Meet the Farmers

By Ben Eagle, RuralPod Media

What's Meet the Farmers about?

Meet the Farmers is a weekly show that profiles people in the countryside and gives you an insight into food and farming.

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Meet the Farmers episodes:

07.01.2024
Groundswell 2024 - How to scale regenerative agriculture?
Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer can be found here. About Ben and RuralPod Media Ben Eagle is the...
06.24.2024
Investing in Soil Health and Regenerative Agriculture - with Jake Freestone
Jake Freestone, farm manager at Overbury Farms, discusses the history and operations of the farm, as well as his journey in agriculture. Overbury Farms is a diverse estate and farming business that follows regenerative farming principles. Jake emphasizes the importance...
06.17.2024
The Evolution of a Dairy and Pigs Business - with Rory Christie
Rory Christie, a dairy, pigs, and beef farmer from Dumfries and Galloway, shares the history and evolution of his family farm. They have a 200-sow pig business and an 1100-cow dairy enterprise. Rory discusses the use of genetic testing, AI,...
06.10.2024
Intensive Poultry and Regenerative Arable - with former FW arable farmer of the year Will Oliver
Will Oliver, a fourth-generation arable and poultry farmer, discusses his farm in Leicestershire and the challenges and diversifications he has undertaken. The farm grows wheat, maize, and winter beans, and also has a poultry enterprise with 175,000 chickens. Will emphasizes...
06.03.2024
Farming in Shetland with This Farming Life's Kirsty and Aimee Budge
Image credit: Kirsty and Aimee Budge Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer can be found here. About Ben and...
05.27.2024
Discovering Farming in Japan - with Rupert Shinner
Image credit: Rupert Shinner Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer can be found here. About Ben and RuralPod Media...
05.20.2024
First time farming on the Isle of Wight - with Francesca Cooper
Image credit: Francesca Cooper Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer can be found here. About Ben and RuralPod Media...
05.13.2024
Ranching on a big scale - with Lauren Johnson
Image credit: Lauren Johnson Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer can be found here. About Ben and RuralPod Media...
05.06.2024
Rooted in Resilience: A Visit to Cultivate 2024
Huge thanks to the Cultivate team for allowing us to record at the event. Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast...
04.29.2024
Back to the Ranch - with Avery Wrigglesworth
Image credit: Avery Wrigglesworth Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer can be found here. About Ben and RuralPod Media...
04.22.2024
Curlews and Farming in the Dales - with Leigh Weston
Ben speaks to Leigh Weston who farms in the Yorkshire Dales. Leigh is an ambassador for Curlew Action. Image credit: Leigh Weston Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that...
04.15.2024
'Move Your Cows More Frequently' - with Ben Thomas
Ben meets Cornish beef farmer Ben Thomas. Link to Six Inches of Soil Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer...
04.08.2024
Into the podcast archive
We take a look back through the podcast archive at 3 previous episodes. Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast...
04.01.2024
The Growing Grower: From 7 Acres to 136 Acres - with Bal Padda
Bal and his family run Vicarage Nurseries in the Vale of Evesham alongside his team of 10 full-time staff and 150 seasonal workers. Growing 1,200t of strawberries (4 million punnets) and 100t of raspberries each season on 136 acres, the...
03.25.2024
From Interior Design to the Farm - with Anna Barton
Today we’re heading to Staffordshire to meet Anna Barton. Brought up in London and trained in interior design, Anna never imagined she’d become a farmer. Then she met her builder husband whose parents needed help running their soft fruit farm...
03.18.2024
Meet the Beef Farmer of the Year 2023 - with Ian Farrant
Today we’re heading to Herefordshire and Ben is speaking to Farmers Weekly’s 2023 Beef Farmer of the Year Ian Farrant who farms 600 acres of land on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border. Beef production on the farm is part of a larger...
03.11.2024
The one with former MP Neil Parish
In this episode Ben speaks to the former MP and MEP Neil Parish about his life and political career, including his final days in Parliament and the events that led to his resignation in April 2022. Neil has started a...
03.06.2024
Six Inches of Soil - meet the team!
Six Inches of Soil is based on the regenerative farming movement in the UK and follows three young farmers for a year. It also explores broader concepts behind regenerative agriculture and the soil crisis. The film follows the stories of...
03.04.2024
