R2Kast - People in Food and Farming/All In

For episode 147 I was super keen to get a snooker player on! Not knowing anyone to fulfil this I wasn’t sure whether I would manage it. Then when we had Bethany on the pod I told her about the idea and she told us her friends grandmother was one of the first ever female snooker players on the scene! An amazing conversation where we discussed the challenges Hilary faced, not being allowed to play in some places for just being a woman! A fantastic story where Hilary really does show her love for the sport still to this day! Another great listen! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today marks the day I’ve released more episodes of the R2Kast in this calendar year than in total before it! It’s almost been going 3 years…If you’re in farming in Scotland you most likely know this guest. Let me try that again.If you’re in farming…young farmers in Scotland you most likely…definitely know this guest. Our guest today, David Mitchell and I went to uni together for our HND. What’s interesting about that is we had completely different experiences in that course, mine mostly positive and David’s mostly the opposite which is extremely useful to hear in my now profession. David is a WORKER, their enterprise portfolio is one to be commended on the home farm and away from that he has found major success in young farmers from an office hearing perspective and also has his name on the illustrious wall, alongside Andrew Neilson as joint winners of the stocks person of the year! A great chat where David helps explain how that process works…which was poorly placed as I required no training as an ex-Lower Nithsdale male members 3rd place stock judging participant!Great chat with a proper agvocate…Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since R2Kast 113 (32 ago - which is only 4 months btw) I haven’t uploaded video, now the reason for this is MAINLY that dealing with the best part of 10 hours of video a month is a lot, I had iPads, iPhones and my Mac all uploading at once. However I should have made an exception today!! 📱 💻 Todays guest is Katy Tunstall and throughout, as you’ll hear her gorgeous kitten Parnsip was running around and checking everything out! ❤️ 🐈 As much as I loved parsnip it was also an excellent episode and probably one really based on the complete mantra of this podcast. Back in June 2020 someone asked how do you get into farming and that’s essentially where this product came from…Katy is the person to answer this question! ⁉️Katy with a lawyer father and a gym owning mother finds her self making her way with sheep which has reached the stage of a full time shepherd job which unfortunately had to be cut short but she still had her own with her partner and plays an active role in the Hebridean sheep society! 🐑 There’s a lot more to her story that I know you’ll love when you tune in! 🗣️ Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome a friend. A friend I’ve only met once but by god it was some weekend!Lower Nithsdale headed down to South Wales in early July for an exchange with Wentwood Young Farmers. That’s when I met Nerys and there was some drama, I got concussed, the group took rafts down the river and much more!Nerys is so much more than that though! She is actively involved in Wales YF, deep involvement with rural youth Europe and European rally!A great story of what young farmers can offer you in Wales!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome superstars. Roger and Richard Nicholson of the much loved Cannon Hall Farm come on to talk about the transition from a difficult start for Roger to employing around 250 staff. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY.Roger was brought up on a farm which had to be sold by ways of compulsory purchase. The full farm sold for £7100…no 0’s on the end there, 7100. They then moved on to another place, Cannon Hall. Unfortunate events meant that, with assistance in paperwork from his mother and some Orr her help from neighbours, Roger took over the place at 16. *Cough cough* years on and they now operate one of the most successful diversified enterprises in the country with vast arrays of income streams from farming, hospitality, retail to farm tours, social media and television.Also…how cool is this? They have a zoo licence!!!A really great success story as the fourth registered farm park in the UK.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays guest, who has the best Instagram name there is Claire Whittle…or Dr_Dowhittle is a perfect inditement of what is wrong with the acceptance system of vet schools. Claire has managed to break the mould and proved that being that 7 A and advanced higher student at school isn’t the only type of person to make a good vet.Claire’s story starts in retail and now finds her self in her own words trying to get her self out of a job and I genuinely believe she means it! Claire mentions at one point ‘you know those moments that live to define your life and change the way you see the world’…and honestly this podcast was that for me.She’s a Nuffield scholar, a vet, someone recovering from cancer (which we never even got to on camera) and this podcast is SOLELY about regeneration with a 90% focus on dung beetles! You will love this, I promise!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast has three main sections, a painfully successful start to a career in a male dominated industry, a fitness journey and…a literal near death experience!Bethany who I met at a haunted castle experience 4 years ago seems to be forward for awards consistently and always is knocking down barriers to progress in what is the biggest construction company in the country, Balfour Beatty! She also has set her sights on bodybuilding and was really getting there with stage performances looming, Covid caused an issue at first and then a major challenge came her way!At the start of the year a friend of Bethany’s won a like, tag and share competition on Instagram to head to Base Camp of Everest…I’m entering the wrong ones clearly!!With three months training they headed off and we’re doing fine until Gorakshep (the last town before Base Camp). Try to remember that Gorakshep is still 5100m up! At this stage Bethany started to have some major issues…you’ll have to tune in to find out what! An insane story with someone who hasn’t ruled out an attempt at Everest itself one day! What a gal!