Farm Gate
By ffinlo Costain
Produced by Farmwel: www.farmwel.org.uk/
With financial support from Our Sankalpa: oursankalpa.org/
Farm GateOct 02, 2023
Torpenhow's total transformation
Torpenhow Farmhouse Dairy is a regenerative farm that has undergone total transformation - from 365 days a year indoor to fully regenerative.
They were also the hosts of this summer's Down To Earth regen farming conference in the north of England, put on by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers.
ffinlo Costain is joined by Jenny and Mark Lee from Torpenhow Farmhouse Dairy, who tell him about what they've achieved and why they've made the transition.
Online: https://torpenhoworganic.co.uk/
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torpenhow.cheese.co/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/torpenhoworganic
8.9ha Newsweek - Is glyphosate critical for regen ag?
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.
8.9ha Newsweek - Is low carbon beef an answer to the wrong question?
Discussion - Is low carbon beef an out-of-date answer to the wrong question?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.
8.9 Newsweek 15th Sept PART TWO: Nutrient neutrality - What just happened?
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?
8.9 Newsweek 15th Sept PART ONE: Forestry, hydrogen & Investment
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.
Newsweek, from Farm Gate and 8point9.com - 08-09-23
This episode of 8.9 Newsweek features interviews with Professor Sir Dieter Helm, and Sofía Condés, Head of Investor Outreach at the FAIRR Initiative.
Farm Gate & 8point9.com - Newsweek 31-08-23
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
A Consensus on Food, Farming and Nature
This is the audio version of a webinar in which the chief executives of RSPB, Soil Association and Nature Friendly Farming Network discuss the Consensus for Food, Farming and Nature - hosted by Farm Gate, which is now part of 8point9.com
Panellists:
Helen Browning - Chief Executive, Soil Association
Beccy Speight - Chief Executive, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Martin Lines - Chief Executive, Nature Friendly Farming Network
Panel chair - ffinlo Costain, Editor, 8point9.com
Find out more about the Consensus - https://www.foodfarmingnature.org/
Poll results from webinar
1. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: Ecological security is essential for food production, human wellbeing & prosperity
Results: 100% agreement with 91% Strongly Agree and 9% Agree
2. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: New technology will have the most important role in helping the agriculture sector meet net zero
Results: 5% strongly agree 19%agree 32% neutral 32% disagree 12% strongly disagree
3. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: The UK Government has overlooked the link between food and a resilient society
Results: 66% Strongly agree 24% agree 7% neutral 4% disagree
Farmers, Copa Cogeca and the NFU
An investigation by Lighthouse Reports has targeted the powerful European farming lobby group, Copa-Cogeca, which they say “is losing legitimacy even as it stymies the EU’s green agenda and hoovers up public funds.”
In this programme we'll explore issues raised by the Lighthouse Reports investigation - and think about the legitimacy and the policy role of the National Farmers' Union, the largest farmers' organisation in the United Kingdom.
ffinlo Costain is by Thin Lei Win, a co-author of the report - and by Jimmy Woodrow, the executive director of Pasture for Life in the UK.
Saying NO to a farm-free future
ffinlo Costain talks to Chris Smaje about his new book, Saying NO to a farm-free future.
Smaje's response to George Monbiot's Regenesis is a well-mannered treatise that outlines coolly and specifically why the Guardian columnist's prescription for the food system is just completely wrong.
Smaje, an academic, farmer and author of A Small Farm Future, is one of the few voices to publicly challenge Monbiot on the future of food and farming (and the restoration of nature).
Responding to Monbiot’s portrayal of an urban, high-energy, industrially manufactured food future as the answer to our current crises, and its unchallenged acceptance within the environmental discourse, Smaje was compelled to challenge Monbiot’s evidence and conclusions. At the same time, Smaje presents his powerful counterargument – a low-carbon agrarian localism that puts power in the hands of local communities, not high-tech corporates.
Saying NO to a farm-free future is a defence of agroecological, small-scale farming and a robust critique of an industrialized future, and is released in the UK on the 28th of June.
Farm Gate is now part of the 8point9.com news channel.
Live panel: Natural Capital - What farmers and policy makers need to know
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.
Live panel: Alternative Food Summit
The one with George Eustice
George Eustice has been the Conservative MP for Camborne and Redruth since 2010. He was a Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2015 to 2020 - and served as the Secretary of State at Defra from 2020 to 2022.
Mr Eustice has been the longest serving minister at Defra in the post-referendum period, providing a relatively rare point of consistency and stability in what was a time of substantial disruption in British politics.
