Tonight for this Rock & Roll Farming special, I talk to NFU President Minette Batters.
We discuss the 'Health & Harmony' DEFRA consultation papers; why working farmers should respond to them, what's good about them, what's bad about them, what we as farmers need to happen post-brexit, and crucially, whether she employs a Donald Trump extreme handshake OR a Tory front bench power-stance when meeting with Government VIPs.
Check it out folks..
This episode is kindly sponsored by NFU Cymru. For more information please visit www.nfu-cymru.org.uk or www.rockandrollfarming.com
Rock & Roll Farming is proud to work in partnership with Farmer's Guardian. For all the latest news and features from across the Ag industry, please visit www.fginsight.com
Donnarie Hales, BASF Product Marketing Manager, discusses new rotation options for rice growers, her new gig, and the changing social media landscape.
Tonight I'm delighted to be travelling down to Wimborne in Dorset, in the south West of England, to talk to sheep farmer Jemma Harding @meandeweblog
We talk about the perception of sheep farming as cool at the moment, and how the reality can be very different, before hearing about her early life growing up on the family farm and how her initial love of sheep developed.
We discuss her time at University studying photography, and how she combined it with farming, before hearing about how a night out at an MTV party in Birmingham led ultimately to a job offer and an eventual role interviewing musicians and celebrities around the World.
We then hear in depth about the accident that happened to her in 2008, when she was knocked off her bike by a lorry in central London, and the horrendous injuries she sustained. She tells us about the operations she went through, and how through sheer determination she was out of hospital in just 5 weeks, and how her collie puppy and horse helped her through the long nights suffering with PTSD.
We hear about how she left London life and went back to the family business, before her Father's diagnosis with stage 4 cancer, and death just 9 months later. We discuss the difficulties she faced afterwards, dealing with it emotionally, but also with the farm, and how she had to learn to do many of the day to day things from scratch.
We also discuss the issues she's had with dog attacks in her flock, and how it seems to be a growing problem in the UK, before moving on to talk about where she's at now, and how despite it all, she has no regrets.
All this and much, much more.
Jemma's story is one of courage in the face of huge adversity, and sheer determination to succeed, and it was an absolute privilege to talk to her tonight.
Check it out folks..
This episode is kindly sponsored by NFU Cymru. For more info please visit www.nfu-cymru.org or visit www.rockandrollfarming.com
Rock & Roll Farming is proud to work in partnership with Farmer's Guardian. For all the latest news and features across the Ag industry please visit www.fginsight.com
Jason Mauck is a farmer in Gaston, Indiana and the CEO of Constant Canopy, an operation dedicated to closing the gap between livestock and grain production. He is passionate about demystifying misconceptions and bringing public awareness to how the farming and agriculture industry truly works from a large-scale farming perspective.
Jason joins me today to share how his large-scale nutrient management system works, discuss the imbalance between supply and demand, and why he believes a sharing economy is a perfect solution to addressing these issues. He shares the intercropping strategy he uses to create higher crop yields, effective strategies for using manure as a soil nutrient management technique, and how he describes “true soil wealth” for large-scale farmers. He also explains the concept of wheat spreading and how it impacts production costs and the benefits of planting soybeans early in the growing season.
“I don’t think there’s one subject that is more compatible with the sharing economy than manure distribution.” - Jason Mauck
This Week on the Future of Agriculture Podcast:
Connect with Jason Mauck:
Check Out Our Sponsor for the “Sustainability at Scale” Series
Have you ever heard of Marrone’s BIO WITH BITE? Marrone Bio Innovation offers crop pest protection for the modern organic and conventional production systems. To make sure every grower using their products realize the best possible return on investment, Marrone invests time and resources to thoroughly test and demonstrate the efficacy of those new state of the art products. With serious trial data to back it up! You can see more and connect directly with Marrone by visiting them at www.marronebio.com
Marrone is very proud to support The Future Of Agriculture blog series on sustainability in agriculture with Tim Hammerich.
Join Our 100th Episode Celebration!
We are celebrating the Future of Agriculture Podcast’s 100th episode - and we want to celebrate with you! Visit SpeakPipe.com/FutureofAg to record your voice and tell us which Future of Agriculture Podcast episode was your number 1 favorite - and why! Who knows? We may even play your voice in a future episode! Head over to SpeakPipe.com/FutureofAg today to record your voice and share your favorite episode with us.
We Are a Part of a Bigger Family!
The Future of Agriculture Podcast is now part of the Farm and Rural Ag Network. Listen to more ag-related podcasts by subscribing on iTunes or on the Farm and Rural Ag Network Website today.
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Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on iTunes and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots!
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Heather Moore is a first generation dairy farmer who gained her love for ag though showing cows in FFA. She has opened her own shop selling cheese made from milk produced on their farm.
