Farm Gate

Interviews with:

Nicole Pita from IPES Food (cities and regions leading the way on climate and food systems),

Xander Mahony from Tilhill (learning to love Sitka),

Jo White from Human Behaviour Change for Life (benefits of switching from a trade in live animals to a trade in meat),

And Dominic Elsworth from Whistlebare farm (Britain's wool trade).

Features interviews with:

John Willis from Planet Tracker,

Chris Uttley from Stroud District Council,

And Tom Munro from Dorset National Landscape.

More land news at 8point9.com

Interviews with:

Ruth Chambers from the Green Alliance.

Patrick Holden from the Sustainable Food Trust.

And Leonardo Gava from the Climate Bonds Initiative

Phil's choices

UK must double fruit and veg production to divert from “bleak” future

https://8point9.com/uk-must-double-fruit-and-veg-production-to-divert-from-bleak-future/

Genetic discovery promises high-iron vegetables and cereals

https://8point9.com/genetic-discovery-promises-high-iron-vegetables-and-cereals/

Milestone reached in evidencing sustainability credentials of Welsh upland farms

https://8point9.com/milestone-reached-in-evidencing-sustainability-credentials-of-welsh-upland-farms/

ffinlo's choices

Government communication hampering avian flu control measures

https://8point9.com/government-communication-hampering-avian-flu-control-measures/

Free comic book features flood management

https://8point9.com/free-comic-book-to-engage-young-people-around-flood-management/

Government complacent over rural mental health

https://8point9.com/government-complacent-over-rural-mental-health/

Main conversations

Landmark report shifts focus from food system emissions to fossil-fuel reliance

https://8point9.com/landmark-report-shifts-focus-from-food-system-emissions-to-fossil-fuel-reliance/

Historic herbivore densities could be substantially higher than thought

https://8point9.com/historic-herbivore-densities-could-be-substantially-higher-than-thought/

Experts predict “catastrophic ecosystem collapse” of UK forests within 50 years

https://8point9.com/experts-predict-catastrophic-ecosystem-collapse-of-uk-forests-within-50-years/

In 8.9 Newsweek:

Interviews with Patty Fong from the Global Alliance for the Future of Food & Sara Grady from British Pasture Leather.

And a discussion about Patty's new report, Power Shift -Why we need to wean industrial food systems off fossil fuels.

In this week's programme we hear:

INTERVIEW: With Dr Antje Ahrends from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh about ground-breaking research that shows that rubber is driving deforestation three times faster than previously thought.

DISCUSSION: A new report has warned that demand for sustainable fabrics could exceed supply by 130m tonnes by 2030. To discuss how we meet the rising demand for sustainable fashion, ffinlo Costain is joined by Dr Alana James from Northumbria University - Zoe Gilbertson from the UK Bast Fibre Network - and by Alice Robinson, author of Field, Fork, Fashion, and co-founder of the company, British Pasture Leather.

In Wheat from the Chaff (WFTC) ffinlo Costain (Editor-in-Chief of 8point9.com) and Phil Carson (UK Policy Lead for the Nature Friendly Farming Network) talk through the week's news on 8.9ha.

This is a new format - please bear with us - any feedback welcome!

SHOW NOTES:

Red Tractor’s voluntary environment module available from next April

https://8point9.com/red-tractors-voluntary-environment-module-available-from-next-april/

Budget cut adds to “unprecedented challenges” for Welsh farming

https://8point9.com/budget-cut-adds-to-unprecedented-challenges-for-welsh-farming/

Nature charities publish Nature Markets Principles to help combat greenwashing

https://8point9.com/nature-charities-publish-nature-markets-principles-to-help-combat-greenwashing/

Experts warn of risk of civil unrest in UK due to food shortages

https://8point9.com/experts-warn-of-risk-of-civil-unrest-in-uk-due-to-food-shortages/

World entering uncharted climate territory – Earth’s conditions may be unliveable for half the world’s population by 2100

https://8point9.com/world-entering-uncharted-climate-territory-earths-conditions-may-be-unliveable-for-half-the-worlds-population-by-2100/

Rubber drives deforestation three times faster than previously thought

https://8point9.com/rubber-drives-deforestation-three-times-faster-than-previously-thought/

8.9 TV:

David Webster, Chief Executive, LEAF Marque

https://8point9.com/david-webster-leaf-marque/

Antje Ahrends, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Rubber deforestation

https://8point9.com/antje-ahrends-royal-botanic-garden-edinburgh-rubber-deforestation/

This week ffinlo is joined by four of the new 2024 Nuffield Scholars - by Saba Amir, an academic at Aberystwyth University - Lucy George from Peterston Tea, based in the Vale of Glamorgan - Sophie Gregory, an Arla organic dairy farmer from Dorset - and Dan Jones, a sheep farmer from Great Orme in North Wales.

