Farm Gate Podcast
EPISODE 61, December 14th, 2021:
Glasgow Food & Climate Declaration
Despite the absence of food systems, soil and agriculture from the top negotiating table at COP26, these subjects did, at last, emerge as key themes at side events inside the COP conference village. The Glasgow Food & Climate Declaration - initiated by Nourish Scotland and IPES Food - was a key factor in pushing this focus on food systems up the policy agenda.
EPISODE 60, December 7th, 2021:
Good COP, Bad COP?
Was COP26 in Glasgow a success? In this programme we do a stock take. What was achieved at COP26 – in terms of global warming and agricultural land use? What was missing? What was fundamentally misunderstood at the top table? And what do we need to do next, to ensure that an agroecological transition is lifted firmly onto the negotiating table at COP27 and beyond?
EPISODE 59, October 6th, 2021:
Vicki Hird & Rebugging The Planet
ffinlo Costain talks to Vicki Hird - a farming expert and author who's been at the heart of environmental, food and agricultural policy discussions for over 30 years. Her new book, Rebugging The Planet, is set to be the must-buy stocking filler for Christmas this year.
EPISODE 58, September 21st, 2021:
Are farm animals emotional?
Do farm animals experience emotions, or are the behaviours people perceive as emotions purely an instinctive response? Do cows, for example, feel happy or depressed? And should a farm animal's ability to react instinctively, or to respond emotionally, affect the way that we care for and handle livestock?
EPISODE 57, August 18th, 2021:
Stacking sheep & solar energy
The best solutions for land use deliver multiple outcomes - especially in places where land is relatively scarce and expensive. What if we could combine the farming of electricity from the sun with land management that regenerates the soil and produces high quality nutrition?
EPISODE 56, August 2nd, 2021:
Do we need an IPCC for food?
This year's UN Food Systems Summit is being seen by many as an opportunity to define the future of food. The summit may also be the launch pad for a new science & policy interface - what's being described as an 'IPCC for Food'. But do we really need an IPCC for Food? Shouldn't we simply better fund and better utilise the mechanisms we already have?
EPISODE 55, July 20th, 2021:
From greed to green
In this programme, ffinlo Costain discusses corporate sustainability and green wash, with Benet Northcote and Ed Gillespie. Is it possible for large companies to become genuinely sustainable - or will greed always triumph over green? Benet is a senior adviser at Seahorse Environmental and the deputy chair of the UK's Conservative Environment Network. Prior to that he was the director of corporate responsibility for the John Lewis Partnership, and worked as deputy private secretary to The Prince of Wales. Ed Gillespie is a facilitator for the Forward Institute and co-founder of the sustainability agency, Futerra. He is also a co-presenter of Jon Richardson and the Futurenauts and a director of Greenpeace UK.
EPISODE 54, July 8th, 2021:
Award-winning adaptive multi-paddock grazing
FAI Farms and McDonald's UK & Ireland have won Compassion in World Farming's prestigious Sustainable Food and Farming Award for their work on regenerative beef. This is a four year project, centred on Adaptive Multi-paddock Grazing. The results have been outstanding - so what are they - how have they been achieved - and what has FAI learned along the way?
EPISODE 53, July 6th, 2021:
Food Builds Community
This podcast is about the power and importance of communities. To address the climate emergency, there is an urgent need to cede power to ordinary people so that they can design and deliver the changes necessary in their neighbourhoods.
EPISODE 52, June 29th, 2021:
Carbon & water
The impact of climate change is already being felt by communities, through flooding and droughts. Farmers are the first responders to these impacts, as well as being one of the few economic sectors that can act as a sink, rather than a source, of carbon. So what are farmers doing happen differently on farms, and how can the UK speed this change?
EPISODE 51, June 14th, 2021:
Optimism & story-telling
Land Unlocked is a podcast collaboration between Farm Gate and the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. This occasional series will feature a range of high-level speakers exploring the challenges of delivering real action at this year’s COP26 conference and other major global events taking place in 2021. Programmes will be broadcast on the Farm Gate channel.
In this programme, ffinlo Costain discusses land use, economics, optimism and story-telling, with Christiana Figueres and Professor Tim Jackson.
EPISODE 50, June 8th, 2021:
Indigenous with the earth
In this programme we delve into the origins of regenerative agriculture, and what it means to be 'indigenous with the earth'. What is this knowledge? Where does it come from? Can anyone claim ownership over regenerative principles?
EPISODE 49, June 1st, 2021:
Saving Sierra Leone's fish
In this programme we visit Sierra Leone. We discuss how this West African country managed to stop Chinese, Russian, Korean and European vessels plundering their fish stocks, how stakeholders built a sustainable fisheries programme, and the challenges for international organisations such as the World Bank. We also address the controversy over Sierra Leone's new Chinese-funded harbour project.
EPISODE 48, May 25th, 2021:
MSC Certified - How does it work?
The Marine Stewardship Council is an international NGO working to protect oceans and safeguard seafood supplies for the future. The Netflix film Seaspiracy concluded that sustainable seafood doesn't exist - but the MSC disagrees. Currently, 16% of the world's wild caught fish is certified and carries its blue MSC ecolabel, and the organisation aims to have 30% engaged in its programme by 2030.