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Canada is aboot to go label crazy on their food. We talk this over with Andrew Campbell
Tonight, for this very special Rock and Roll Farming Podcast I head down to Westminster in London to talk to DEFRA Secretary of State Michael Gove about their consultation paper 'Health and Harmony: the future for food and farming and the environment in a green brexit', and why it's absolutely vital that working farmers respond.
This episode is kindly sponsored by NFU Cymru. For more details please visit www.nfu-cymru.org or www.rockandrollfarming.com
Rock and Roll Farming is proud to work in partnership with Farmer's Guardian. Please visit www.fginsight.com
How would you like a pig farm 10 minutes from Ontario’s hottest summer beach destination? Most farmers hate fighting cottage traffic, but Teresa Van Ray and her family are firm believers in “If you can’t beat em, join em.” Their on-farm store, The Whole Pig, sparks some interesting conversations with their customers and adding 30 acres of garlic to their operation leads to some fairly obvious honey, garlic ribs jokes. Well, obvious to Wendell…
Tonight I'm heading down to Overbury Farms on the Worcestershire/ Gloucestershire border to talk to Farm Manager Jake Freestone @No1FarmerJake
We hear about the 1600ha mixed farm that he manages, that's been in the same family since 1722, and the wide range of soil types, conditions, crops, and enterprises that they have going on there.
We discuss Jake's non-farming background, and how he caught the bug initially helping out on his Godfather's dairy farm in Bedfordshire, and how from then on he wasn't going to do anything else but farm. We find out how he eventually ended up at Overbury, after stints at Seale Hayne Agricultural College and several different farms and estates, gaining a wide range of experience in different roles.
We hear what crops they were growing when he arrived, and what system they were using then, before moving on to discuss the impact of his Nuffield Scholarship and what he learned from innovative farmers around the World using a zero-tillage system, and his 'light-bulb' moment in Oklahoma.
We then discuss at length how he's set about drastically changing the tillage system at Overbury; from the cross slot drill they use, to both cover and companion crops, and the huge environmental and cost benefit they've seen since making the change.
We also talk about his passion for sharing the knowledge he's accumulated through his experience with the system with other farmers, and also his blog, harvest diary, and social media, and why he feels that showing what they do on the farm is important.
All this and much, much more.
Jake's one of the brightest and best farmers in the UK, and it was a genuine pleasure to hear more about the pioneering work he's doing with environmental farming.
Check it out folks..
Marc Brazeau is the Chief Organizer and Editor at Food and Farm Discussion Lab, a food system think tank and online magazine for people within the agriculture industry to share evidence-based solutions, ideas, and concepts related to sustainable agriculture, hunger and food security, and public health and nutrition concerns. With previous experience as a chef and restaurant owner as well as organizing unions within the agriculture space, he brings a unique perspective to the food-to-table movement. He is passionate about helping others form their opinions regarding agricultural issues based on evidence, science, and facts.
Marc joins me today to share how he became interested in evidence-based agriculture concerns, what inspired him to create the Food and Farm Discussion Lab, and how his views of food sustainability have evolved. He explains the variables that affect the global sustainability of food, why he believes scalability is a critical factor to consider when addressing food sustainability matters, and the issues that he believes have become over-hyped within the industry.
“If you’re not dealing with corn, soy, wheat, forage crops, or meat, then you’re not really having a serious conversation about sustainability.” - Marc Brazeau
This Week on the Future of Agriculture Podcast:
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Marc Brazeau:
Join Our 100th Episode Celebration!
We are celebrating the Future of Agriculture Podcast’s 100th episode - and we want to celebrate with you! Visit SpeakPipe.com/FutureofAg to record your voice and tell us which Future of Agriculture Podcast episode was your number 1 favorite - and why! Who knows? We may even play your voice in a future episode! Head over to SpeakPipe.com/FutureofAg today to record your voice and share your favorite episode with us.
We Are a Part of a Bigger Family!
The Future of Agriculture Podcast is now part of the Farm and Rural Ag Network. Listen to more ag-related podcasts by subscribing on iTunes or on the Farm and Rural Ag Network Website today.
Share the Ag-Love!
Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on iTunes and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots!
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Jessie Alt works for a big seed company, Her husband works for another... and she writes cuss words on pumpkins
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Tonight for this Rock & Roll Farming Special, I head down to Exeter in Devon to talk to Farmer, and co-founder of Ladies in Beef, Jilly Greed, to hear all about Great British Beef Week (April 23rd - 30th)
Chuck Spenser is about as well versed on agriculture policy as you'll get. We ask him if Trump can beat up Justin Trudeau...
