R2Kast - People in Food and Farming/All In

Born in Malta, raised in Sudan and buying fat cattle in St Boswell! That may have started sounding like a Royal Navy apprenticeships advert but it’s not 😂 I’ve always been an avid believer that as good as I can be in a classroom there is only so much experience I can have and to pass on experience and knowledge from a vast vault is so rich in merit. With this we put on an industry day where we bring in people from the sector to talk about the depth and breadth of it and Louise has always been brilliant! Louise Forsyth, part of the team at Forsyth’s butchers truly has such a cool background and now has dedicated her life to buying prime cattle for the butchery! The most all over story we’ve had in (apart from Gunnar Garfors) and with a true advocate of the sector! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enjoy the weekly R2Kast Quiz! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A stroke in her 20s, revitalising cider and one of the Mumford and sons? To conclude what has been a remarkably enjoyable series interviewing the full 2024 cohort of UK Nuffield scholars we welcome Polly Hilton onto the podcast. Polly, who’s behind find and foster fine cider noticed orchards had lost the respect and utilisation they once had experienced and wanted to try change that. During the process of building a client base and finding orchards to work with she suffered a stroke and to see what Polly has achieved since then is nothing short of inspiring! She’s now embarking on her Nuffield journey to look into the topic she started her now thriving business on! A great chat with truly one of the world’s sweetest souls! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Harper Adams, Motivation and…Vices? Today’s guest, Alex Hardie and I spoke years ago (both new to our current roles in education) we started having a chat a few weeks ago again. I expected us to talk about his role as business development manager but we barely did! We had a brief chat about Harper, I invited myself there, I convinced Alex to do a Nuffield Scholarship and that was about that. Where this podcast shines, along with the episode with Neil Barrett is we just opened up! We spoke about what motivates us, what wakes us up in the morning and also the struggles with challenges throughout life! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Research, regeneration and…cattle cubicles of compost?? Jamie Jack and I had a chat a few weeks ago and instantly I thought he’d be class for the podcast! Originally not from farming he wanted to go into video game design with naturally had me interested! He soon realised that wasn’t his career and gave farming a go before studying at SRUC. This was followed by research, a job that turned out not being what it was advertised for but as a stockman role which he loved and now finds himself working for pasture for life 4 times a week and farming compost one day! Very interesting chat with someone ticking the boxes for the reason I started these interviews! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lions, Elephants and Saving the Planet Tonight’s guest has dedicated his life to wildlife conservation mainly based in Africa but also to further reaches of the globe. Born in Zimbabwe, staying in South Africa Ivan Carter is somewhat of a Steve Irwin of Africa. Not only conserving but also researching the topic as well Ivan is a well known TV and now social media personality sharing all things conservation. Amazing chat with a very inspirational man. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For each well of my travels I intend on releasing a wee update of what’s been happening. This one covers travelling from Holland to Switzerland and then my week in Switzerland! Enjoy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For each week of my travels I intend on releasing a wee update of what’s been happening? This covers my amazing week in the Netherlands and also the stuff that went bad in Brazil! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grain, journalism, hunting and…ecology? Today’s guest, who if I released video you’d realise is my Canadian double! Matt McIntosh (yes he mentioned his strong ties to here) from a grain farm in Canada works as an agricultural journalist primarily and his goal is to shift that in the other direction with farming being his main income. He is very aware of issues that could prove damaging to agroecology in his county and is carrying out a Nuffield scholarship to look into why and how it can be fixed! Really enjoyable chat with a lovely guy! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nuffield, psychology and a retirement plan of…a pilot licence and a PhD! If that doesn’t make you want to listen I don’t know what will! You’ll notice I’ve had a lot of Nuffield scholars on lately and every single one of them has been impacted by today’s guest. Wyn Owen, an 1998 Nuffield scholar (as he says you could do them when you were 12 back then) from a peaty upland farm in wales left applying for Nuffield until the second last year he could and it changed his life. Operating as a mentoring and leadership coach that works with high performing individuals around the country he truly believes that without Nuffield none of this would have happened. A great man, a great story and someone who after 6 short months of having met I truly look up to! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let me know what you think of this! I love quizzes and thought why not make one!? I can’t bring myself to call it the R2Kwuiz! