Tonight I'm delighted to be heading down to the heart of Somerset to talk to farmer, businessman, and entrepreneur, Nick Hiscox @mendipfarmer

We hear about his farm where they produce cattle, sheep and pigs and direct sell the meat to local customers. We then go into his latest project, a community food group, where customers pay a monthly fee in return for locally sourced meat and produce, with the premise that they spend some time on the farm learning about how the food is produced.

Nick talks passionately about the importance of UK agriculture, and also his frustrations wth how we're marketing our products and communicating to our customers as an industry, and his desire to make changes for the better.

We discuss his early career, which included stints milking cows for a neighbour, and bricklaying, before hitting on the idea of recycling tyres in the early 90's which eventually led to a trip to Sheffield and a Full Monty connection! 

We hear how he bought the neighbouring farm after a tense auction, and built a home for his family, and also possibly the best story I've heard on the podcast so far, involving a Bedford Camper Van and the Berlin Wall!

We then move on to talk about family, and some of the highs and lows they've been through together. The main low being the 6 months they spent keeping their eldest son alive in 2016 after his struggle with clinical depression. It's a powerful message, and I urge everyone to listen. 

Nick's a lovely guy, and a great farmer and family man, and it was an absolute privilege to talk to him tonight.

Check it out folks.. 

 

www.rockandrollfarming.com 

Rock and Roll Farming is proud to work alongside Farmer's Guardian. For more great stories and coverage of Ag issues from across the industry, please visit www.fginsight.com

This episode is kindly sponsored by NFU Cymru. For more information please visit www.nfu-cymru.org

Rock & Roll Farming is proud to be part of the Farm & Rural Ag network. For more great agriculture related podcasts and vlogs, please visit www.farmruralag.com