Farmerama

Lots of fungi this month, both in the soils and for eating. We explore the parallels between the principles for healthy land and our own bodies. A young farmer introduces us to an experimental ‘pizza-shaped’ chicken enclosure and we hear how UK vineyards are working with the changing climates.

Shorts: Adam Kaye on Polenta by Farmerama

This month we we hear from across the pond how close connections between farmers and cooks are giving birth to new dishes and revenue streams. We get to the bottom of carbon cycles and learn what it really takes to build humus. Bees buzz happily as they are allowed to express their characteristics in alternative beekeeping methods and finally you’re invited to get involved in a citizen science project that celebrates allotments and home-grown veg. Thanks to E5 Bakehouse for supporting this show, we love their commitment to working with farmers to grow heritage grains locally, mill them on-site and produce the best loaf of bread.

Welcome to our two year anniversary edition of Farmerama supported by E5 Bakehouse, an East London bakery pushing the boundaries of baking to make the best bread. This month we get the low-down on 6 simple principles for soil health. We hear from small, smelly friends working away under the ground to support farmers, we hear the highs and lows of potato growers in The Netherlands and journey with a travelling cheesemaker on their research into native dairy breeds.

In Episode 24 we spoke to Dr Sarah Beynon from Dr Beynon's Bug Farm in South Wales about how dung beatles are supporting Farmers and the huge economic benefits they can bring. In this Short she goes on to explain some of the other ways in which invertebrates are beneficial to a fully functioning farm.

The tenth National Organic Combinable Crops (NOCC) event was alive with farmers, traders, researchers, millers, processors and bakers exchanging ideas of how to work together to support ecological farming methods and grow and make healthy food. This is a special episode commissioned by Organic Farmers and Growers, one of the UK’s largest organic certification bodies, who organised NOCC. We hear discussions of new varieties: growing, milling and baking wheat populations and then organic and non-organic farmers experiment with relay cropping, compost teas and companion planting.

Find out a little more about the Sea Buckthorn grown by David Eagle which we featured in Episode 23.

This month we visit a project in Malawi started by local farmers to regenerate soils and bring food security back to local people. Then we are back in the garden of England talking to an Essex farmer about his experiments growing Sea Buckthorn and how he and his son are dealing with the ever encroaching sea chipping away at their farmland. We talk no-till and have the first of several reports from our visit to the Soil Hack gathering.

This month we weave in and out of a conversation we had with Dame Fiona Reynolds, former Director-General of the National Trust. As Fiona shares about beauty, land, rewilding and much more, we hear from Welsh upland sheep farmer Rees Roberts and spiritual ecologist & artist Nessie Reid with what they think about these issues and ideas. Beauty may seem a little airy-fairy and disconnected from the realities of running a farming business. But please do hear us out to the end…this is about bringing power back to the people. Fiona’s recent book The Fight for Beauty is a call to arms for all of us to pay more attention to matters of the earth and oceans. We caught up with Fiona and she told us how she sees farming fits into the future of a Britain built on beauty.

Shelley Spruit from Against the Grain Farm just outside Ottawa, talks to Abi Aspen from Future Farm Lab about the Blue Corn the grow in contrast with the more traditional GM grains favoured by their neighbours. Some additional content from our feature in the farm from episode 21

Spoils, written at Romshed Farm in Kent, Feb 2017 by Pasture for Life poet in residence Adam Horovitz and recorded at the Oxford Real Farming conference 2017

This month we hear about an amazing variety of Care Farming projects from around the world, we catch up with a La Via Campesina member from Berlin and we speak to a chef about the unusual dish he put together for the recent Dan Barber food-waste restaurant in London. We hear from a Canadian farm going against the grain and putting purple corn on the map and we have a special treat – some poetry written at this year’s Oxford Real Farming Conference by Pasture for Life poet in residence – perfectly highlighting the culture in agri-culture.