In this podcast Mr Eustice discusses his time in government, with the Chief Editor of https://8point9.com, ffinlo Costain.
Outwintering cattle
Outwintering your cattle herd in an agroecological farm system can reduce both costs and environmental impacts - but while ever more producers are taking this approach it's still far from common place. In this programme we discuss how to design an outwintering system that maintains productivity and ensures good cattle health and welfare.
ffinlo Costain is joined by Silas Hedley-Lawrence and Clare Hill from FAI Farms in Oxfordshire.
Regen: the next decade
While regenerative agriculture itself isn't new, popular interest and the increasingly widespread deployment of regenerative principles, is a product of a global conversation that has taken place largely within the last decade. Despite that, regenerative farming has already become mainstream, with large businesses and corporations investing in research and embedding ambitious regenerative targets, and even government ministers urging producers to take up regenerative methods.
So what happens next - what does the next decade look like for regenerative agriculture?
ffinlo Costain is joined by Caroline Grindrod, founder of Roots of Nature, Sue Pritchard, chief executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, and by Jonty Brunyee, the Head of Farming and Food at FarmED.
Where the wilder things are
Wilder Doddington is at the start of a hundred year project to bring more nature back to the Doddington Estate - working to restore ecosystems to benefit people and nature. In this programme ffinlo Costain is joined by Wilder Doddington's Isobel Wright and the independent farm advisor, Liz Genever, who's working with Isobel and advising on cattle management. The conversation ranges from the exciting activity at Wilder Doddington to a discussion about some of the more controversial aspects of the rewilding movement.
Growing a fashion revolution
Environmental breakdown and global population rise have led to a strong focus on food supply chains, but the way that we produce fibre is equally important. At least 60% of our clothes are now made using synthetic, petrochemical-based fabrics - all of which need to be replaced. Natural animal or plant-based fibres will become resurgent on the cat walks and on the high street - so the need to reform and integrate food and fashion supply chains is urgent.
ffinlo Costain talks to Cate Havstad-Casad, farmer and founder of Range Revolution, an Oregon-based company which produces luxury leather products from certified regenerative ranches.
Glamping and camping
The world of glamping may seem remote from the every day toil of working with crops and livestock, but for six months of the year it can provide a hugely important source of income that can be used to underpin other aspects of farming life.
ffinlo Costain is joined by Hannah Jefferson from Woodfrys Farm in Dorset and Jessica Allen-Back from Home Farm Glamping in Elstree.
The future of dairy?
This is the final programme in our Regen Dairy mini-series. Today we're visiting Germany, and ffinlo Costain talks to two regenerative dairy farmers - Anja Hradetzky, who farms at Hof Stolze Kuh in northeast Brandenburg, and Annabelle Gerard who farms at Hof Tangsehl in Lower Saxony.
Regen Dairy is a partnership project of Farmwel and FAI Farms, in collaboration with Arla Foods, Barry Callebaut, Ben & Jerry’s, Unilever, and Woolworth South Africa - you can find out more about the project at regendairy.org
Conscious food
ffinlo Costain talks to Thomas Legrand, author of Politics of Being, and Lead Technical Advisor to the Conscious Food Systems Alliance - and Klaudia Shevelyuk, a sustainability consultant and communications manager for the UN's Inner Development Goals.
Klaudia also talks about her harrowing experience of conflict in Ukraine, and explains how the IDGs helped her to cope.
The great plant-based con
ffinlo Costain speaks to Jayne Buxton, author of The Great Plant-Based Con. Jayne has written novels and non-fiction, published articles in The Independent and The Guardian, and has been an ambassador for the Real Food Campaign and the Public Health Collaboration.
The Great Plant-Based Con, explains why eating a plants-only diet won't improve our health or save the planet - and it's available from all good book stores on-line or on-the-street.
COP27 and food systems - what happened?
COP27 is over. Temperatures continue to rise. There's still no consensus about the role of land use and agriculture. Did anything good emerge from Sharm El-Sheikh in terms of food systems & climate change?
ffinlo Costain is joined by three experts:
Patty Fong, Program Director, Climate and Health and Well-being, Global Alliance for the Future of Food,
Adele Jones, executive director, Sustainable Food Trust,
Chantal Wei-Ying Clement, deputy director, IPES Food.
Food forests & vertical real estate
This is the third programme in a series in which I talk to regenerative dairy producers from around the world. ffinlo Costain speaks to Phyllis Van Amburgh, who farms at Dharma Lea in Sharon Springs, New York, USA, about epigenetics and vertical real estate - and to Charlotte and Russell Heald, from Dunkeld Farm in the Tararua region of the north island in New Zealand, about food forests and circular farming systems.