American Apples and Facebook Marketplace - with Kait Thornton
Today we’re back in the US, in the far north west, indeed nearly on the Canadian border and Ben is meeting a fruit farmer from Washington State. Kait Thornton grows 180 hectares (440 acres) of apples and pears. She’s a...
02.26.2024
Building the Inclusive Farm - with Mike Duxbury
Mike Duxbury is the co-founder of Inclusive Farm, along with Ness Shillito. After a career in the wider agricultural sector and then at Vodafone, Mike saw the farm as his next step. Blind from the age of 6, inspiring disabled...
02.19.2024
Corn, Soybeans and Social Media - with Zoe Kent
Find Zoe on Instagram here. Today we’re heading across to the US, to Ohio to meet 8th generation farmer Zoe Kent. Zoe grows 2000 acres of corn and soybeans and she has amassed a whopping 420,000 followers across Facebook, Tiktok...
02.12.2024
Bringing the Cows Back Home - with Huw Foulkes
Today we’re heading to Denbighshire in Wales to meet dairy and beef farmer Huw Foulkes. Huw was brought up on a dairy farm but was initially put off farming when he saw his father having to sell his herd. He...
02.05.2024
'Farming is a long term game' - with Ben Cooper
Today we’re heading to Wiltshire to meet arable and beef farmer Ben Cooper. Ben farms 800 acres alongside his brother and father in the Pewsey Vale of Wiltshire, growing wheat, barley, oats and canary seed as well as producing hay...
01.29.2024
500 Years with One Family, and still looking to the future - with Clare Mainwaring
Today we are heading to Shropshire to the Oteley Estate which has been in the Mainwaring family for 500 years. Ben's guest is Clare Mainwaring who runs the 2000 acre estate with her husband Ian. Clare and Ian rear two...
01.22.2024
The Compaction Crisis - Talking Soils with Niels Corfield
Niels Corfield is an agricultural consultant based in Norfolk. You can find out more by visiting his website - Home - Regenerative agriculture consultancy for farmers and landowners (nielscorfield.com) Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist...
01.15.2024
Dairy Down Under - with Rachael McGrath
Today Ben meets Rachael McGrath who is a dairy farmer based in south west Victoria in Australia. She farms with her dad and the herd is made up of stud Jerseys, Brown Swiss and some cross breeds. They also have...
01.08.2024
Farming in Norway (and New Zealand) - with Ola Utgaard
Ben heads to New Zealand this week to meet Norwegian dairy and beef farmer Ola Utgaard. Ola farms in Lesja which is 2 hours south of Trondheim in Norway but is currently working away in New Zealand. Meet the Farmers...
12.18.2023
The Big Farming Quiz of the Year 2023
For the last episode of the year Ben is joined by Sue Pritchard (CEO at Food, Farming and Countryside Commission), Stuart Roberts (Hertfordshire farmer and former Deputy President of the NFU), Jez Fredenburgh (agri-food journalist and knowledge exchange fellow at...
12.11.2023
Making a Small Mixed Farm Pay its Way - with Andrew Court
Andrew Court runs the family’s 275-acre mixed farm with his mother and brother. The rotation includes winter wheat, spring oats, spring peas and winter barley as well as oil seed rape. Andrew studied agricultural engineering at Harper Adams before returning...
12.04.2023
The Green Farm Collective and the Route to Regen - with Michael Kavanagh
Today we’re in Shropshire meeting farm manager Michael Kavanagh who is also a founding director of The Green Farm Collective, a company set up for knowledge exchange, to trade carbon and biodiversity and regeneratively farmed produce. Michael has also previously...
11.27.2023
Christmas is Coming - a revisit to see Paul Kelly
Christmas is coming so Ben heads to Essex to speak to turkey farmer Paul Kelly of Kelly Turkeys. Ben last visited Paul in episode 8 of the podcast in June 2017. Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the...
11.13.2023
Discover US Agriculture and Ag Podcasting with Tara Vander Dussen and Natalie Kovarik
We’re heading to the US today and meeting the stars of the Discover Ag podcast – New Mexico dairy farmer Tara Vander Dussen and Nebraska based rancher Natalie Kovarik. Discover Ag sets out to discuss ‘agriculture you can relate to’,...
11.06.2023
When Farming Meets Radio - Hugh Broom
Today Ben speaks to a man who is no stranger to agri podcasting or indeed broadcast journalism in general - Surrey farmer and Farmers Weekly podcast host Hugh Broom. Hugh worked full time as a broadcast journalist in radio for...
10.30.2023
Meeting Amy the Lancashire Cowgirl
Today on the show we’re meeting Lancashire based beef and arable farmer Amy Wilkinson who farms with her family on 285ha of tenanted land. As well as their arable rotation the Wilkinsons raise 650 dairy crosses up to finishing. Amy...
10.23.2023
Counting Sheep with Matt Blyth
