Farm Gate

COP27 is over. Temperatures continue to rise. There's still no consensus about the role of land use and agriculture. Did anything good emerge from Sharm El-Sheikh in terms of food systems & climate change? ffinlo Costain is joined by three experts:  Patty Fong, Program Director, Climate and Health and Well-being, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, Adele Jones, executive director, Sustainable Food Trust, Chantal Wei-Ying Clement, deputy director, IPES Food.

This is the third programme in a series in which I talk to regenerative dairy producers from around the world.  ffinlo Costain speaks to Phyllis Van Amburgh, who farms at Dharma Lea in Sharon Springs, New York, USA, about epigenetics and vertical real estate - and to Charlotte and Russell Heald, from Dunkeld Farm in the Tararua region of the north island in New Zealand, about food forests and circular farming systems. The Regen Dairy project was set up by FAI Farms and Farmwel, in collaboration with Unilever, Barry Callebaut, Arla Foods, Woolworth South Africa and Ben & Jerry’s.  This programme was roduced by Farmwel and FAI Farms.

ffinlo Costain talks to Sir Dieter Helm CBE.  Dieter is Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford and Fellow in Economics at New College, Oxford. He was the Independent Chair of the UK's Natural Capital Committee, and was awarded a knighthood for services to the environment, energy and utilities policy. This discussion is a masterclass for people aiming to influence UK Government policy on agriculture and the environment. Helm is hugely engaging as he sets out his influential thinking and establishes sound criteria for support and opposition.

Carbon tunnel vision is a nasty disease that can create a strongly distorted perspective on agricultural land use and food production.  This programme will help to remedy the condition, by showing that land use decisions are complex.  ffinlo Costain is joined by Adele Jones, the deputy chief executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, and by Ashleigh Bright, a food systems and sustainability scientist, based in New Zealand.

This is an edited recording of the Regen Dairy round-the-world tour, which took place on 5th October 2022.  We were thrilled to host this opportunity to circumnavigate the globe with four very different regen dairy farmers, all of whom are quite exceptional in their own way.  Our panellists were Blake Alexandre is a fourth generation dairy farmer from Alexandre Family Farm near Crescent City, California, USA.  Richard Park is from Sizergh Farm, near Kendal in the UK, which has probably been farmed since the Vikings colonised Britain.  Mark Anderson is a fifth generation farmer from South Otago, New Zealand.  And Annabelle Gérard is a first generation dairy farmer from Lower Saxony in Germany.  The webinar was hosted by ffinlo Costain.

Small abattoirs are essential infrastructure, but they're in serious decline - seen by the UK Government as a 'nice to have' that serves the middle classes, rather than a 'must have' to deliver climate, biodiversity and soil security - and to support rural economies and farming communities. Another nail was recently hammered into the small abattoir coffin, as Mettrick's abattoir in Glossop closed for business. ffinlo Costain talks to John Mettrick, Master Butcher and chairman of the Abattoir Sector Group, Simon Doherty, former president of the British Veterinary Association, and Hannah Thorogood, an agroecological livestock farmer based in Lincolnshire.

Changing the way we manage hydrology is essential if we're to restore ecological security.  This programme is the recording of a Food & Global Security Network webinar called, Restoring Water Cycles.  It features globally renowned soil microbiologist, Walter Jehne, from Regenerate Earth, and regenerative farming coach, Caroline Grindrod, from Roots of Nature.  The discussion is chaired by ffinlo Costain.

Jyoti Fernandes is from the UK Landworkers' Alliance and well-known as a campaigner working for the rights of small farmers and peasant farmers. Jyoti recently wrote an open letter to the Guardian writer, George Monbiot, whose book, #Regenesis, and the articles he's written to promote it, distort public awareness of regenerative solutions to the ecological crisis.   In this programme, ffinlo Costain asks Jyoti why she felt 'duty bound to intervene', and why she thinks Monbiot is undermining the agroecology movement, which provides the most compelling future narrative she has found in 30 years of campaigning.

ffinlo Costain talks to Mark Anderson, from Westridge dairy farm, South Otago, New Zealand, and to Sophie and Dai Wilson from Wiltshire in the UK.  Mark sees regenerative farming as an opportunity to decolonialise agriculture and the management changes he's made have put him back in control of his finances.  Meanwhile Sophie and Dai have created a low impact model where they outwinter their dairy herd, improving their profitability and giving them more family time.  This is the second in a series in which ffinlo talks to regenerative dairy producers from around the world - as part of the Regen Dairy project, set up by FAI Farms and Farmwel, in collaboration with Unilever, Barry Callebaut, Arla Foods, Woolworth South Africa and Ben & Jerry’s. Produced by Farmwel and FAI Farms.

Increased rainfall and storm intensity are hugely important characteristics of global temperature rises and the way land is managed can have an enormous impact on our ability to reduce flood risk.  In this programme we're talking about natural flood defences and ways to manage water flows in the landscape. ffinlo Costain talks to Chris Uttley, the Stroud Valleys Natural Flood Management Officer for Stroud District Council, and Tom Johnstone, the Strategic Climate Change, Green Infrastructure and Catchments Officer for the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  (The AONB's landscape and nature recovery report can be downloaded here, and Tom can be contacted at Tom.Johnstone@denbighshire.gov.uk) https://www.clwydianrangeanddeevalleyaonb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Landscape-Nature-Recovery-ENG-Interactive.pdf mailto:Tom.Johnstone@denbighshire.gov.uk Produced by Farmwel.