Farming in the UK sounds a lot like farming in Canada, but with a better accent. We talk about tenancy, subsidy and agvocacy. See what I did there? In the Social Jungle, Simon Haley is Tarzan. You should be following these accounts he started:
@FarmersOfTheUK
@FarmersOfTheWorld
@AgriChatUK
Tonight I'm delighted to be heading just over the English border to Sandbach in Cheshire to talk to farmer and digital marketeer, Cesca Beswick. @Cesca_Beswick
We talk about her early life on her family's dairy farm in Staffordshire, and how her Dad tragically died when she was 18 months old leaving her Mum to carry on the farm on her own, before eventually remarrying and moving up to Cheshire.
We discuss her decision to study Product Design Engineering at University, and how she gained an interest in social media marketing and saw the potential for it to be used in business, which back then was a new concept.
We talk about what she learned working in digital marketing after Uni, and what skills she was able to take back to the farm, when eventually the call of home proved too much and she joined her family business, complete with some Wiltshire Horn sheep in tow!
We hear about the various courses she's completed including foot trimming, A.I, and Entrepreneurs in Dairying, and the importance of personal development, before moving on to talk about 'Cesca's Lamb', the meat boxes that she's now selling direct to the public.
We also go into why the sheep have helped her confidence grow over the last 3 years. All this and lots, lots more.
Cesca's one of the loveliest people you could ever meet, and i really enjoyed learning more about her farming journey tonight.
Check it out folks..
This episode is kindly sponsored by NFU Cymru. For more information please visit www.nfu-cymru.org or www.rockandrollfarming.com
Rock & Roll Farming is proud to be part of the Farm & Rural Ag Network. For more great farming related content please visit www.farmruralag.com
Richard Lackey is the Chairman and CEO of the World Food Bank, an organization founded in 2015 to provide sustainable solutions to the food security and hunger issues around the world. He is a highly-regarded expert in the trading and securities industry and is passionate about finding solutions that will help end world hunger.
Richard joins me today to share the driving force behind World Food Bank, their mission, and how their unique program is designed to significantly impact the food security and hunger issues we currently face worldwide. He explains how his systematized approach helps impact the world from an economic standpoint and why systematic approaches are more sustainable solutions to combating world hunger and poverty. He explains how they use model farms to help farmers in third-world countries gain access to the tools, techniques, and strategies that can improve their crop grades, quality, and profits. He also shares his prediction for investors considering food as a future asset commodity and the potential impact that a single 5,000-acre farm can have on the lives of those living in countries such as Uganda.
“The ability to now store commodities for years and years - and maintain grade - is a game-changer.” - Richard Lackey
This Week on the Future of Agriculture Podcast:
Connect with Richard Lackey:
Join Our 100th Episode Celebration!
We are celebrating the Future of Agriculture Podcast’s 100th episode - and we want to celebrate with you! Visit SpeakPipe.com/FutureofAg to record your voice and tell us which Future of Agriculture Podcast episode was your number 1 favorite - and why! Who knows? We may even play your voice in a future episode! Head over to SpeakPipe.com/FutureofAg today to record your voice and share your favorite episode with us.
We Are a Part of a Bigger Family!
The Future of Agriculture Podcast is now part of the Farm and Rural Ag Network. Listen to more ag-related podcasts by subscribing on iTunes or on the Farm and Rural Ag Network Website today.
Share the Ag-Love!
Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on iTunes and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots!
Learn more about AgGrad by visiting:
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AgGrad on Instagram
Scott Daniel was the kind of kid that read Holstein magazines and had herdsmen as heroes. So, you can imagine how hard it was for him to shut down his own dairy. Listen to an open an honest account of his story.
please visit our sponsor:
https://www.farmcommand.com/
Do wind turbines help farmers... or do they just blow?
@lesleyraekelly and I talk wind and solar.
#WTFarmchat
Who would want to live in downtown Toronto, not own a car and choose almond milk over dairy? I learned a lot from 21 year old, urban planner, Kiana Simmons, but some of what she shared challenged point of view. If you want to know what an urban millennial thinks about food and farming you will want to listen to this.
Tonight I'm delighted to be travelling down to Silchester in Hampshire to talk to Crop Scientist and Director of the AgriFood Training Partnership, Professor Carol Wagstaff @cwagstaff
We talk about how studying biology at Royal Holloway, University of London, and spending time at Kew Gardens led to a fascination with plants and crops, and eventually to a career as a crop scientist at the University of Reading.
We discuss the research group that she leads, that focusses on improving the quality of food, including the nutritional value, appearance, flavour and shelf life, as well as helping consumers make healthy dietary choices.
We go into some of the best things about the job she does, which include working with a range of people from primary food producers, right through to large scale organisations and government, and also talk about GM crops and some of the misconceptions there are out there.
We then discuss the AFTP @AFTPnews (AgriFood Training Partnership), and how they're providing high level training and skills development for professionals in the agriculture, food and beverage industries, through a wide range of courses in various formats - online, face to face workshops, and blended learning. We also talk about the AFTP Conference that takes place on 3rd July, and what people can expect there.