The Regen Dairy project was set up by FAI Farms and Farmwel, in collaboration with Unilever, Barry Callebaut, Arla Foods, Woolworth South Africa and Ben & Jerry’s. This programme was roduced by Farmwel and FAI Farms.
The one with Prof Sir Dieter Helm CBE
ffinlo Costain talks to Sir Dieter Helm CBE. Dieter is Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford and Fellow in Economics at New College, Oxford. He was the Independent Chair of the UK's Natural Capital Committee, and was awarded a knighthood for services to the environment, energy and utilities policy.
This discussion is a masterclass for people aiming to influence UK Government policy on agriculture and the environment. Helm is hugely engaging as he sets out his influential thinking and establishes sound criteria for support and opposition.
Carbon tunnel vision
Carbon tunnel vision is a nasty disease that can create a strongly distorted perspective on agricultural land use and food production. This programme will help to remedy the condition, by showing that land use decisions are complex. ffinlo Costain is joined by Adele Jones, the deputy chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, and by Ashleigh Bright, a food systems and sustainability scientist, based in New Zealand.
Regen Dairy round-the-world tour (edited)
This is an edited recording of the Regen Dairy round-the-world tour, which took place on 5th October 2022. We were thrilled to host this opportunity to circumnavigate the globe with four very different regen dairy farmers, all of whom are quite exceptional in their own way.
Our panellists were Blake Alexandre is a fourth generation dairy farmer from Alexandre Family Farm near Crescent City, California, USA. Richard Park is from Sizergh Farm, near Kendal in the UK, which has probably been farmed since the Vikings colonised Britain. Mark Anderson is a fifth generation farmer from South Otago, New Zealand. And Annabelle Gérard is a first generation dairy farmer from Lower Saxony in Germany. The webinar was hosted by ffinlo Costain.
Small abattoirs
Small abattoirs are essential infrastructure, but they're in serious decline - seen by the UK Government as a 'nice to have' that serves the middle classes, rather than a 'must have' to deliver climate, biodiversity and soil security - and to support rural economies and farming communities.
Another nail was recently hammered into the small abattoir coffin, as Mettrick's abattoir in Glossop closed for business.
ffinlo Costain talks to John Mettrick, Master Butcher and chairman of the Abattoir Sector Group, Simon Doherty, former president of the British Veterinary Association, and Hannah Thorogood, an agroecological livestock farmer based in Lincolnshire.
Restoring water, with Walter Jehne & Caroline Grindrod
Changing the way we manage hydrology is essential if we're to restore ecological security. This programme is the recording of a Food & Global Security Network webinar called, Restoring Water Cycles. It features globally renowned soil microbiologist, Walter Jehne, from Regenerate Earth, and regenerative farming coach, Caroline Grindrod, from Roots of Nature. The discussion is chaired by ffinlo Costain.
Regeneration, not Regenesis
Jyoti Fernandes is from the UK Landworkers' Alliance and well-known as a campaigner working for the rights of small farmers and peasant farmers. Jyoti recently wrote an open letter to the Guardian writer, George Monbiot, whose book, #Regenesis, and the articles he's written to promote it, distort public awareness of regenerative solutions to the ecological crisis.
In this programme, ffinlo Costain asks Jyoti why she felt 'duty bound to intervene', and why she thinks Monbiot is undermining the agroecology movement, which provides the most compelling future narrative she has found in 30 years of campaigning.
Getting off the treadmill
ffinlo Costain talks to Mark Anderson, from Westridge dairy farm, South Otago, New Zealand, and to Sophie and Dai Wilson from Wiltshire in the UK. Mark sees regenerative farming as an opportunity to decolonialise agriculture and the management changes he's made have put him back in control of his finances. Meanwhile Sophie and Dai have created a low impact model where they outwinter their dairy herd, improving their profitability and giving them more family time.
This is the second in a series in which ffinlo talks to regenerative dairy producers from around the world - as part of the Regen Dairy project, set up by FAI Farms and Farmwel, in collaboration with Unilever, Barry Callebaut, Arla Foods, Woolworth South Africa and Ben & Jerry’s.
Produced by Farmwel and FAI Farms.
