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In this first part of our two-part series, we step back into 2001 — to the beginning of the Foot and Mouth outbreak. An outbreak that would change British farming forever.

What started as a single confirmed case quickly escalated into a national crisis. But behind the headlines and statistics were real people, real farms, and real lives being turned upside down.

In this episode, we hear directly from those on the front line. A farmer from an affected area shares what it was like to live through the uncertainty, fear, and reality of the disease arriving at the farm gate. We’re also joined by a vet who was working on the ground during the outbreak — an experience so profound it ultimately led him into politics.

Together, their stories paint a picture not just of how the disease spread, but of how it felt — the decisions, the pressure, and the moments that have stayed with them ever since.

This episode runs in a slightly different format to usual, allowing space for these stories to be told properly — because the human impact of Foot and Mouth was far-reaching, and is still felt today.

Disclaimer: This episode contains discussion of the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak, including references to animal culling and suicide. Some listeners may find this distressing.

Thank you to our contributors. 

Sources:

https://www.woah.org/en/reflections-on-the-foot-and-mouth-disease-epidemic-of-2001-a-united-kingdom-perspective/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12483017

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/foot-and-mouth-disease 

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hand-foot-mouth-disease/ 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/mar/21/footandmouth.angeliquechrisafis 

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/7075072.brigadier-tells-chaos-epidemic-fight/ 

https://www.farminguk.com/news/uk-not-prepared-for-foot-and-mouth-outbreak-vets-warn_68307.html 

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice. 

Put your thoughts into the mix

What really happens when you put rewilding, farming, and real-life rural voices in the same conversation?

In this unfiltered and often hilarious episode, we dive deep into one of the most controversial debates in modern agriculture:
👉 Should land be rewilded—or should it feed people?

From sleep-deprived lambing nights and muddy farm realities to the growing pressure of government schemes, rising costs, and public opinion, this episode pulls back the curtain on what farming actually looks like in 2026.

We unpack:

• 🌱 The truth behind the rewilding movement—and why it divides farmers
• 🚜 The financial realities of farming (and why ideology doesn’t pay the bills)
• 🐑 The impact of predators, policy, and “perfect” environmental narratives
• 💸 Subsidies, carbon credits, and whether sustainability is being driven by money or morals
• 🌍 Why food security might be closer to crisis than we think
• 👩‍🌾 The social side of farming life—from relationships to rural identity

Expect strong opinions, candid storytelling, and a no-nonsense look at the balance between nature, food production, and survival.

Because behind every headline about rewilding…
there are real farmers, real families, and real consequences.

🎧 If you care about food, the countryside, or the future of farming—this one’s for you.

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice. 

Put your thoughts into the mix

In this episode of the Wilson and Ashley Podcast, off the back of a great reel from Schöffel Country and The Country Food Trust, we talk about how game meat is being used to tackle food poverty in the UK. 

When you actually look at the numbers, food poverty is hard to ignore - millions of people in the UK are struggling to access enough food, there are now more food banks than McDonald's restaurants, and demand for emergency food is still rising. At the same time, we’ve got a growing deer population, not enough being culled, and huge amounts of nutritious, sustainable meat that could be used far better. When a relatively small number of deer can produce hundreds of thousands of meals, it feels like utilising this meat for those in need is a no brainer. 

We also touch on food waste and our own experience trying to get fresh produce into food banks, and how complicated it actually was. It all feeds into a bigger conversation around access to proper, nutritious food to fuel the body and the mind. 

In the second half, we talk about declining mental health and why we need to back our farmers as part of the solution. There’s a clear trend showing younger generations are struggling more, and while there’s no single cause, diet keeps coming up as part of the conversation — especially the rise in ultra-processed foods, even in products people think are healthy.

It all links back to farming. If we’re producing less real, whole food in this country, what replaces it? And what does that mean not just for food security, but for long-term health?

When you join it all up — food banks, malnutrition, game meat, ultra-processed diets and mental health — it keeps coming back to the same point. Good food is vital for the health of people and farmers are uniquely placed to provide it.

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice. 

Put your thoughts into the mix

In this episode of the Wilson & Ashley Podcast we’re looking at two topics that have been making plenty of noise both online and in real life: the controversy surrounding multi-million follower account, Ballerina Farm, and the ongoing debate around taking children out of school during term time.

