The Farmacy

The Farmacy

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The Farmacy episodes

  • Honey with Holt Hall Apiary

    Episode 8 - Honey with Matthew Ingram from Holt Hall Apiary in Staffordshire. Charlie and Rachel talk to Matthew, award winning bee farmer, about the health, environmental, farming and economical benefits of bees and honey.  They dispel some old wives' tales about honey and get Matt's opinion on the controversy surrounding neonicotinoidshttps://holthallapiary.co.uk/; @holthallapiary

    1:15 Introduction

    3:25 Introduction to Matthew Ingram

    6:50 The resurgence of honey

    8:00 Honey and hayfever 

    9:35 The role of bees in food production

    12:50 The financial benefit of bees to the UK economy

    14:55 How native bee populations have changed

    18:00 Disease in UK bee populations

    19:45 Neonicotinoids 

    24:50 The health benefits of honey

    27:20 Manuka honey

    29:20 Real honey Vs fakes

    32:30 Matt's honey products

    34:15 Queen Bees

    37:50 The popularity of beekeeping

    42 min
  • Organic food and farming with Rosa Holt

    Episode 7: Charlie and Rachel speak to Rosa Holt @foodandfarmingdietician, an NHS critical care dietician who is also passionate about organic farming and sustainable food and farming. She sits on the Sustainable diets committee for the British Dietetics Association and is also an advisor for the Soil Association. Charlie and Rachel dig deep into the potential of organic produce while balancing this with affordability, availability and environmental impact.

    1:30 Intro

    3:00 Introducing Rosa Holt

    5:00 The health benefits of organic produce

    6:15 Nutrient density in organic plants and potential health benefits

    12:00 Healthy behaviours of people eating organic produce

    12:50 Environmental benefits of organic principles

    13:50 Deficiencies in the diet

    16:00 Affordability of organic food

    19:00 The Food Strategy,  https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/

    21:00 More on affordability and education

    25:00 Is an organic diet truly better?

    27:00 Traditional mixed farming benefits

    28:45 Can we feed ourselves organically?

    32:50 Genetic modification/Gene editing

    34:08 Rosa's wild turkeys

    37:55 The cost of organic farming and crop yields

    43:00 If you are going to start buying one organic product, what should it be?

    44:45 Summary

    47 min
  • Venison with Tom Cackett

    Episode 6 - VenisonCharlie and Rachel interview Tom Cackett,  deer stalker and founder of Oxondeer. They review the heath and environmental benefits of eating venison and consider why this super healthy, environmentally friendly product is not as popular as other farmed red meats.www.oxondeer.co.uk, @oxondeerltd, @the_deercast

    1:15 Introduction and catch up

    1:45 Mental health strain in farming

    3:00 Low Carb recap

    4.45 Introducing Tom Cackett and Oxon Deer, @oxondeerltd, @the_deercast

    7:00 Increasing numbers of wild deer in UK

    8:20 Why do wild deer need to be culled?

    11:50 Road traffic collisions with deer

    12:45 Some vegans eat venison

    13:55 How are deer killed?

    16:30 Bovine TB in deer

    17:10 Farmed deer Vs Wild deer

    21:45 The health benefits of venison

    27:00 Why are more people not eating venison

    30:00 Controlling the population

    33:00 Deer Stalking as a career

    37:00 Lead shot in venison

    39:25 Venison - a low carbon footprint meat

    42:10 Charlie's joke of the week 🤣

    44 min
  • The Low Carb GP - Dr David Unwin

    Charles and Rachel talk to Dr David Unwin, @lowcarbGP, also known as the Low Carb GP, who is a GP in Southport, diabetes expert and pioneer in the low carb approach to managing and reversing Type II Diabetes.  He won the NHS Innovator of the year award for the successful strategies he has developed for reversing type II Diabetes with diet. In this fascinating episode Charles and Rachel learn about how David developed his approach and how we can all consider the carbohydrates in our diet whether we are type II diabetes sufferers or not. David's other passion is for regenerative farming and he talks about this with equal passion and compares the lessons and challenges we face in medicine to those in farming

    .2:50 Introduction to Dr David Unwin

    4:30 How the low carb approach started

    8:00 The outcomes of using the low carb approach

    9:30 Why are rates of Type II Diabetes increasing and insulin resistance

    14:20 The low carb approach in General Practice

    19:50 Food addiction

    22:25 Should we all be going low-carb?

    26:50 Why is the NHS Diabetes advice not following low carb?

    28:50 The Freshwell low carb app and the Diabetes UK plan: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/eating-with-diabetes/meal-plans/low-carb

    30:50 Analogies with regenerative farming

    33:50 Long term effects of fertiliser

    36:30 David's role at The three Owls bird sanctuaryhttp://www.threeowls.co.uk/

    39:30 Nutritional density of food

    41:30 Sharing knowledge between health and farming

    47:00 Summary of the analogies between medicine and farming

    52 min
  • Halal and Tayib farming

    Charlie and Rachel talk to Lutfi Radwan, co-founder of Willowbrook Farm in Oxfordshire, the first Halal farm in UK. In this fascinating episode Lutfi dispels many myths about what Halal is and the implications for Halal meat production.  They also consider the positive impact Willowbrook Farm has had in its community from breaking down cultural barriers to introducing sustainable farming methods.

     https://www.willowbrookfarm.co.uk/
    @willowbrookfarmers

    2:05 - An Introduction to Lutfi and Willowbrook Farm

    5:40 - What is Halal and Tayib?