Today on the show we're talking sheep and Ben is meeting Matt Blyth who is a livestock advisor and has many years of experience managing sheep. Born and bred in Lincolnshire, Matt did a course at Northumberland College specialising in...
10.16.2023
Meet the Dairy Daughter - Amy Eggleston
Today we’re in Leicestershire and Ben is meeting fifth generation dairy farmer Amy Egglestone who some of you will know better as ‘the dairy daughter’ on Instagram. Amy and her family run a 600-cow dairy herd on a New Zealand-style...
10.13.2023
Trees On Farms Mini Series (2) - Ep3. 'Creating a Woodland Management Plan'
Ben has teamed up with the Forestry Commission once again to make this mini-series focussed on trees on farms. In this series we are asking three questions focussed on the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of farm woodland management. In the...
10.11.2023
Trees On Farms Mini Series (2) - Ep2. 'Trees on Farms Question Time'
Ben has teamed up with the Forestry Commission once again to make this mini-series focussed on trees on farms. In this series we are asking three questions focussed on the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of farm woodland management. In the...
10.09.2023
Trees On Farms Mini Series (2) - Ep1. 'Why do we need to improve our management of farm woodlands in the UK?'
Ben has teamed up with the Forestry Commission once again to make this mini-series focussed on trees on farms. In this series we are asking three questions focussed on the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of farm woodland management. In this...
09.25.2023
5 Years of Just Farmers
Today we’re marking the 5th anniversary of Just Farmers, which if you don’t know it, is a unique communications project for British agriculture. It was founded by agri journalist Anna Jones following her Nuffield Scholarship and has seen dozens of...
09.18.2023
The Benefits of Learning on the Job - with Eveey Hunter
Today we’re heading to Hertfordshire to meet arable farmer Eveey Hunter who alongside her role on the family farm wide hustles for two haulage businesses, does some consultancy work and is a current member of the Next Generation Forum for...
09.12.2023
What is the future for Agroforestry? A visit to the Agroforestry Show
The Agroforestry Show was held on 6th-7th September 2023 and was organised by The Soil Association and the Woodland Trust. Many thanks to all of the contributors to this podcast episode including Helen Browning, Ben Raskin, Rhodri Owen, Liam Armstrong,...
09.11.2023
A Rollercoaster of a Year - with Tom Carlisle
Today we’re heading to the Yorkshire Dales, to near Skipton to speak to sheep and beef farmer Tom Carlisle who keeps 650 ewes, 30 suckler cattle and 2 pygmy goats on 420 acres of land. He’s also recently diversified into...
09.04.2023
'The Voice of the Pig' - with Mark Jagger
Pigs are back on the podcast today and Ben is joined by Mark Jagger who is based in Suffolk and works as Assistant Grower Farms Manager for BQP. BQP breeds and rears over a million pigs a year using a...
08.28.2023
Meet the Farmers Harvest Special 2023
Farmers featured include: Richard Heady (Buckinghamshire) John Pawsey (Suffolk) Martin Lines (Cambridgeshire) Charles Anyan (Lincolnshire) Andrew Wilson (North Yorkshire) Ranald Angus (Caithness) Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency. Please...
08.21.2023
How a Farm Magazine Came to Life - with Mike Donovan
Today we’re in Wales highlighting a farming publication that has been in circulation for over 30 years. Ben is joined by publisher and former dairy farmer Mike Donovan, who may be better known as the editor and founder of Practical...
08.14.2023
Carbon, Sheep and a 'Compulsive Interest' in the land - with Liz Bowles
Today we’re in the south west and Ben meets sheep farmer and Chief Executive at the Farm Carbon Toolkit, Liz Bowles. Liz has rich experience as an adviser to farmers, farmer-controlled businesses, retailers, food service providers and processors on sustainable...
08.07.2023
Keep Calm and Carry On - with Gwyndaf Thomas
We’re in Wales today meeting dairy farmer Gwyndaf Thomas. Gwyndaf owns and runs a 430-acre dairy farm in the rolling hills of Carmarthenshire in West Wales. The herd consists of 270 outdoor run autumn calving cows - mainly Friesian, but...
07.31.2023
Farming and Podcasting in Ireland - with Noel Clancy
We’re heading over the Irish Sea again today to meet Tipperary beef and sheep farmer and farming podcaster Noel Clancy. Out the Gap, Noel's podcast, is a monthly podcast recorded on location with farmers across Ireland. Meet the Farmers...
07.24.2023
Ethics of dairy calf management and other dairy stories with Anna Bowen
We’re heading to Ceredigion in Wales today to meet dairy farmer, consultant, writer and Nuffield Scholar. Indeed Anna Bowen’s CV is pretty impressive and she clearly makes the most of her time. She is a director of Symbiotic Farming Ltd...