If you spend any time on the rustic American farming side of social media, you’ve probably come across Ballerina Farm. Run by former ballerina Hannah Neeleman and her husband Daniel in Utah, the account has built a huge following by sharing a vision of traditional family life, home-produced food and farming with their eight children. But recently the farm found itself at the centre of a debate after it stopped selling raw milk following reports of high coliform bacteria levels in some testing. While the business says the decision was a commercial one and that the milk passed the required state tests while it was being sold, the story quickly grew online and raised wider questions about food safety, influencer responsibility and the way farming is portrayed on social media. We talk about what raw milk actually is, how it’s regulated in both the US and the UK, and whether the conversation would even exist if this were just an ordinary dairy farm without millions of followers watching.

We also discuss the bigger issue of how farming and food production are presented online, and whether there’s a growing gap between the romanticised version of rural life people see on social media and the realities of producing food safely and responsibly.

In the second half of the episode we turn to a topic that had a big response from our followers on social media: the rules around school attendance. Nearly half a million fines were issued last year for children being taken out of school during term time, as the Department for Education continues to tighten enforcement in an effort to improve attendance rates. Fines start at £80 per parent per child and can escalate quickly, with the possibility of court action for repeat offences. But what happens when your job simply doesn’t fit neatly into the school holiday calendar? For farming families in particular, there are times of year when work is completely dictated by the season and taking time off during school holidays just isn’t always possible.

We talk about whether the current system fairly reflects the realities of rural life, whether farming families should ever be considered an exceptional circumstance, and where the line sits between protecting children’s education and recognising that some professions operate on a very different timetable.

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice. 

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This week we're asking should farmers be wearing SPF like it’s PPE? From influencer 50-step skincare routines and £100 moisturisers to the harsh reality of UV exposure in agriculture, we dig into why so many farmers skip sunscreen — and whether that says something bigger about how the industry approaches wellbeing in general.  With 17,500 new melanoma cases in the UK each year and outdoor workers at significantly higher risk, is it time farmers started taking sun protection seriously? We've had a lot of responses from our followers on social media and the results make for a great conversation!

Then we turn to the controversy around DEFRA awarding a contract (worth up to £650,000) to the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project to deliver agricultural training for civil servants. Is this a smart move to improve farming policy? A waste of taxpayer money? Or proof that government is too disconnected from rural life?

We break down what the training could involve, why it’s caused backlash on X, and whether better-informed policymakers could mean better outcomes for British farmers.

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice. 

Put your thoughts into the mix

This episode is brought to you in partnership with with our Headline Sponsor, BKT and Kirkby Tyres. 

Is solar grazing a genuine triple-win or just clever greenwashing? This episode talks about two big topics in farming at the moment - land use and milk price - and who ultimately pays the price for cheap energy and cheap food.

We open with the rise of solar grazing, sparked by a Guardian article questioning whether putting sheep under solar panels really delivers benefits for farmers, renewables and society, or whether it’s simply a PR tool to make large-scale solar developments more palatable. With solar predicted to cover close to 100,000 hectares of UK land by 2030, we explore why the industry argues this is still a tiny fraction of national land use, and why many farmers see a very different picture when productive ground is taken out of food production. From reduced spraying and mowing costs to claims of improved soil health, animal welfare and biodiversity, we unpack the genuine opportunities solar grazing might offer — especially for new entrants — while also questioning broken promises, overgrazing risks, food security, and growing resistance from rural communities.

In the second half, we shift to the brutal reality of Britain’s milk price collapse. With dairy farmers being paid well below the cost of production, some losing thousands of pounds a day, we break down how global oversupply, rising US production, steady volumes from New Zealand and weaker Chinese demand have combined to hammer farmgate prices. We look at why cheap milk remains a supermarket weapon, why many farmers have little power over who collects their milk or what they’re paid, and how dumping milk has become a symptom of a system under strain. With nearly 20% of UK dairy farmers already gone in recent years, we ask whether the free market is fit for purpose, whether tools like quotas or a modern version of the Milk Marketing Board should return, and why farmers so often end up absorbing the cost of feeding the nation. 

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@wilsonandashley

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice. 

Put your thoughts into the mix

This episode is brought to you in partnership with with our Headline Sponsor, BKT and Kirkby Tyres. 

In this episode of the Wilson and Ashley Podcast, we take on two big questions shaping the future of food, work and farming.

We begin by looking at the significant changes happening on our supermarket shelves... changes which are perhaps going under the radar. From chocolate bars that are no longer legally allowed to be called chocolate, to ingredient substitutions hidden behind familiar packaging, we ask whether consumers are being misled and whether this marks the beginning of the end for recognisable, real food. We explore why rising cocoa prices and climate pressures are pushing manufacturers towards cheaper alternatives, what is lost nutritionally when real ingredients are replaced, and the environmental consequences of substitutes such as palm oil.

