Farm Gate

FFINLO COSTAIN (8point9.com) and JOE STANLEY (GWCT Allerton Project), are joined by MARY-ANN OCHOTA, the president of CPRE, The Countryside Charity.

They discuss:

🚜 🚸 Kids working on farms

😊 Nature as a positive, unifying force

🥬 Vertical farms

🦋 The role of CPRE

🏠 Brownfield first home building

🧱 And new towns

Watch the rough cut video edit on YouTube

English nature faces an unprecedented human-made environmental crisis as thousands of Countryside Stewardship agreements expire at the end of this year.

Over 4,500 farms are affected, threatening to undo years of conservation work.

We'll discuss why we're in this mess - what it could mean for England's nature - and what can be done about it.

ffinlo Costain (8point9.com) is joined by Anna Biesty (Deepdale Farm) Martin Hole (Montague Farm) Chris Millward (Bibbey's Wild Farms) and Martin Lines (Nature Friendly Farming Network).

* Watch instead? Search 'Farm Gate podcast' on YouTube

* More land use news at 8point9.com

This is the first episode of our new monthly podcast series, Martin's Farm. *

MARTIN LINES is the Chief Exec of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, and throughout the year we’ll be learning about what’s happening month-by-month on his farm, Papley Grove Farm in St Neots, Cambridgeshire. We'll also meet key staff and farmers from within the NFFN.

In this episode, we speak to ADAM FORREST the Scotland Manager at NFFN, for a dive into Scottish farm policy - where it’s at - what the priorities are - and what the opportunities are for nature-friendly farmers.

(* Last month we piloted a new series called, Nature Friendly Farm Gate - this is the same series, but we’ve upgraded the name.)

Want to watch instead of listen? Search for 'Farm Gate podcast' on YouTube.

More Land use news and features at 8point9.com

In this programme we discuss the new book - The Profitable Farm, Balancing business, nature and energy through maximum sustainable output - and I'm joined by the authors: CHRIS CLARK and BRIAN SCANLON.

To buy the book, click here: https://5mbooks.com/product/profitable-farm* More land-use news at 8point9.com

* To watch the rough cut video of this audio podcast, please search for 'Farm Gate podcast' on YouTube

In the last of our Agroforestry Show in-the-field podcasts, FFINLO COSTAIN is joined by LAURA GUDE (Programme manager, Innovative Farmers), KATE STILL (Head of Farming, Soil Association, and DAVE OATES (Rosuic Farm, Cornwall).

The podcast covers:

• The launch of the new learning network for trees and livestock health
• The diverse benefits for different livestock species (poultry, pigs, cattle, sheep)
• Nutritional advantages of trees like willow and mulberry
• The commercial case for agroforestry
• Practical advice for farmers

Thomas Gent (Gentle Farming) proposes an agroforestry co-operative, to support farmers and landowners in the management and sale of agroforestry-managed farmland and assets. What do you think?

Are trees a liability or an asset for whole farm carbon footprints?

Speaking to the Farm Gate podcast at the Agroforestry Show, Wiltshire farmer, STUART ROGERS, and JEMMA MORGAN from the Farm Carbon Toolkit, discuss the carbon impact of integrating agroforestry into farm systems.

Rogers extols the benefits of trees but recognises the carbon accounting challenges they can present, while Morgan considers how trees can add nature value to soil carbon credits.

This is the fourth of six impromptu in-the-field podcasts recorded at the Agroforestry Show 2025.

RICHARD THOMAS (a farmer from North Herefordshire) and LOTTIE ALVES (Nature Friendly Farming Network) dig into what agroforestry means to them and search for the common ground between farming and forestry. What are the challenges and opportunities? How can one system support the other?

This is the third of six impromptu in-the-field podcasts recorded at the Agroforestry Show 2025.

CLAIRE WHITTLE and BEN RASKIN join FFINLO COSTAIN in-the-field at the Agroforestry Show.

We don't know what the world will look like in 2050, but we do know that our temperatures and weather will be more extreme.

How will farms, landscapes and livestock need to change to become more resilient? How will agroforestry help farmers maintain food and fibre production - and profitability?

This is the second of six impromptu in-the-field podcasts recorded at the Agroforestry Show 2025.

Defra Secretary of State, Steve Reed, has been catapulted into the Dept of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Farming minister, Dan Zeichner, is out - and instead, in come Emma Reynolds and Angela Eagle.

Is there an opportunity for farmers in the chaos? Could this Defra defenestration offer light at the end of a dark tunnel?

With Labour struggling in the polls, what does Kier Starmer's reshuffle tell us about his attitude to food and farming?

In a conversation, live at the Agroforestry Show, FFINLO COSTAIN meets EMILY NORTON (AHDB), STEPHEN BRIGGS (Agroforestry pioneer), MARTIN LINES (NFFN) and VICKI HIRD (Wildlife Trusts).

COMING NEXT WEEK: More Farm Gate in-the-field at the Agroforestry Show