    8:10 - Contrasting factory farmed and halal farmed poultry

    14:20 - Who buys Willowbrook produce?

    15:20 - What does Halal slaughter entail and where does it happen?

    19:10 - We return to the question of whether these high-quality products are accessible to all?

    23:11 - Meat and lamb consumption in Muslim population, UK

    26:20 - Breaking down cultural barriers

    33:05 - Are there health benefits to the Halal produce?

    38:00 - Community engagement with farming

    39:50 - Other environmentally responsible processes on Willowbrook Farm

    46 min
  • Food poverty and FareShare

    Charlie and Rachel speak to Richard Kennell, CEO of SOFEA in Oxfordshire about the FareShare movement, food poverty and insecurity in UK. They consider how the price of food and food waste fits into this complex issue.


    SOFEA Oxfordshire: https://www.sofea.uk.com/
    SOFEA Community Larder Membership: https://www.sofea.uk.com/purpose-projects/community-larder/

    FareShare https://fareshare.org.uk/

    2:28 Food insecurity in UK

    3:40 Introduction to Richard Kennell and SOFEA

    5:00 The FareShare Charity and Network

    7:20 Where does surplus food come from

    12:50 Excess produce and rejected goods

    15:00 DEFRA/FareShare Surplus for Purpose

    19:00 Community Larders

    22:30 Food Poverty Vs Poverty and Food Prices

    25:00 Food Culture in UK

    26:00 The barriers to eating well

    30:00 Health impacts of food poverty

    32:50 Should we subsidise food production more

    35:50 Education regarding food

    41 min
  • Meat the facts. Talking beef with Nikki Yoxall.

    Charles and Rachel talk to Nikki Yoxall, a beef farmer from Grampian Graziers in Aberdeenshire and Research Manager for Pasture for Life. They discuss restorative and pasture fed meat production while comparing this to mass produced products and what benefits each method provides from an environment and health perspective.

    2:20 Introducing Nikki Yoxall

    7:00 What should people be looking for when buying meat?

    10:50 Barriers to eating healthy food

    14:35 Should pasture fed meat be sold as a premium product?

    17:30 Abattoir shortages in UK

    21:00 The environmental impact of different diets, discussing Nature Food study:Scarborough, P., Clark, M., Cobiac, L. et al. Vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters in the UK show discrepant environmental impacts. Nat Food 4, 565–574 (2023). 


    31:50 Intensively-produced Vs Pasture-fed meat

    37:20 The health recommendations on eating red meat.

    42:30 Saturated fats in red meat.

    47:30 Ultra-processed meat alternatives

    49:50 Where to buy pasture-fed meat

    54 min
  • Milk and milk alternatives

    In this episode Charlie and Rachel focus on Milk, considering the pros and cons of dairy versus plant-based alternatives and the environmental impact of producing each type.Their guest is Dr Kerry Lock (linkedin.com/in/kerry-lock-phd), a nutritional therapist who leads the Nourish and Flourish Programme and SOFEA . She is also a former departmental lecturer in environmental conservation and sustainability at University of Oxford, . She also happens to be vegan. They leave no stone unturned when considering which milk is bets for us and the planet, and why!

    0.00 - Intro and catch up

    4.20 - Introducing Kerry Lock

    5.30 - An overview of the Nourish and Flourish Programme

    8.00 - NHS guidance on Milk

    11.15 - Comparing milks nutritionally

    13.00 - Plant based milk comparison

    16.30 - Coconut milk and saturated fat content

    19.00 - Additives in plant based milks

    20.30 - Organic Cow milk21.00 - Price comparison

    23.40 - Maintaining a healthy vegan diet

    25.40 - Calcium in milks

    28.30 - Osteoporosis

    33.00 - Lactose intolerance

    36.00 - The environmental impact of different milks

    40.20 - Methane production

    41.45 - Comparing environmental impact of different foods

    42.50 - Water consumption in milk production

    44.15 - Food miles of milk

    47.30 - Take home messages


    More information can be found about the Nourish and Flourish programme: Nourish and Flourish - SOFEA

    51 min
  • The Farmacy - An introduction

    Farmer Charles and Dr Rachel introduce themselves and the concept of the Farmacy Podcast. Each episode they will be chatting to guests from all backgrounds about food and farming, health and wellbeing, the countryside around us and how they all tie in together.

    9 min

About The Farmacy

From the publisher's feed

Farmer Charles and Doctor Rachel discuss with guests about their lifestyle, their diet and their understanding about where their food comes from, how its produced and the impact that can have on the…