The conversation then turns to artificial intelligence and the growing idea that manual, land-based jobs may be among the last to withstand automation. Inspired by a Telegraph article suggesting farming could be one of the most AI-resistant careers, we discuss why increasing numbers of young people are looking towards agriculture, whether farming can truly escape the reach of AI, and what this could mean for the future of the sector. We also reflect on recent warnings from 'The Godfather of AI'. 

Do consumers deserve better transparency when it comes to food labelling? Is farming under threat or part of the solution to an increasingly automated world? And how worried should we really be about the pace and direction of artificial intelligence?

Sources: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DS7OU6JjfZA/?igsh=Y3Nhc2N3N2d3Nzgz, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/28/to-escape-the-ai-threat-train-to-be-a-farmer-or-a-roofer/ 

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@wilsonandashley

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice. 

Put your thoughts into the mix

We're starting this week's episode with animal welfare and the UK Government’s new Animal Welfare Strategy for England, which aims to cover farmed animals, pets and wildlife under one policy framework. With proposed changes ranging from livestock production systems to dog breeding and wildlife management, we ask whether one strategy can realistically work for such different animals — and whether farming continues to carry a disproportionate share of the welfare spotlight.

We discuss the role of the supply chain, the risk of UK farmers being undercut by imports produced to lower standards, and whether higher welfare actually leads to better profitability, or if price still dominates consumer choice. 

In the second half, we turn to life online and what it really means to “go offline”. For farmers and rural businesses, social media has become a diary, a marketing tool and a community for support and knowledge transfer — but stepping back could mean both relief and financial risk. We talk about mental wellbeing and whether going offline is even realistic for businesses that rely on digital platforms to survive.

Before we go, we’re delighted to announce BKT and Kirkby Tyres as headline sponsors for our next series, and we’re excited to see the partnership grow.

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice. 

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Welcome back to Episode 19 of the Wilson & Ashley Podcast — our final episode before Christmas! Somehow, despite an entire year to prepare, we’ve managed to finish on Episode 19 instead of 20 (sorry to those of you who like your round numbers!) A festive combination of poor planning, questionable maths, and general disorganisation. Should we record a bonus episode to fix it? Maybe. Probably. (Almost definitely not.)

Before we fully embrace the Christmas spirit, we tackle a serious and increasingly important issue following an Irish Farmers Journal undercover investigation: the use of antibiotics in livestock production in Brazil, how it links directly to the Mercosur trade deal, and why it matters for the UK and global food systems. We explore what this could mean for animal welfare standards, farming competitiveness, food safety, and antimicrobial resistance against the backdrop of international trade agreements and substandard agricultural imports.

It’s a a serious conversation, but one we felt needed discussion as tensions around the Mercosur trade deal continue and concerns grow about how imported food is produced compared to UK farming standards.

As ever, the episode doesn’t stay entirely on track. Along the way we reflect on how we’ve somehow become serious adults, momentarily forget who Fleetwood Mac are (a low point), debate whether our microphones were actually worth the money, and discover that not everyone knows who Mr Beast is — despite him having hundreds of millions of YouTube subscribers.

The episode wraps up with a Christmas-themed second half, as we touch on the potential of a turkey shortage before the big day and how one journalist decided to take matters into her own hands...

Join us for episode 19 before we attempt to redeem ourselves in the new year… when we may have a big surprise waiting.

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice. 

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In this episode, we’re tackling the controversy around the recent Budget Day farmer protest in London — what was meant to be a well-planned, low-disruption demonstration against the proposed “family farm tax” turned chaotic after the Met Police reversed permissions less than 24 hours before farmers arrived. Tractors were banned from Whitehall, some still made it into central London, a few were seized, and several farmers were arrested simply for bringing their vehicles. We chat through why this happened, the questions Victoria Atkins has now put to the Met, and whether farmers are right to feel they’re experiencing “two-tier policing.” 

We then switch gears to the biodegrading wool video that’s gone viral on social media. One comment really stuck with us: “Every polyester shirt ever produced is still here.” 

With Charlotte’s background in wool processing, we talk through why we shear sheep, UK wool quality, and the realities of the wool market — including our own worked example of just how little profit a 200-ewe flock can make once shearing and labour are accounted for.

We also highlight the real strengths of wool: its ability to absorb moisture, its low environmental footprint, and the fact it naturally locks away carbon — a stark contrast to synthetics.

We also share insights from the British Wool event at St Martins University in London, covering farmer-to-fashion storytelling, consumer perceptions, and the high standards of British sheep farming.

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@wilsonandashley

@rebeccawilsonfarming

@charlotteashleyfarm

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Whilst we endeavour to research podcast topics to the best of our ability, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of all conversations and as such, the podcast does not constitute professional advice.