Farmerama

We recorded Farmerama ‘live’ from Turin, Italy this month where thousands of small-scale farmers, shepherds, fishers, chefs and people committed to more resilient food systems from over 100 hundred countries around the world have come together to celebrate and share food and farming knowledge at the Slow Food Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, it's like the UN for food systems. In Turin an eco-gastronomer tells us about feeding all of our senses, a once-fisherman shares storytelling as an alternative to certification and we hear the united voices of farmers from around the globe coming together thanks to the Slow Food Network. Back home the holistic management framework gives one mob-grazer some clear goals at home and in the fields, a dairy farmer has a super simple calf-feeding technique for his herd and we hear about the Alabama-Cuban Oggun Tractor - an open-source, easily fixable tractor.

We are at a crossroads in British food and farming history, so this month we begin to probe the post-Brexit discussion. We hear a few candid kitchen-table chats with different farm families. Some hidden truths about soil testing are revealed, and we learn about practical knowledge sharing platform Agricology, bridging the gap between science and what really happens on the farm. Plus one of the projects they feature: Fit for the Future Network, sharing experiences of renewable energy. And Heritage seeds head from Norway to the Middle East, returning to their homeland on an artistic voyage of discovery. This is the beginning, we all need to and sew the seeds of an agricultural policy that leads to a positive food and farming future in the UK.

It’s July and we’ve now been following the nitty gritty of the smaller-scale farming world for one whole growing year. One revolution of this world around the sun. We’ve chanced upon and dug up so many stories and met inspirational farmers and growers as the podcast has spiralled into an adventure leading us to uncover different ideas, perspectives and techniques along the way. This month we are in Utah for a garlic special in the Wasatch mountains. Hannah hears from a Dagenham farm trainee abou...

This episode we are brimming with innovations and new perspectives from all over the world. We enjoy crowd farming oranges in Valencia, WeFarm’s farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing in Kenya and Peru and the community fuel of Food Assemblies around the country - all part of a panel discussion we chaired at the ReWork Future of Food Summit. Ben Raskin is back as he chats to Alan Schofield about an organic perspective on hydroponics, can soil-less growing be organic? Abby gets the low-down on a supe...

Giddy goats, a no-till, mob grazing & herbal ley winning combo plus young entrepreneurial growers & food poetry

SoilCity in Glasgow, Farmhack, urban farm updates, poetic landscapes and glasshouses, plus rural entrepreneurs

The voice of small-holders, business tips for urban gardens, cellular agriculture and organics in Udaipur, India

Seeds on film, secret sauces, woodchip composts, Care Farming for health & finances, plus a few cheeky outdoor winter salads

Oxford Real Farming Conference, a positive health CSA, Field of Wheat uniting farmers & other folk, cover crops + no-till, & land songs

We are in a festive mood this month. Spirits are high with some special guests making a late appearance. New reporter Hannah Shlotter chats lettuce lawns and compost with grower Alice Holden at one of London’s best known urban farms in Dagenham. CSA Network head Robert Simpson makes a comeback with his tips on polytunnels for goats. Ben Raskin brings us up to date on the newest varieties of blight resistant potatoes and we hear from a farmer without a farm.

Female farmers speak out, dairy protests, weed tangled walled gardens, we round up the cows & natural wine making in Italy

Scottish Crofting, alternatives to certification, Irish seaweed farming and more from young farmers around the world

In the second episode of Farmerama, Nigel, Jo and Abby take a close look at Natural Agriculture after a visit to the Shumei farm near Yatesbury. They also investigate some of the ways farms are trying to get local communities more interested in growing and farming. There's a visit to a CSA farm near Swansea, a community garden in midlands, and an urban farm in Bristol.

Farmerama Radio shares great stories from the smaller scale farming movement in the UK. We are out in the field digging out what's really going on. In Episode one we went to the annual CSA gathering to learn the ins and outs of community supported agriculture, Nigel visits a Devon Water buffalo farm and Zarah Rahman investigates the historical significance of seeds.