Farm Gate

In this programme, ffinlo Costain talks to Rob Percival, author of The Meat Paradox.   We are not wild animals and yet we still kill other sentient creatures and eat them in their billions. Rob charts our relationship with meat, from the scavenging of carcasses on an ancient savannah to the industrialised systems that produce much of the meat we consume today. He finds that emotional conflict has challenged human consciousness for many thousands of years. Produced by Farmwel.

In this programme, ffinlo Costain talks to Josiah Meldrum, co-founder of the successful on-line retailer, Hodmedods. Josiah works with British farms to source top quality beans, pulses and grains - particularly less well-known foods, like the fava bean, grown in Britain since the Iron Age, but now largely forgotten.   We talk about why Josiah thinks of Hodmedods as an agroecological retail business and about the need for strong supplier relationships. We discuss the benefits of scaling out rather than up, and the failure of fellow online food retailer, Farmdrop. Produced by Farmwel.

In this programme we focus on the UK and East Africa and discuss how the carbon market can channel finance from carbon sequestration and storage to help fund broader land regeneration. ffinlo Costain speaks to Thomas Gent, the founder of Gentle Farming who works with the Agreena carbon payment platform, and Joona Mikkola, a regenerative agriculture specialist based in Uganda who founded Soil Watch, which monitors carbon levels and soil health using satellite data. Produced by Farmwel.

Carbon farming is on the rise - but how does the carbon market work, and how does carbon sequestration and storage help to finance the delivery of other ecosystem services. ffinlo Costain is joined from Scotland by Charlie Davis, a Natural Capital Advisor specialising in the management of natural assets for Savills, the farms, estates and agricultural land agents.  Produced by Farmwel.

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. ffinlo Costain discusses the purpose, legacy and future of the Declaration with Pete Ritchie, Executive Director of Nourish Scotland, and Chantal Clément, Deputy Director, of IPES Food. Produced by Farmwel.

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? ffinlo Costain, the founder of the Food & Global Security Network, is joined by Sue Pritchard, the chief executive of the Food, Farming & Countryside Commission, and Patrick Holden, the founder of the Sustainable Food Trust. Produced by Farmwel.

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.  We discuss the new book, which shows us that bugs are beautiful, charismatic and economically valuable.  We also discuss food and farming policy, and how the new post-Brexit farm payments will affect agricultural land use in England.   Vicki Hird is also head of sustainable farming at Sustain. Produced by Farmwel.

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? ffinlo Costain, the chief executive of Farmwel, is joined by Professor David Main from the Royal Agricultural University, and by Rachel Horler, a cattle farmer from Maundrils Farm in Somerset, UK. Produced by Farmwel.

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?   ffinlo Costain talks to Trent Hendricks and Sophy Fearnley-Whittingstall.   Trent is from Cabriejo Ranch in Missouri, USA, where he produces lamb and beef with certification from the American Grassfed Association and the Allan Savory Land to Market programme.  Sophy lives in Wiltshire and provides community engagement and communications advice for the UK solar industry. Produced by Farmwel.

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? ffinlo Costain is joined by food systems experts from IPES Food. Jennifer Clapp, from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, is part of the UN's High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition. Molly Anderson is a specialist in hunger, food systems, and multi-actor collaborations for sustainability from Middlebury College in Vermont, USA. Produced by Farmwel.