Farm Gate

Six Inches of Soil is the hit UK film that traces the trials and tribulations of three young farmers who are each trying to work regeneratively with their land.

Anna Jackson, farms an 800 acre mixed farm in Lincolnshire with her dad, Andrew - (0'50")

Beef farmer Ben Thomas has 75 acres of field and agroforestry in Cornwall - (16'24")

And Adrienne Gordon produces veges, salad and edible flowers in around four acres of market garden in Cambridgeshire - (29'36")

What exactly do the Soil Association mean by a Worm Hunt, and why do they want us to dance for these wriggly ecosystem warriors? Can venture capital really help to scale the transition to regenerative agriculture? Why has deer management become such a divisive issue in Scotland? And the latest UK Peatland Code revision is now open for consultation.

Interviews with:

Dr Renée Kerkvliet-Hermans from the IUCN UK Peatland Programme - 0'25''

Alex Burton, Head of Worms at the Soil Association - 7'57''

Simon Evill from Pelican Ag - 12'51''

Tom Turnbull from the Association of Deer Management Groups - 22'13''

Do we seriously need to chop down more trees to address the climate crisis?

What about food? Is it possible to make a living from a third of an acre of land?

In a world struggling with antimicrobial resistance - what's the WHO doing downgrading a whole class of antibiotics?

And what about my farm - regenerative agriculture - it's a great idea, but it'll never work here!

I speak to regenerative farming advisor, Tim Williams - 0'40''

Paul Brannen, the author of Timber! How wood can help save the world from climate breakdown - 12'50''

Dr Laura Higham a veterinary consultant for FAI Farms - 25'15''

And Ben Hartman the author of The Lean Micro Farm - 37'10''

Phil Carson (Nature Friendly Farming Network) and ffinlo Costain (8point9.com) discuss the week’s land use news - including:

“Slurry pollution as damaging as sewage”

NFFN unveils UK general election manifesto

Farmers demand Universal Basic Income

Research finds ten times more pests in insecticide-treated corn fields

In-field crop diversity could deliver ecological resilience

Urgent need for new approach to combat global grassland degradation

Five interviews today - on topics ranging from the constant struggle for tenant farmers to dangers of slurry pollution.

1'08'' Martin Lines from the Nature Friendly Farming Network discusses the NFFN's general election manifesto, which includes a call for a fit-for-purpose farming budget

12'29'' Peter Powell from the Welsh Dee Trust talks about the terrible impact farm slurry can have on rivers

20'34'' Vicky Vanderstichele from North Star Transition tells me that scale is critical when it comes to financing nature-based solutions

32'09'' George Dunn, the chief executive of the Tenant Farmers Association, tells me about the often poor relationship between tenant farmers and their landlords

42'35'' And finally, Robin Walter from the Soil Association, makes the case for regenerative forestry.

Wheat from the Chaff: Wye chicken? Unlocking nature finance - And special guest: Rob Yorke

Class-action-style claim takes on chicken giant, Avara

Report focusses on unlocking finance for nature

Updated carbon offsetting principles aim to combat greenwashing

SPECIAL GUEST: Rob Yorke

Welsh Government: New Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs confirmed

“Where is the Land Use Framework?” asks EAC

Questions remain over England’s plan for improving soil health

Government caps land area used for six key SFI payments

Four conversations today - first, I'll meet David Wright, the Chief Executive of Ecometric, to find out about how exactly soil carbon is measured - then after that I'll talk to Chris D'Agorne from Life to Land about an analysis that shows that the non-native sycamore is now the UK's third most populous tree species. Later I'll discuss the benefits of having more trees on farms with Huw Evans from Three Pools, and we'll round up the programme with a conversation about the Westminster government's proposals for mandatory method of production labelling with Peter Stevenson and Catherine Jadav from Compassion in World Farming.

ffinlo Costain (8point9.com) and Phil Carson (Nature Friendly Farming Network) discuss the week's land use news - and meet special guest, Chris Smaje, author of "Saying NO to a farm-free future"

ffinlo Costain meets Judith D Schwartz - the author of Cows Save the Planet, Water in Plain Sight and The Reindeer Chronicles.

Western civilisation has, for generations, sought to extract itself from its dependency on the natural world. Indigenous knowledge has been devalued and lost. And even now, as our monumental folly becomes clearer with each passing day, those who lead us have little real conception of our innate dependency upon an interconnected natural world.

ffinlo and Judith discuss what we can learn from reindeer, green colonialism, prey and predator cultures, donkeys in Western Australia, natural capital and economic growth, and the transformation of the Loess Plateaux.

Find Judith at https://www.judithdschwartz.com/ and on X

Buy Judith's book, The Reindeer Chronicles, here.

Phil Carson (Nature Friendly Farming Network) and ffinlo Costain (8point9.com) discuss the week's news - and are joined by special guest, farm business and succession adviser, Heather Wildman.

News stories Phil and ffinlo discuss:

Scottish Forestry rejects findings of Royal Society of Edinburgh tree report

Non-native Sycamore is third most common British tree

European Parliament votes to criminalise ecosystem destruction

Government policy “inconsistent” and failing to deliver on farm antibiotic use

Food and farming policies “fettered by neoliberal economics” says SDP

And,

NFFN Cymru unveils five-point plan for Welsh Government

Special guest Heather Wildman is from Saviour Associates - visit her website