momentum around food system resilience and education reform. Soil.ED is aligned with emerging policy discussions around a proposed Good Food Bill in the forthcoming King's Speech, which aims to strengthen UK food security and improve coordination across food, farming and health policy areas. Liberal Democrat MP Roz Savage, in her role on the Environmental Audit Committee, has indicated she will continue to advocate for these themes within Parliamentary scrutiny and relevant committee work.
This combined engagement reflects increasing recognition of the importance of food systems literacy within education and environmental policy, and provides a developing route to strengthen evidence, accountability and cross-departmental coordination across Government.
Children
Soil.ED has contributed evidence to the recent Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) consultation on safeguarding, which focused on the intersection between education, wellbeing and environmental learning contexts, and the importance of ensuring that curriculum and enrichment activities are supported by robust safeguarding frameworks.
Soil.ED has also submitted evidence to a Government consultation on improving children's diets, focused on the application of the updated Nutrient Profiling Model to advertising and promotion restrictions. This reflects a wider interest in the role of education, early intervention and environmental literacy in shaping long-term public health outcomes.
The impact
There is, says Olivia, a growing convergence happening across education, agriculture, health and environmental policy, but what is still missing is a clear understanding of why it matters at a human level.
"Food is not abstract, it is health, security, economy, and survival. Yet many people still have limited visibility of where food comes from, how it is produced, and the environmental systems that underpin it," she says.
"This is why food systems literacy is so important. Understanding food provenance, environmental stewardship, and food security is not a niche issue, it is foundational knowledge for modern society. Without it, we weaken our ability to make informed choices as citizens, consumers, and future professionals.
"Farmers sit at the centre of this system. They are not only food producers, but stewards of land, biodiversity and climate resilience. Strengthening public understanding of farming is therefore essential, not just to support the sector, but to ensure the long-term stability of the food system itself."
There is, she says, a shift happening, and a ‘recognition that education in these areas is not optional enrichment, but a core component of national resilience'. The challenge is turning that recognition into structured learning pathways, policy alignment and meaningful career routes that connect young people directly to the systems that sustain them.
Olivia says: "Soil.ED is about turning policy intent into practical education and real career pathways. As the founder, and through my work supporting the development of the new Agriculture T Level qualification, I'm seeing first-hand how disconnected our current system is from the skills the sector actually needs. This white paper sets out a clear route to bridge that gap, linking education, employers, and policy so that young people don't just learn about food systems and sustainability in theory, but can see a defined, supported pathway into meaningful work within them.
"There is a real and growing convergence happening across education, agriculture, health and environmental policy. From Parliamentary engagement and consultation responses through the curriculum development and sector partnerships, Soil.ED is increasingly sitting at the intersection of these debates. What is encouraging is that this is no longer a theoretical conversation, we are seeing genuine momentum towards recognising food systems literacy and land-based skills as essential to the UK's future resilience, both environmentally and economically."