Managing water in the landscape
Increased rainfall and storm intensity are hugely important characteristics of global temperature rises and the way land is managed can have an enormous impact on our ability to reduce flood risk. In this programme we're talking about natural flood defences and ways to manage water flows in the landscape.
ffinlo Costain talks to Chris Uttley, the Stroud Valleys Natural Flood Management Officer for Stroud District Council, and Tom Johnstone, the Strategic Climate Change, Green Infrastructure and Catchments Officer for the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. (The AONB's landscape and nature recovery report can be downloaded here, and Tom can be contacted at Tom.Johnstone@denbighshire.gov.uk)
https://www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Landscape-Nature-Recovery-ENG-Interactive.pdf
mailto:Tom.Johnstone@denbighshire.gov.uk
Produced by Farmwel.
Scaling regenerative dairy
This is the first in a series in which we talk to regenerative dairy producers from around the world - as part of the Regen Dairy project, set up by FAI Farms and Farmwel, in collaboration with Unilever, Barry Callebaut, Arla Foods, Woolworth South Africa and Ben & Jerry’s.
In this programme, ffinlo Costain talks to Blake Alexandre, from Alexandre Family Farm, California, USA, and Bryce Cunningham, from Mossgiel Farm in Scotland, about the challenges of scaling regenerative dairy.
Produced by Farmwel and FAI Farms.
A small farm future
Many governments see farm expansion as the future of agriculture, but there's a grave risk that this will simply embed the challenges inherent in today's food system. Instead we need diversity - and small farms play a critical a role.
ffinlo Costain talks to Chris Smaje, author of A Small Farm Future, published by Chelsea Green.
Produced by Farmwel.
Lessons from Ukraine (food systems)
What does war in Ukraine, and the global response to conflict, tell us about global food production and food systems more broadly?
ffinlo Costain is joined by Chantal Wei-Ying Clément, deputy director of IPES Food, Joona Mikkola from Soil Watch and Sue Pritchard from the UK's Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.
Produced by Farmwel, with support from FAI Farms.
Urban food
Most people live in cities, urban conurbations and housing estates rather than in cottages next to farms. How can we shorten supply chains into cities, bring food production to urban areas, and support volunteers and micro business opportunities for citizens, farmers and growers?
ffinlo Costain is joined by Jeremy Iles from the Urban Agriculture Consortium and Rachel Hammond from Edge.
Produced by Farmwel.
The food price crisis
The war in Ukraine has sparked a food price crisis with devastating impacts being felt around the world - but while Russia lit the touch paper, this crisis was predicted and could have been avoided.
ffinlo Costain is joined by Professor Jennifer Clapp, Thin Lei Win and Margot Gibbs. Jennifer is an expert for Brussels-based IPES-Food and the Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo in Ontario - she's also Vice Chair of the High Level Panel of Experts on food security and nutrition of the UN Committee on World Food Security. Margot and Thin are food system reporters for Lighthouse Reports, a non-profit investigative journalism group, which is based in the Netherlands.
Produced by Farmwel.
Localism & nationalism
A regenerative agricultural and environmental transformation depends upon a resurgence of localism - but localism is also championed by far right politicians who pronounce their own vision centred on a tough approach to immigration. How we can safeguard food systems in a more ecologically chaotic world with accelerating human migration? Can we find a popular but inclusive vision of national localism?
ffinlo Costain is joined by Natalie Bennett of the Green Party of England and Wales, and by Sue Pritchard, the chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.
Produced by Farmwel.
The one with Six inches of Soil
In this programme, we discuss a feature film, Six Inches of Soil, which is currently in production in the UK. The film is being crowd-funded by organisations and individuals, and its producers want to ensure that - even as we are driven towards an ecological precipice fuelled in part by an industrialised food system - we recognise that the dirt beneath our feet is what feeds us and makes our societies strong.
ffinlo Costain is joined by Colin Ramsay, the director of Six Inches of Soil, and by Claire Mackensie, the film's producer.
Produced by Farmwel.
The politics of protein
In this programme, we're talking about meat, fish and protein alternatives - and the competing claims about sustainability that are made by individuals and vested interests across the food sector and around the world.
IPES Food has released a new report, The Politics of Protein, and to discuss it, ffinlo Costain is joined from the USA by lead author, Phil Howard, and from Brussels by the director of IPES Food, Nick Jacobs.
LINKS:
https://twitter.com/IPESfood
http://www.ipes-food.org/pages/politicsofprotein
https://twitter.com/ffinlocostain
https://twitter.com/NickJacobs11
Forestry & land use
Demand for new woodland is growing for everything from timber to carbon sequestration. But forests take up space - and competition for land is increasing. How do we balance the demands of food production, nature, housing and infrastructure, with the need for new woodland and forest products?
ffinlo Costain is joined by Andrew Heald, a consultant specialising in sustainable forests and plantations, and by Martin Lines, the chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network.
