The FarmED Podcast FarmED

Kate talks to Amy Chapple about Redwoods Farm in Devon, where she has laying hens that roost in converted livestock trailers and her parents have broilers that live in 'chicken tractors' or polytunnels. They all get moved around the farm, following the cattle and sheep, scratching up the dung and keeping their active minds busy. Their chickens are fed on a soya-free diet with most of the feed being grown less than 10 miles from the farm. 

Fiona talks to bestselling author, Rosamund Young, in advance of the Farm & Food Literature Festival at FarmED next month. Rosamund talks about her life at Kite’s Nest Farm, on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment, where she has been an organic farmer for over forty years. Peek into the surprising private lives of some of our most familiar animals.

Danielle talks to Pete Russell, Founder of Ooooby, an online platform for small farms and local food producers to sell and deliver directly to homes. Ooooby’s mission is to put ‘small-scale’ back at the heart of our food system. More than 80 UK farms and food hubs are now using Ooooby every week to deliver local food to over 10,000 local households.

Danielle talks to soil scientist, Jed Soleiman, who is currently working at FarmED as part of the Centre for High Carbon Capture Cropping (CHCx3) Project. Jed is passionate about regenerative agriculture and rewilding, particularly in understanding the responses of soils to these, and other land uses that could help build the physical basis to bring about nature recovery. Focusing mainly on the UK, Jed has previously worked on understanding mycorrhizal responses to rewilding at the Knepp Wildland, and is now working at FarmED under CHCx3 to investigate changes to soil carbon and energetics under arable regenerative agriculture regimes. It is hoped that this knowledge can help contribute to and inform the diverse land-use matrix we need to achieve successful landscape scale conservation in the UK.Jed holds an MA in Geography from the University of Cambridge, an MPhil in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management from the University of Oxford, and is currently studying for his DPhil (PhD) at the University of Oxford with the Ecosystems Lab and Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery. In his spare time, Jed is also a keen gardener, wilder, and forager who loves to share his passions with anyone who’s keen to listen!

Kate talks to Flavian Obiero, a Hampshire County Farms tenant at Tynefield Farm in Titchfield. He manages 61 acres of permanent pasture & woodland with his partner Nikki and son, Noah. They have Tamworth pigs, ex-dairy goats and a mixed-breed sheep flock. All the animals are destined for meat. They currently sell through their catering business and a few markets. Future plans include selling more locally and also setting up a butchery facility on the farm, processing fresh pork and cured meats.

Fiona talks to FarmED’s beekeeper, Tony Yarrow, in advance of his two day course at FarmED - Honey Bees & their World (18th April). Tony began keeping bees in Wales in 1975.  He has worked as a bee expert with two beehive manufacturing companies and has known and worked with some of the UK’s largest commercial beekeepers. Tony keeps 15-20 colonies in four sites in North Oxfordshire, including here at FarmED, producing around half a ton of surplus honey a year for the FarmED Cafe and kitchen.