This month we celebrate the dawn of Spring as we bring you stories from many different communities across the UK: Abraham Organics gives us the low-down on halal and the meat they supply to the Muslim community in London. We hear how the Open Food Network works and one farmer tells us how they are using OFN to expand their business whilst reducing waste from surplus crops. We have some clever tips from Chagfood market garden about growing great veg on the wild exposed moors (and more generally growing great veg in the face of unpredictable British weather). And Plotgate CSA growers tell us about the human-scale tools they are crafting to support people caring for the land.

This is a special field report for Farmerama, we dig into Urban Food Fortnight which descends on London from 9th - 25th of September. Urban Food Fortnight is London Food Link’s celebration of the fantastic amount of food being grown, made, cooked and saved in London and the amazing stories behind it. We teamed up with London Food Link to weave together tips, tricks and ideas from some of the people and projects involved: GrowUp Aquaponics farm, Dusty Knuckles Bakery, Plan Zheroes waste food savers and seasonal chef Oliver Rowe.

From time to time we get in a story that’s deserves a bit more attention to than we are able give in our regular monthly episode. And here one of those. A field report from Farmeramra reporter Camilla Williamson at Castello di Potentino, a small-scale sustainable vineyard in Italy.

As spring draws nearer we bring you Joel Salatin talking traditional methods and modern tools, with a great example from Angus, Scotland. We begin to unpick the world of rewilding which is something that has caused much debate and upset amongst farmers, conservationists and wildlife fans alike. Next up are a collection of despatches from the Soil Association Future Growers apprenticeship and finally we hear from Cambodian farmers and teachers about their experience of learning to grow organically thanks to the Green Shoots Foundation.

We have a few stories from the Oxford Real Farming Conference to share with you this month, firstly market gardener Rebecca Laughton from the Landworkers Alliance tells us about her investigations into the productivity of small-scale producers. We get stuck into no-dig experiments with Charles Dowding, learning about soil biology and the intriguing results from his latest forking trials. And we hear from Ashwini Shannikodi about Street play as tool to tackle social problems in rural farming communities in India, as well as the importance of women in farming. Abby also reports from Chile where she is currently evacuated from her family’s farm, vidacycle, as some of the largest forest fires in Chile’s history surround them.

This is a special edition of Farmerama recorded with a guest host, eco-chef Doug, from Silo restaurant in Brighton. He tells us how his zero-waste philosophy has transformed what it means to serve food, and a local pig-farmer tells us what it’s like to work with a zero-waste chef. In Norfolk we learn all about the craft of managing ancient woodland sustainably and profitably, now and for many generations to come. Finally farming celebrity Joel Salatin tells us about respecting the pigness of the pig and what future technology he hopes to see.

Farmerama have learnt that farming’s best economic models mimic nature’s clever ways and make many things from the same piece of land. Farmer Stephen Briggs tells us about one of these clever models. He fills us in on his agroforestry setup or ‘3D farming’, where he grows organic apples and cereals on his 150 acres in Cambridgeshire. We also hear a few thoughts from Ben Raskin, head of horticulture at the Soil Association, who is just starting a new agroforestry project in Wiltshire at Helen Browning’s Organic Farm. Our co-host Abby shares a tool she initially created for her family’s farm to help them build a more resilient business using ‘small data’. Now other farmers are using it in the UK and Chile, in particular we hear from Davenport Vineyards about how they have used it to help their vineyard prosper. We finish with a bit of a food sovereignty focus – two reports from different ends of Britain both building people’s food policies: in Scotland we hear about the ‘Good Food Nation Bill’ and Dee Butte

After last month’s words from farmers around the world, we are now back on British soil. We have stories from Perthshire to Devon but we start on the west coast, with Patrick Holden from the Sustainable Food Trust. Patrick tells us about how he makes the most of the by-products from his dairy farm, and what a positive effect transparent pricing could have on farmers. We hear about a great little trick for soil testing on the cheap, the TBI – And then we are in Shropshire to find out about some of the ups and downs of Woofing. Finally, we get a collection of dispatches from the first Scottish Farmhack, an experience that had many people excited to share ideas and build tools together.