MoorFood

Aims and Objectives

MoorFood brings together archaeology, historical geography and environmental management to advance our understanding of how we can balance farming, livelihoods and ecosystems in the North York Moors. Built on a new partnership between the University of York, the North York Moors National Park Authority and The National Archives, MoorFood will create and share new knowledge about historic landscape change and sustainable land use that will underpin the co-production of policy goals for a sustainable and prosperous economy.

MoorFood will begin by using open-source historical methods to investigate patterns of past land use in the North York Moors, an ideal case study as its use has fluctuated over the centuries, as evidenced by Iron Age dykes, medieval furnaces, and deserted farmsteads. The National Archives holds substantial long-term data on agricultural transformation in the UK, including its significant collection of records of the National Farm Survey of England and Wales 1941-1943, but many have not been georeferenced or developed into datasets that can inform agricultural practice today. To address this gap, MoorFood will use these maps and other records and investigate their potential to help shape the use and character of the moors today.

Outputs: MoorFood will cultivate a new partnership between the University of York, the North York Moors National Park Authority and The National Archives by creating a knowledge base for future policy co-production. The project will also produce an open-access dataset on long-term land use in the North York Moors, publish insights from that data for an interdisciplinary research audience, as well as a policy brief on archival and archaeological research that can shape the park’s future.

Meet the Team

Adam S. Green (UoY, PI): Adam specialises in finding data from the past that can help us solve today’s problems. He is particularly interested in past human economies that reduce inequality and promote wellbeing, so he works closely with farmers, economists, agronomists, and other communities to identify ways insights from the past can make the world fairer and more sustainable.

Jonathan Finch (UoY, Co-PI): Jon is a historical archaeologist who investigates political and economic transformations that have unfolded in rural landscapes especially over the last two centuries. He is particularly interested in how the patterns of landowning have produced particular patterns in land use that frame the landscapes we live in today.

Miles Johnson (NYM, KE Fellow): Miles is the Head of Historic Environment at the NYMNPA, although his work focuses on the conservation and promotion of the historic environment, he also seeks to find ways that the National Park’s historic environment can contribute more broadly to Britain’s sustainability agenda. Through MoorFood, he aims to create a new resource that will assist in envisioning future land use in the park and inform joined-up project work with land management and conservation specialists across the National Park.

Katherine Howells (TNA, KE Fellow): Katherine is the Team Leader for Modern Britain at TNA, and specialises in finding ways to bring archival evidence into research that can contribute more broadly to the UK’s environmental and economic sustainability goals. She will provide access to key project materials and work with the MoorFood team to develop a knowledge base for achieving future sustainability goals.