Farmerama

Hear from Pasture For Life farmer Rob Havard who was at the Future of UK Farming Conference. He tells us some clever tips on how to harvest your own seeds for planting herbal leys and how he has been experimenting with terminating herbal leys, working solely with his animals.

This month we hear from a self-confessed non-environmentalist about an ocean-based farming solution that might inadvertently be saving the environment as well as providing a simple, new and sensible option for people wanting to make a living from the sea. In Northern Ireland, we get stuck into the very important issue of mental health in farming. We get the lowdown on plants activating genes and how this relates to seed saving, and we end with a farmer in the remote South of Chile telling us about the importance of community and how we can contribute to what he calls ‘circle agriculture’.

Regular contributor Joel Rodker is creating a market garden from scratch and recording a diary for Farmerama as he goes. Here he reports from inside his new polytunnel.

In this interview Pavlos Georgiadis speaks to Hannes Lorensen, after the European rural sustainability gathering at Lake Plastiras, who talks about the problems with the sustainability of modern food production, and makes the case for the urban consumer needing to do more listen to and support farmers and grow connections. The GROW Observatory is an EU-wide citizen science project helping people grow food and care for their soils using regenerative practices. They do so through massive experiments using low cost soil moisture sensors and online courses. GROW also uses people’s observations of soils to improve environmental monitoring by satellites. In so doing, the project helps with climate change adaptation. Farmerama are partnering with GROW to bring you interviews from the teams travels and investigations. www.growobservatory.org

The GROW Observatory is an EU-wide citizen science project helping people grow food and care for their soils using regenerative practices. They do so through massive experiments using low cost soil moisture sensors and online courses. GROW also uses people’s observations of soils to improve environmental monitoring by satellites. In so doing, the project helps with climate change adaptation. In this spcial feature, Nikos Vrantsis speaks to Greek organic olive grower Pavlos Georgiadis, one of the initiators of the GROW Observatory, from one of the first GROW Places - Pavlos' own olive farm in Alexandroupoli. He explains how the project is able to provide benefit to growers, people passionate about soil and communities who will take part in the project. He also has some interesting things to say in support of the democratisation of knowledge for Soil Stewardship. www.growobservatory.org

This month we have a political focus, but still manage to squeeze in talk of our fave topics, soil and microbes. First up, some personal stories from a ‘kitchen table talk’ on what good food means to the people in Scotland. A Jersey farmer tells us about trying out an innovative approach to growing the island’s favourite potato. We have an update on ‘Green Brexit’ and how global trade agreements affect farmers. We end with the launch of a ‘Pig Club’ and a catchy tune from the bee-lievers.

Regular contributor Joel Rodker is creating a market garden from scratch and recording a diary for Farmerama as he goes. Here is his latest report, recorded in March 2017.

If you live in Scotland – or even if you don’t – you might have heard that the Scottish Government will soon be introducing a “Good Food Nation Bill”. It’s set to be a wide-ranging piece of legislation, touching on health, sustainable production, food poverty, food culture, and a lot more besides. It has the potential to be radical and world-leading – or a huge missed opportunity. Katie spoke to Bella Crowe from Nourish Scotland about the Bill, the upcoming consultation, and the broader context for food in Scotland. Bella also explained the Scottish Food Coalition’s “Kitchen Table Talk” initiative: an effort to make sure the consultation is as broad and representative as possible. To find out more about the Good Food Nation Bill and the Kitchen Table talks, visit nourishscotland.org

This month we get an update from Abby’s farm in Chile a year after the huge fires burned all their crops. We head to a farm in Wales to learn how planning legislation is opening doors for people wanting to produce, and live sustainably. Then we head to the US to hear how one farmer is taking a philosophical approach to sharing the practice of farming and connecting to the land. And finally, back on British soil to hear from a long-time soil scientist about organic matter. Plus if you listen to the very end you will hear a nice teaser about an exciting opportunity in Scotland.