We also hear interviews with David Webster, the new Chief Executive of LEAF Marque - and with Tim May, from the Kingsclere Estate and the Pitch Up! initiative.

An interview with plant ecologist Dr Ruth Mitchell from The James Hutton Institute about visible and invisible forest diversity.

And this week's 8.9ha Discussion is on Labour party policy on land use, trade and agriculture.

ffinlo Costain is joined by Phil Carson, the UK Policy Lead for the Nature Friendly Farming Network, and by Vicki Hird, author of Rebugging the Planet, and Strategic Lead on Agriculture with The Wildlife Trusts.

The Scottish Government has unveiled its long-awaited Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill. This will replace the Common Agricultural Policy and aims to deliver the adoption and use of sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices. To discuss the bill, I’ll be joined later in the programme, by Nikki Yoxall, a member of Scotland's Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board - by Andrew Connon, the vice president of the National Farmers Union, Scotland - and by Denise Walton, the chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network Scotland.

Before that we’ll hear from Elsie Blackshaw from the Rewildling Law Hub, and from Anna Woodley from Trinity Natural Capital Pro Council.

Today we have two interviews, followed by a fantastic discussion about regenerative agriculture and the use of glyphosate.

INTERVIEW 1: The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission has unveiled research, which shows that the British public reject “nanny state” excuses and instead overwhelmingly back state intervention to tackle our health, climate and nature crises.

Dr Courtney Scott is the Director of Policy and Research at the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission – ffinlo Costain asks her whether politicians are more interested in the so-called “nanny state” than citizens?

INTERVIEW 2: The Global Terrorism Index 2023 shows that the ten countries most impacted by terrorism are also experiencing poverty, weak governance and conflict. Food and water scarcity - in part linked to climate change - act as a threat multiplier, accelerating instability.

David Wells is an independent global security consultant and former head of research and analysis for the Counter-Terrorism Directorate of the United Nations. ffinlo asks him how climate change is affecting terrorist recruitment globally?

DISCUSSION: This week's debate on 8point9.com has been centred on whether glyphosate is critical to regenerative farming. There are plenty of passionate farmers on both sides of this argument - but we invited Attila Kökény, a regenerative agriculture consultant from Hungary, and Marcus Link from New Foundation Farms to address this question in a series of articles. In this programme the debate becomes a conversation.

Discussion - Is low carbon beef an out-of-date answer to the wrong question? Interviews with Jo Raven from FAIRR, Professor Imke de Boer from Wageningen University & Research, and Dr Michelle Cain from Cranfield University.

ffinlo Costain, the Editor-in-Chief of 8point9.com, is joined by Jamie Evans-Freke from Knight Frank and Gabriel Connor-Streich from Greenshank Environmental.

The discussion is on nutrient neutrality - and what on earth happened in the UK Parliament this week when the government tried to scrap existing rules and force through a new, under-considered system, using an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.

Well - spoiler alert - they failed - but why, what next and how did the markets react?

In part one we hear three interviews. With:

• David McCulloch from Tilhill on the urgent need to increase productive UK forestry for wood
• Niamh Carr from The James Hutton Institute on proposals for a green hydrogen powered farm
• And Stéphanie Mielnik from the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute about the risk to investors if they buy bonds from companies with links to illegal deforestation.

This episode of 8.9 Newsweek features interviews with Professor Sir Dieter Helm, and Sofía Condés, Head of Investor Outreach at the FAIRR Initiative.

Welcome to News Week from 8point9.com - I'm ffinlo Costain. We've got two great interviews for you, each about really important subjects.
Now, you may noticed that the normal Farm Gate podcast has become a little more intermittent while we've been getting 8.9 hectares up and running - please do stay subscribed as we have some fantastic interviews and discussions planned for the coming weeks and months.
But - to make life easy - our News Week programme and Farm Gate will both be available for you on the same channel. THIS WEEK - Glastir Organic funding - Patrick Holden - and nutrient neutrality - Dr Gabriel Connor-Streich.

MORE NEWS AT 8point9.com

In this panel session we discuss a new report, Natural Capital: what farmers and policy makers need to know, which seeks to understand how new and emerging markets in natural capital fit into a changing landscape for farmers. The report was commissioned by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission – it was written by Professor Fergus Lyon and Dr Amy Burnett from Middlesex University – and it was supported by the Prince’s Countryside Fund.

ffinlo Costain, Chief Editor of 8point9.com, is joined by:

Professor Fergus Lyon – author of the report – and director of the Centre for Enterprise, Environment and Development Research at Middlesex University.

Lucy Bates -co-lead for the Farming Transition Programme at the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.

And Charlie Davis, a partner at Sylvestris Land Management, a land and rural business consultancy specialising in environmental land management.