Lastly we talk about Carol's other life as a high-level dressage rider, and how she manages to find the time to do that, as well as train for a marathon!
All this and much more. It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Carol tonight, and learn more about her life and career as a crop scientist.
Check it out folks..
Rock & Roll Farming is proud to be part of the Farm and Rural Ag Network. For more agriculture-related great podcast, blogs and digital content please visit www.farmruralag.com
This episode is kindly sponsored by NFU Cymru. For more information please visit www.nfu-cymru.org.uk or www.rockandrollfarming.com
Tom Bottoms earned his bachelor’s degree in Plant Sciences from the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and in 2013, he received his Ph.D. in Horticulture and Agronomy from the University of California. He currently works as an employee of a large farming operation based in Northern California with the intention of eventually accumulating his own farm land and building his own operation.
Tom joins me today to share what inspired him to work in the agriculture industry and what motivated him to continue his education in agriculture. He shares why he decided to pivot his career from agriculture academia to work in the private sector, his experience while working with the African Leadership Partners in Swaziland, Africa and the challenges he has faced and overcome while helping a small farm operation significantly grow during his missionary operation in Africa. He also explains the importance of networking and building relationships within the farming industry to help you achieve your goals as a professional, the importance of self-awareness and professional development, and tips on how to get started in farming.
“You’ve got to continue to develop yourself - to put yourself in a situation where you’re learning about the industry.” - Tom Bottoms
This Week on the Future of Agriculture Podcast:
Resources Mentioned:
Tom Bottom’s Tips for Getting Started in Farming:
Connect with Tom Bottoms:
We Are a Part of a Bigger Family!
The Future of Agriculture Podcast is now part of the Farm and Rural Ag Network. Listen to more ag-related podcasts by subscribing on iTunes or on the Farm and Rural Ag Network Website today.
Share the Ag-Love!
Thanks for joining us on the Future of Agriculture Podcast – your spot for valuable information, content, and interviews with industry leaders throughout the agricultural space! If you enjoyed this week’s episode, please subscribe on iTunes and leave your honest feedback. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on your favorite social media spots!
Learn more about AgGrad by visiting:
AgGrad on Twitter
AgGrad on Facebook
AgGrad on LinkedIn
AgGrad on Instagram
Ag tech...
Big data...
backwards flushing toilets... Sarah Nolet covers it all
Please visit our sponsor:
https://www.farmcommand.com/
Today Rob and Lesley talk to professional curler Kirk Muyres. Kirk talks about how his diet and farm background affects his performance.
Dr. Jude Capper is a passionate supporter of the dairy industry both in her native UK and around the word. With a PHD in Ruminant Nutrition, she is something of an expert in dairy production, however that doesn’t stop on-line trolls from vegansplaining to her why dairy is bad. They have gone so far as to suggest that the reason she got breast cancer at 26 years of age is karma from eating meat and dairy. If she can keep her cool on Twitter, anyone can. We talk about her #Februdairy campaign. Also, she claims Will Evans is way cooler than me and Jerseys are better than Holsteins….
Tonight I'm delighted to be heading up to Perthshire in Scotland to talk to farmer, consultant, and host of the Pasture Pod Podcast Michael Blanche @totallyewesome
We start off with talking about how the hell he developed an interest in farming, given he's the son of an accountant and a teacher, and how he got his first sheep and a tractor at the tender age of 3.
We discuss how he went from being an almost beret-wearing English student, to being a tweed underpants wearing REALM student at Harper Adams, and how this in turn led to a job in land agency.
We go into why ultimately this wasn't for him, and the next step which was working as a farm advisor for SAC, before talking about his first steps into the zany World of sheep farming, which was partly inspired by a life changing trip to Wales.
We talk about the initial challenges, and how in the first five years he TRAVELLED THE EQUIVALENT OF TWICE AROUND THE WORLD (?!) to see his sheep, and also the heartbreak of being repeatedly turned down for farm tenancies.
We hear at length about his Nuffield scholarship 'The Farming Ladder', and how the experiences he had, and 1st generation farmers he met from all around the World, changed his outlook and increased his determination and need to farm even more.
We also talk about how eventually, at the 8th time of asking he secured a tenancy, and just two months later had just £500 cash available for a 500 acre farm. We also of course discuss the fantastic Pasture Pod Podcast, why pasture pumps him up, and his bedroom shrine to me.
All this and lots, lots more. People take the piss out of me for overusing the word 'inspirational' in my podcast interviews, but I don't care - Michael Blanche is a truly inspirational man, and it was a pleasure, as well as great fun, to talk to him tonight..
This episode is kindly sponsored by NFU Cymru.For more information please visit www.nfu-cymru.org.uk or www.rockandrollfarming.com