Farm Gate

ffinlo Costain and Martin Lines (Chief Executive, Nature Friendly Farming Network) are joined by Nisreen Shahin from Inside Track, an organisation that represents an anonymous group of senior executives from major UK producers, manufacturers and retailers, who say that boardroom short-termism is leaving the food system dangerously exposed to climate change, biodiversity loss and soil degradation.

They also chat through Martin's October farming operations, discuss the impact of a major railway development on his farm, talk about how to reduce on-farm fossil fuel use, and applaud Chichester's plans to survive a food crisis.

ffinlo Costain is joined by Baroness Julia Aglionby, the long-serving executive director of the Foundation for Common Land, as she takes her seat as a Liberal Democrat life peer.

ffinlo asks Julia three questions: why was she chosen, how did the appointment happen, and what does she plan to do now that she’s there?

As the impacts of climate change deepen, what will happen to food and farming systems in the UK and around the world? And do we need greater food independence and food sovereignty in the UK?

Today, ffinlo Costain is joined by Kirsty Lewis, Applied Climate Science Fellow at the Met Office - by Vicki Hird, Strategic Lead on Agriculture at The Wildlife Trusts - by Honor Eldridge, Author of The Future of Food Policy in the UK - and by Lucy Noad, a beef and dairy farmer from Woodhouse Farm in Wiltshire.

* This programme draws on conversations that took place at the UK's Conference on Food & National Security, which was co-produced by Ark and Farm Gate. Our sponsors were Howden, Savills and Saffrey - and our founding patron was Marian Boswall.

For more than a decade, nature markets have promised wadges of new cash for farmers, promising them financial security as they work to bridge the regenerative transition and restore natural infrastructure.

But while many land managers are ready to supply carbon or nature credits, the demand simply hasn't scaled, and the market that does exist is hard to navigate.

So, where are we now, and what's the future for nature markets?

ffinlo Costain is joined by Luke Baldwin, Chief Executive of Nature Broking - Lucy Jenner, Head of Natural Capital Consultancy at Savills - and Alastair Grizzell, former Head of Nat Cap at Zora Ecosystems, and now Commercial Director at Ark Intelligence & Events.

Huskvac - the UK’s only licensed lungworm vaccine - will be discontinued after 2027.

The British Cattle Veterinary Association says that this announcement comes at precisely the wrong moment, when UK cattle farming is increasingly adopting Integrated Parasite Management, of which Huskvac is a cornerstone.

ffinlo Costain is joined by Rob Howe from Farm Beneficials and Helen Rogers from Friars Moor Livestock Health.

UK governments spend around £4 billion a year on farming and nature, but we need a further £4-10 billion a year just to hit our nature and environment targets.

Meanwhile, £11 trillion is managed by the UK's investment industry, and the gap is a rounding error by comparison.

So how do we get more of that capital flowing into nature recovery and agroecological food and farming systems?

ffinlo Costain is joined by Isabelle Cadignan, Co-Lead on Climate Risk & Resilience at Howden Insurance Brokers - by Annabel Ross, Director of Capital Markets Sustainability for Lloyds Banking Group - by Eoin Murray, the Chief Investment Officer at Rebalance Earth - and by Tom Pycraft, the founder of Ark Events.

ffinlo Costain (8point9) talks to Martin Lines (Nature Friendly Farming Network). Martin has been with the Conservatives in Birmingham, lobbying MPs and activists on behalf of food, farming and nature. The pair discuss:

• A more confident Conservative party?
• Plans to abolish Natural England and the Environment Agency
• "Fewer rules" versus environmental outcomes
• Do the Tories have a new policy on SFI?
• More development, less emphasis nature?
• Anti-solar, anti stacking?
• Net zero and carbon markets
• Inheritance tax

Has 'regen' become toxic - is it how we save the world, or just a niche type of farming that's been hijacked by corporate food businesses?

To investigate, ffinlo Costain is joined by Baroness Minette Batters, Member of the House of Lords, farmer, former NFU president and author of Harvest: A farmer's story of heritage, home and hope - and by Clare Hill, a regen farmer and co-founder of Roots to Regeneration, a transition accelerator programme for farmers and professionals.

ffinlo Costain (8point9) talks to Martin Lines (Nature Friendly Farming Network). Martin has spent three days (and nights) lobbying Labour MPs and activists on behalf of food, farming and nature. Find out the key themes and what was said behind the scenes.

• Labour's conference theme was "Hope Again". How does that mood music translate into action for food, farming and nature.
• Labour's return to its rural roots.
• Food resilience, security, and El Niño.
• The Great British Grid as a rural opportunity.
• Growth in every (rural) postcode.
• Public procurement and diet.
• The SFI fallout.
• Finance joining the dots.
• How NFFN lobbying actually works.

In this episode of Martin's Farm on the Farm Gate podcast, ffinlo Costain speaks to Martin Lines (Chief Exec, Nature Friendly Farming Network) and Holly Purdey (National Trust tenant at Horner Farm, Somerset, and NFFN England Vice Chair).

They discuss:

• The debacle of England's Sustainable Farming Incentive
• How to embed resilience and adaptability into farm businesses
• What Martin found out at the Liberal Democrat Conference
• Whole farm agreements and outcome-based payments
• Farm Nutrient Plans
• And the coming impacts of the biggest El Niño ever recorded