Produced by Farmwel.
The meat paradox
In this programme, ffinlo Costain talks to Rob Percival, author of The Meat Paradox.
We are not wild animals and yet we still kill other sentient creatures and eat them in their billions. Rob charts our relationship with meat, from the scavenging of carcasses on an ancient savannah to the industrialised systems that produce much of the meat we consume today. He finds that emotional conflict has challenged human consciousness for many thousands of years.
Produced by Farmwel.
The one with Hodmedods
In this programme, ffinlo Costain talks to Josiah Meldrum, co-founder of the successful on-line retailer, Hodmedods. Josiah works with British farms to source top quality beans, pulses and grains - particularly less well-known foods, like the fava bean, grown in Britain since the Iron Age, but now largely forgotten.
We talk about why Josiah thinks of Hodmedods as an agroecological retail business and about the need for strong supplier relationships. We discuss the benefits of scaling out rather than up, and the failure of fellow online food retailer, Farmdrop.
Produced by Farmwel.
Soil & satellites
In this programme we focus on the UK and East Africa and discuss how the carbon market can channel finance from carbon sequestration and storage to help fund broader land regeneration.
ffinlo Costain speaks to Thomas Gent, the founder of Gentle Farming who works with the Agreena carbon payment platform, and Joona Mikkola, a regenerative agriculture specialist based in Uganda who founded Soil Watch, which monitors carbon levels and soil health using satellite data.
Produced by Farmwel.
Carbon farming
Carbon farming is on the rise - but how does the carbon market work, and how does carbon sequestration and storage help to finance the delivery of other ecosystem services.
ffinlo Costain is joined from Scotland by Charlie Davis, a Natural Capital Advisor specialising in the management of natural assets for Savills, the farms, estates and agricultural land agents.
Produced by Farmwel.
Glasgow Food & Climate Declaration
Despite the absence of food systems, soil and agriculture from the top negotiating table at COP26, these subjects did, at last, emerge as key themes at side events inside the COP conference village. The Glasgow Food & Climate Declaration - initiated by Nourish Scotland and IPES Food - was a key factor in pushing this focus on food systems up the policy agenda.
ffinlo Costain discusses the purpose, legacy and future of the Declaration with Pete Ritchie, Executive Director of Nourish Scotland, and Chantal Clément, Deputy Director, of IPES Food.
Produced by Farmwel.
Good COP, Bad COP?
Was COP26 in Glasgow a success? In this programme we do a stock take. What was achieved at COP26 – in terms of global warming and agricultural land use? What was missing? What was fundamentally misunderstood at the top table? And what do we need to do next, to ensure that an agroecological transition is lifted firmly onto the negotiating table at COP27 and beyond?
ffinlo Costain, the founder of the Food & Global Security Network, is joined by Sue Pritchard, the chief executive of the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission, and Patrick Holden, the founder of the Sustainable Food Trust.
Produced by Farmwel.
Vicki Hird & Rebugging The Planet
ffinlo Costain talks to Vicki Hird - a farming expert and author who's been at the heart of environmental, food and agricultural policy discussions for over 30 years. Her new book, Rebugging The Planet, is set to be the must-buy stocking filler for Christmas this year.
We discuss the new book, which shows us that bugs are beautiful, charismatic and economically valuable. We also discuss food and farming policy, and how the new post-Brexit farm payments will affect agricultural land use in England.
Vicki Hird is also head of sustainable farming at Sustain.
Produced by Farmwel.
Are farm animals emotional?
Do farm animals experience emotions, or are the behaviours people perceive as emotions purely an instinctive response? Do cows, for example, feel happy or depressed? And should a farm animal's ability to react instinctively, or to respond emotionally, affect the way that we care for and handle livestock?
ffinlo Costain, the chief executive of Farmwel, is joined by Professor David Main from the Royal Agricultural University, and by Rachel Horler, a cattle farmer from Maundrils Farm in Somerset, UK.
Produced by Farmwel.
Stacking sheep & solar energy
ffinlo Costain talks to Trent Hendricks and Sophy Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Trent is from Cabriejo Ranch in Missouri, USA, where he produces lamb and beef with certification from the American Grassfed Association and the Allan Savory Land to Market programme. Sophy lives in Wiltshire and provides community engagement and communications advice for the UK solar industry.
Produced by Farmwel.