Nikos Vrantsis reports from Greece for Farmerama where he had the unexpected luck to meet Sylvia Kay, among a visionary crowd of growers, food communities and experts gathered for 2017’s European Rural Sustainability Gathering. Sylvia is a researcher and member of the environmental and agrarian justice team of the Transnational Institute (TNI). Her team is monitoring policies around key natural resources like land, forests, food, trying to empower growers and put local communities in the heart of decision-making when it comes to how their resources are governed. A main obstacle, to achieve this, is the global phenomenon of land grabbing. Nikos Vrantsis a greek journalist reporting on urban regeneration & living cities initiatives as well as on land land grabbing and land speculation issues. He is currently writing a series of stories on the phenomenal, textbook land grabbing case taking place in Warsaw.

This month, we hear from herb growers and suppliers about the opportunities for growing herbs in the UK. We have the first of a series of reports from Jubilee Farm in Northern Ireland, offering a Christian perspective on agriculture and the environment. We take a visit to Humble by Nature, a tenant farm in the Welsh Wye Valley run by TV presenter Kate Humble we hear from an artisan pasta producer in Italy.

the 2018 Oxford Real Farming Conference last month featured a panel on growing and selling herbs in the UK. It addressed a real need for suppliers of good quality Uk-grown herbs. In this Short, Abby Rosie spoke to Alice Bettany from the Sacred Seeds Herbal project, who was a participant in the panel. She runs a herb box-scheme based on a CSA model which is currently the only herbal box scheme in the UK. Alice talks to us about her work and her mission to bring back herbal medicine to the people. This short begins with a beautiful description of her own garden, topped to the brim with Medicinal herbs. Other panellists from the ORFC2018 panel on herbs can be heard in episode 31 of Farmerama. Image from Alice's instrgram @sacred_seeds

Regular contributor Joel Rodker is creating a market garden from scratch and recording a diary for Farmerama as he goes. Here is his latest report from week 7, recorded in December 2017.

This month we bring you stories from the 9th Annual Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC). We embrace agri-culture with new poetry from the front-lines of farming. We get an introduction to human ecology and hear about innovations in urban food systems from a group in Glasgow. Out in the field, we celebrate the wonders of a little-known crop: Sanfoin. And we get the low-down on animals browsing for their favourite fodder.

We visit one of the lesser-known wine-making regions – Wales – to get one perspective on biodynamic farming. Then we’re off to the hills of Catalonia to hear from a small-scale chicken farmer. And, finally, we take a dose of medicine just outside Seattle – in the form of herbs, human connections, and the land itself.

WeFarm is a free peer-to-peer service that enables farmers to share information via SMS, without the internet and without having to leave their farm. Farmers can ask questions on farming and receive crowd-sourced answers from other farmers around the world in minutes. In 2014, WeFarm was named one of the overall winners Google Impact Challenge. Amy Cooper spoke to Wefarm CEO Kenny Ewan for Farmerama at London Food Tech Week, 2017 Learn more about WeFarm https://wefarm.org/ See Amy’s TedX talk for Secret Seed Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=7nUPqnsp8T4

Rural Sociologist Maria Partalidou discusses Urban Farms in Greece. Maria spoke to Farmerama about the changing relationship between Urban and Rural communities in Greece in episode 28.

We hear from two projects which are using film to share stories from the front-line of farming. We meet a sociologist who’s been studying the relationship between urban and rural communities in Greece. And we indulge in more fungi-love as we learn how it's possible to manage weeds simply by working with the microbial balance in the soil.

This month, we dip into the wonderful world of agroforestry: both the help on hand to support farmers planting/managing trees and the stories of two farmers who have been pleasantly surprised at the benefits trees bring to their farm. Abby has been in California and she reports from an event celebrating women’s leadership in farming. Finally we have the first in a series of dispatches from a young farmer who's setting up a new farm – from the ground up.

David Montgomery talks to Abi Glencross for Farmerama about his new book "Growing a Revolution"