Farmerama

This month we have a political focus, but still manage to squeeze in talk of our fave topics, soil and microbes. First up, some personal stories from a ‘kitchen table talk’ on what good food means to the people in Scotland. A Jersey farmer tells us about trying out an innovative approach to growing the island’s favourite potato. We have an update on ‘Green Brexit’ and how global trade agreements affect farmers. We end with the launch of a ‘Pig Club’ and a catchy tune from the bee-lievers. 🐝 🐖🍭🍏

Regular contributor Joel Rodker is creating a market garden from scratch and recording a diary for Farmerama as he goes. Here is his latest report, recorded in March 2017.

If you live in Scotland – or even if you don’t – you might have heard that the Scottish Government will soon be introducing a “Good Food Nation Bill”. It’s set to be a wide-ranging piece of legislation, touching on health, sustainable production, food poverty, food culture, and a lot more besides. It has the potential to be radical and world-leading – or a huge missed opportunity. Katie spoke to Bella Crowe from Nourish Scotland about the Bill, the upcoming consultation, and the broader context for food in Scotland. Bella also explained the Scottish Food Coalition’s “Kitchen Table Talk” initiative: an effort to make sure the consultation is as broad and representative as possible.

To find out more about the Good Food Nation Bill and the Kitchen Table talks, visit nourishscotland.org

This month we get an update from Abby’s farm in Chile a year after the huge fires burned all their crops. We head to a farm in Wales to learn how planning legislation is opening doors for people wanting to produce, and live sustainably. Then we head to the US to hear how one farmer is taking a philosophical approach to sharing the practice of farming and connecting to the land. And finally, back on British soil to hear from a long-time soil scientist about organic matter. Plus if you listen to the very end you will hear a nice teaser about an exciting opportunity in Scotland.

Nikos Vrantsis reports from Greece for Farmerama where he had the unexpected luck to meet Sylvia Kay, among a visionary crowd of growers, food communities and experts gathered for 2017’s European Rural Sustainability Gathering.

Sylvia is a researcher and member of the environmental and agrarian justice team of the Transnational Institute (TNI). Her team is monitoring policies around key natural resources like land, forests, food, trying to empower growers and put local communities in the heart of decision-making when it comes to how their resources are governed. A main obstacle, to achieve this, is the global phenomenon of land grabbing.

Nikos Vrantsis a greek journalist reporting on urban regeneration & living cities initiatives as well as on land land grabbing and land speculation issues. He is currently writing a series of stories on the phenomenal, textbook land grabbing case taking place in Warsaw.

This month, we hear from herb growers and suppliers about the opportunities for growing herbs in the UK. We have the first of a series of reports from Jubilee Farm in Northern Ireland, offering a Christian perspective on agriculture and the environment. We take a visit to Humble by Nature, a tenant farm in the Welsh Wye Valley run by TV presenter Kate Humble we hear from an artisan pasta producer in Italy.

the 2018 Oxford Real Farming Conference last month featured a panel on growing and selling herbs in the UK. It addressed a real need for suppliers of good quality Uk-grown herbs.

In this Short, Abby Rosie spoke to Alice Bettany from the Sacred Seeds Herbal project, who was a participant in the panel. She runs a herb box-scheme based on a CSA model which is currently the only herbal box scheme in the UK. Alice talks to us about her work and her mission to bring back herbal medicine to the people.

This short begins with a beautiful description of her own garden, topped to the brim with Medicinal herbs.

Other panellists from the ORFC2018 panel on herbs can be heard in episode 31 of Farmerama.

Image from Alice's instrgram @sacred_seeds

Regular contributor Joel Rodker is creating a market garden from scratch and recording a diary for Farmerama as he goes. Here is his latest report from week 7, recorded in December 2017.

This month we bring you stories from the 9th Annual Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC). We embrace agri-culture with new poetry from the front-lines of farming. We get an introduction to human ecology and hear about innovations in urban food systems from a group in Glasgow. Out in the field, we celebrate the wonders of a little-known crop: Sanfoin. And we get the low-down on animals browsing for their favourite fodder.

We visit one of the lesser-known wine-making regions – Wales – to get one perspective on biodynamic farming. Then we’re off to the hills of Catalonia to hear from a small-scale chicken farmer. And, finally, we take a dose of medicine just outside Seattle – in the form of herbs, human connections, and the land itself.