What's Meet the Farmers about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Meet the Farmers episodes:

Groundswell 2024 - How to scale regenerative agriculture?

Investing in Soil Health and Regenerative Agriculture - with Jake Freestone

The Evolution of a Dairy and Pigs Business - with Rory Christie

Intensive Poultry and Regenerative Arable - with former FW arable farmer of the year Will Oliver

Farming in Shetland with This Farming Life's Kirsty and Aimee Budge

Discovering Farming in Japan - with Rupert Shinner

First time farming on the Isle of Wight - with Francesca Cooper

Ranching on a big scale - with Lauren Johnson

Rooted in Resilience: A Visit to Cultivate 2024

Back to the Ranch - with Avery Wrigglesworth

Curlews and Farming in the Dales - with Leigh Weston

'Move Your Cows More Frequently' - with Ben Thomas

Into the podcast archive

The Growing Grower: From 7 Acres to 136 Acres - with Bal Padda

From Interior Design to the Farm - with Anna Barton

Meet the Beef Farmer of the Year 2023 - with Ian Farrant

The one with former MP Neil Parish

Six Inches of Soil - meet the team!

American Apples and Facebook Marketplace - with Kait Thornton

Building the Inclusive Farm - with Mike Duxbury

Corn, Soybeans and Social Media - with Zoe Kent

Bringing the Cows Back Home - with Huw Foulkes

'Farming is a long term game' - with Ben Cooper

500 Years with One Family, and still looking to the future - with Clare Mainwaring

The Compaction Crisis - Talking Soils with Niels Corfield

Dairy Down Under - with Rachael McGrath

Farming in Norway (and New Zealand) - with Ola Utgaard

The Big Farming Quiz of the Year 2023

Making a Small Mixed Farm Pay its Way - with Andrew Court

The Green Farm Collective and the Route to Regen - with Michael Kavanagh

Christmas is Coming - a revisit to see Paul Kelly

Discover US Agriculture and Ag Podcasting with Tara Vander Dussen and Natalie Kovarik

When Farming Meets Radio - Hugh Broom

Meeting Amy the Lancashire Cowgirl

Counting Sheep with Matt Blyth

Meet the Dairy Daughter - Amy Eggleston

Trees On Farms Mini Series (2) - Ep3. 'Creating a Woodland Management Plan'

Trees On Farms Mini Series (2) - Ep2. 'Trees on Farms Question Time'

Trees On Farms Mini Series (2) - Ep1. 'Why do we need to improve our management of farm woodlands in the UK?'

5 Years of Just Farmers

The Benefits of Learning on the Job - with Eveey Hunter

What is the future for Agroforestry? A visit to the Agroforestry Show

A Rollercoaster of a Year - with Tom Carlisle

'The Voice of the Pig' - with Mark Jagger

Meet the Farmers Harvest Special 2023

How a Farm Magazine Came to Life - with Mike Donovan

Carbon, Sheep and a 'Compulsive Interest' in the land - with Liz Bowles

Keep Calm and Carry On - with Gwyndaf Thomas

Farming and Podcasting in Ireland - with Noel Clancy

Ethics of dairy calf management and other dairy stories with Anna Bowen

Other shows like Meet the Farmers: