The Landworkers' Radio

landworkers radio

A grassroots podcast by The Landworkers’ Alliance - a union of farmers, foresters, food and fibre workers across the UK

  1. Seeds of change: how do we build urban community seed networks?

    12/19/2023

    Seeds of change: how do we build urban community seed networks?

    This is a part of the Food Justice series on The Landworkers' Radio. We end this podcast season with the launch of our Landworkers’ Alliance 2023 calendar, On Common Ground. This year’s calendar shares twelve inspiring stories about land rights and land justice, and so for this episode, we’ve explored the story ‘the urban growing project’, in conversation with Richard Galpin, member of the London Freedom Seed Bank. For thousands of years farmers, growers, peasants and land workers across the world have been saving and exchanging seeds, passing them down from one generation to the next. But over the past one hundred years, the knowledge, skill and practice of seed saving, as well as many varieties of seed, have been all but lost. However, around the world, and here in the UK, there is a growing movement to rebuild seed diversity and seed sovereignty in both urban and rural settings. This movement is centred around working to adapt and build seed resilience in the face of climate change, retraining growers and farmers in the lost art of seed custodianship, and celebrating our seed stories and food and cultural heritages. The London Freedom Seed Bank is a network of gardeners and food growers across London and was set up to collectively protect, store and keep alive rare and unusual varieties - seed that is grown and saved in London to ensure it has adapted and acclimatised to local growing conditions, making a more resilient seed stock for urban environments. This series was produced by Dee Butterly and Georgie Styles and was brought to you by the Landworkers Alliance. Thanks so much to all of our listeners and collaborators who joined us over the season!

    35 min
  2. Are we facing a grain crisis?

    12/19/2023

    Are we facing a grain crisis?

    This is a part of the Food Justice series on The Landworkers' Radio. The world is abundant in cultures and food traditions that centre around the farming, processing and cooking of grains. The central role that grains play in our cultures and diets, makes it one of the most important and yet contentious food substances in the world. It feeds and nourishes our societies, bringing people together in community and celebration. Whilst in times of scarcity, price fluctuation and crises it is an attributing cause of war, conflict and famine. The recent war on Ukraine has exposed the overwhelming concentration of the globalised food system, and our reliance on only a few varieties of grain. Here in the UK we import 130 million pounds worth of grain every year from Ukraine including wheat, maize, barley, and rice and we have been affected with rises in food prices and threats to the supply of food as well as gas for fertilizers and fuel. These impacts highlight just how much our food systems are unable to withstand the shocks of political conflict and war, and is highly vulnerable in the face of climate breakdown - so are we facing a grain crisis? To understand more about the context of grain here in the UK, hosts Georgie Styles and Dee Butterly spoke with Kimberley Bell, founder of the UK Grain Lab and the Small Food Bakery in Nottingham which aims to demonstrate that small scale food manufacturing businesses have a crucial role to play in enabling transition to a more resilient, nourishing and equitable food system.

    49 min

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A grassroots podcast by The Landworkers’ Alliance - a union of farmers, foresters, food and fibre workers across the UK