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can you farm carbon? A question posed by 2022 Nuffield scholar, Ben Hunt! When I hear it I immediately in the current world consider carbon a commodity in that question. This was the same for Ben when he started out but as his travels progressed he started to consider carbon the resource with an after thought as a commodity! Ben is an agronomist, he’s worked for British sugar, worked in Canada and New Zealand and much more! This is a discussion with two main themes, 1 the title ‘can you farm carbon?’ as well as the navigation of the waters on the way to farming for himself! Great chat with someone I really enjoyed hearing them think before they answer! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coos, House of Commons and a fight with Robert Mugabe Today we welcome one of those episodes I have less than no idea about someone’s sector! Neil Parish, who at heart is a farmer who grew tired of his father complaining about policy and taking little action. So he did. After about 15 years in council Neil had a shot at contesting Torfaen, a safe labour seat which he lost by 24.5k votes…after that things started to go in his favour working his way up to European Parliament! I’d try explain the journey but feel Neil will go a better job than me so just listen in! A great chat with a man, who at 67 is still keen for another craic at the whip (not a political pun) of policy still! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For each week of my travels through Nuffield I intend on releasing a wee update of what’s been happening! This one is the pre-CSC in London followed by the first few days in Brazil…before it all went wrong! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diversity, pigs and fatherhood! Back in July 2021 I phoned a guy called Flavian who I’d heard talk about casual racism in farming and spoke for about 2 hours on the phone and then released a ‘people in farming’ essay… a few months after he was on the podcast and now 3 years on it’s time for an update! He’s now a dad primarily, has his own farm with his partner, Nic, various diversifications and so much on the go! Great chat with a proper pioneer! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mobile phones, therapy and…farming? This was a great chat! It went in a direction I never expected! Dan Smith works with Jamie’s Farm as a farm manager but by extension find himself moulding the futures of teens from poor background! I can’t sell this enough, listen. Dan is carrying out his Nuffield on how to inspire this generation to care about regeneration! A deep and amazing discussion with a great guy! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One could say this is faultless! On this episode of the All In series we welcome instant social media success story, Luisa Hendry! Luisa who from a young age lived all things rocks, whether that was films, TV or the real thing! Then at a school open day realised you could study it and it’s been her life ever since! Ed and I were out our depth here but very interesting!! Tune in for some craic, rocks and of course, tinder chat up lines! Sorry for the slight technical issue near the end! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Farming ladders and mobile milking parlours? Today’s guest, a day before I was an official Nuffield scholar cemented a mention in my final presentation! Listen to find out why! 😉 Oli Chedgey was brought up on a very small holding! Farming was what he always wanted! Starting with a few sheep having met farmers working as contractor. Bustling that business up to 600 with someone else running it Oli jumped to dairy, but in a very unconventional sense, with a mobile parlour! Following on from Michael blanches Nuffield the farming ladder Oli has built on that and is looking to see how people can buy into farming! Great chat with an amazing business man! thanks to Howden insurance and Scottish Farmer for their support! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cover crops and guarding the queen? Today I embarrassed myself! Today’s guest is from a farm but after doing a degree in politics, working through the grenadier guards he didn’t originally see himself going back! With a very business minded brain Toby Simpson came back to the family farm and wanted to implement a regenerative tweak to the farm. Amongst others Toby saw major merits in cover crops which he has focused his Nuffield scholarship on. Having presented in findings in November it was class to delve deeper…like the tap roots do! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sheep, Semen and Young Farmers Today we welcome a friend! Always enjoy having a chat with someone I know and learning more than I already did! Ailish Ross was lucky enough to be graced with my presence in our times at uni! Coming completely not from farming Ailish has carved a career in the sector very quickly! In 3rd year giving a lambing a go followed by milking pretty quick out of uni Ailish had a job! Embryo transfer and AI were what followed, then the AHDB and then for the last 7 years working with the Texel sheep society currently operating as events and sales cataloguing manager. In recent weeks she has been chosen as one of the elite NSA Ambassadors. On top of this, after starting young farmers she has had a rapid progression through the organisation with a lot of success! Great chat with a great person who’s growing and growing! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.