EPISODE 47, May 18th, 2021:
From emergency closure to success
The Isle of Man is home to one of the most successful sustainable shell fish fisheries in the British Isles. Developed over a period of 30 years, their Marine Nature Reserve now accounts for 52% of Manx coastal waters, and their Ramsey Bay scallops are the biggest in Britain.
EPISODE 46, May 6th, 2021:
Aquaculture - An insider's view
Since 2013 more seafood has been produced globally in aquaculture systems than from wild caught fisheries. The farming of fish at scale has come with costs as well as benefits, and as a relatively young industry, aquaculture has followed a steep learning curve.
EPISODE 45, April 21st, 2021:
What next for ocean food?
In the wake of Seaspiracy, we're running a series of programmes about the future of wild and farmed seafood. The vast majority of wild caught fish are now harvested by industrial-scale trawlers using vast and often indiscriminate nets and bottom trawling. At the same time aquaculture, which has scaled so rapidly, has come under fire for high levels of waste and pollution and for poor welfare. So, what's next for ocean food?
EPISODE 44, April 14th, 2021:
Dairy farming - Putting agroecology into practice
This is the final programme in our recent series about agroecological agriculture. ffinlo Costain talks to David Finlay from The Ethical Dairy in Dumfries and Galloway, and Bryce Cunningham from Mossgiel Farm in Ayrshire. The conversation focusses on building a market for direct liquid milk sales, and on cow with calf dairying.
EPISODE 43, March 30th, 2021:
Do we need a new Agroecology Development Bank?
Do we need a new state-owned Agroecology Development Bank for Britain? The Food, Farming & Countryside Commission thinks so. Their new report, 'Farming Smarter: Investing in our Future', says that an ADB would speed the transition to fair and nature-friendly farming – by filling the current gap in available finance, and building knowledge about agroecological agriculture in the financial sector.
EPISODE 42, March 23rd, 2021:
Diversity in agriculture & animal sciences
In this programme we talk about racism, and discuss how to improve diversity in British agriculture and animal sciences. We consider how to successfully encourage more of our black, Asian and minority ethnic population to enjoy the countryside.
EPISODE 41, March 16th, 2021:
What's the difference?
What's the difference between agroecology and regenerative agriculture? And what about holistic grazing, organic, no-till farming, or adaptive multi-paddock grazing? In this programme we get to the bottom of the terminology.
EPISODE 40, March 9th, 2021:
Veg & Horticulture - Putting agroecology into practice
This is the fourth programme in our series about agroecological agriculture. ffinlo Costain talks to Sinead Fenton from Aweside Farm in East Sussex, and to Joe Rolfe, the general manager at RB Organic Ltd in Norfolk.
EPISODE 39, February 23rd, 2021:
Arable farming - Putting agroecology into practice
This is the third in our agroecology series. ffinlo Costain talks to George Young from Fobbing Farm in Essex, and Johnnie Balfour from Balbirnie Farm in Fife. George and Johnnie are Agroecology Ambassadors for the Soil Association. This series is supporting the 10 Years for Agroecology campaign run by the Soil Association, and the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission's Farming for Change project. Other episodes focus on beef farming, mixed farming, dairy, and horticulture & veg.
EPISODE 38, February 16th, 2021:
ALT Meat - A health & food systems perspective
This is the first of two programmes investigating the rise of meat alternatives. ffinlo Costain talks to Raychel E Santo, a senior research programme coordinator at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future. Raychel is the lead author on the research paper, Considering Plant-Based Meat Substitutes and Cell-Based Meats: A Public Health and Food Systems Perspective.
EPISODE 37, February 9th, 2021:
Mixed farming - Putting agroecology into practice
This is the second in our agroecology series, and in this episode we're focussing on mixed farming. ffinlo Costain talks to Ben Andrews from Broadward Hall in Herefordshire, and Robert Wilson from Cowbog Farm in the Scottish Borders. Ben and Robert are Agroecology Ambassadors for the Soil Association.
This series is supporting the 10 Years for Agroecology campaign run by the Soil Association, and the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission's Farming for Change project.
EPISODE 36, February 2nd, 2021:
Regen Question Time 2 - Arable & livestock
In the second of Farm Gate's Regenerative Agriculture Question Time podcasts, ffinlo Costain is joined by Clare Hill, shepherd and director of regenerative agriculture at FAI Farms, George Young, a regenerative arable producer from Fobbing Farm, Essex, and Caroline Grindrod from the regenerative agriculture consultancy, Roots of Nature.
In this superb Q&A we talk regenerative cereals, pest control, out-wintering livestock & what regen farmers need from vets.
EPISODE 35, January 26th, 2021:
Farming Beef - Putting agroecology into practice
This is the first of five programmes in which we showcase farmers who are putting agroecology into practice. In this episode we're focussing on beef production. ffinlo Costain talks to Nikki Yoxall from Howe Mill Farm in Aberdeenshire, and Denise Walton from Peelham Farm in Berwickshire. Nikki and Denise are Agroecology Ambassadors for the Soil Association.
EPISODE 34, January 19th, 2021:
The one with Will Harris
White Oak Pastures is a 152-year-old family farm in Bluffton, Georgia, USA. In 1995, Will Harris began the transition away from industrial agricultural techniques and started redesigning his farm as a living ecosystem.