| Royal Agricultural University

30 October 2024

Asahi UK and the Worshipful Company of Brewers have teamed up with the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) and the University of Warwick to fund two PhD research projects looking at how to develop sustainable approaches to British hop production in a bid to stop the further demise of the UK’s hop growing industry.

Hops are a lesser-known UK crop, which is often not talked about, but they are a vital ingredient in our much-loved British beers, providing the bitterness and more complex fruity and floral flavours.

Samwel Nangiria Taresero, a Maasai community leader, and the Curator of the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) recently visited the RAU to exchange ideas about the precarity of community land rights both in England and Tanzania.

Samwel and Atenchong chatting in a field

virtual meeting with community land activists

Figure 5 Screenshot of programme during virtual meeting with community land activists

Atenchong Talleh Nkobou (PI) and Andrew Ainslie (Co-I) had the opportunity to visit some community-led organisations in Scotland from the 22 July – 3 August 2024. The visit was a scoping exercise aimed at identifying and building relationships with community trusts and activists who are engaged with various initiatives around community land rights and community led development in Scotland. There are lots of active community groups, activists and organisations at the meso-level (e.g.