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Much like Friday today I welcome on another friend, this one much newer in John Austin!John, from a dairy farm tenancy in Dumfries talks about the volatility of the milk price, discussing pure vs cross bred cattle for milk and his life away from the farm.He speaks about his November and December taken up by Christmas tree harvest as well as his time in young farmers from Lower Nithsdale chair to D&G chair and convert to Croatia!Fun chat with a great guy!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome on a friend. It’s always fun to talk to someone you know well and still find out more about them! Todays guest I’ve known since 2014 when I went to Ayr to start out my academic career! Louise Paterson from ex-QMS Monitor farm, Hartbush in Amisfield near Dumfries has a fair old story to tell!Whether it’s the exemplar farm she comes from and works on, her new job as a land agent, her young farmers career which has seen her secretary, treasurer, 80th year secretary and much more of Lower Nithsdale as well as not holding the post of Dumfries and Galloway District chair! Another great episode!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two hours ago I had sent a total of 7 messages to todays guest and now we’re making sure that we stay in touch after a good bit of craic! Izzi Rainey who studied textiles with a focus on print at Glasgow school of art always had a hankering for cows. You can see her love for cattle throughout as her face lights up with similarity to that of the queen when cows appear at her fancy party thing she had! Izzi lives and breathes art and cows and has created a business out of both of them! On the art side, alongside her friend Lara has created a business almost 10 years old supplying upwards of 50 shops with goods and on the farm side has taken a very sweet token retirement gift from her father of 3 heifers to a notable sum of 75 split between Lincoln red and highlander aiming for beef boxes in the local area! Cher them out @batesmoorfarm on Instagram! As always!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the UK we have Greg James, in Norway they have Martin Holmen!Martin and I met in Tanzania and the best way for those of you that know me to describe Martin is this, we were told we were on the same energy level and in truth I think he might even top me! An inspiring story of a kid from Norway becoming a nationally known TV and radio personality who had to run after this podcast to finish his script to introduce the world renowned Oslo Philharmonic!On top of this Martin is the national chair for Norwegian 4H hence our meeting in Tanzania at the global summit!I don’t want to ruin a really important part of this podcast so please listen for the full story but Martin goes quite in depth about the struggles and fears he had heading to a country that is very unaccepting of the LGBTQI+ community as a gay man!Great episode with every emotion!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diversifications come in various forms, today we welcome a man who farms full time and is working his way up in the world of comedy!Grant Barr from as mixed a farm as you can get, beef, sheep, dairy and arable…the full shabang recently found himself performing at the fringe but there’s a lot more to his story! Having been involved in young farmers for some time Grant also finds himself chairing the national committee of competitions and events overseeing in his words a group of people that make his job very easy! A fun fact is grant has been a national SAYFC champion…to find out what in you’ll have to listen!Just a fun episode with a couple lads enjoying a bit of craic!Like I did be sure to..Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over 15 thousand likes in the last week, over 0.2 million followers and a devout following on Facebook live! Figures of a pretty notable account, is it in the states, is it in Australia? No it’s about 2 miles from my flat in Dumfries! Ben best comes on to talk about his families utter juggernaut of a social media presence, Dalscone Farm. They stream for half an hour a day in the farm to the whole planet and have a never ending 24:7 stream in twitch allowing their viewers to follow the stories of their animals.Ben speaks about his dedication to education as well and the importance of promoting the sector!A great episode with another analytical geek which I loved!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I get to share the best episode of the R2Kast to date. That in no way belittles anyone who has been on before, this truly has everything!For those who follow me on social media you will have seen my travels with 4 other members of SAYFC to Tanzania and Rwanda for a global 4H summit and signing of a partnership between SAYFC and RAYF respectively!I could say what you’ll expect to hear in this podcast but there’s no point, I advise you to get a cup, a biscuit…or listen when you have time to proper take it in. I won’t say the topics but I’ll say what’s involved, a group that felt like a family for a fortnight reminiscing about the extremes of emotion they went through together, happiness, sadness to the point of confusion and so many ‘you had to be there’ stories!As always, enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays guest is a family friend of ours and seeing her grow as a person since the little girl I remember had been nothing short of inspiring! Isla found herself wanting to follow in her dads cattle showing footsteps, which she has but on top of that has created a career for herself in the sector at the age of 22!She ventured to Harper Adams and fell in love with it! Her third year placement was carried out with McDonald’s and what an experience she had.She had also travelled to Australia and New Zealand and currently finds herself in the running or the national agriculture student of the year award!Good luck with the award next month isla and enjoy your new graduation position with ABP!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

8 years ago this week the McMaster family based on the Southend of the Isle of Arran held their inaugural stock judging, a bit of fun aimed at showcasing their Texel flock prior to tup sales. This also marked the first official event that Arran Young Farmers. This was a club that I made a point of starting along with a few others from the island, acted as chair, and a few other jobs to get it going and unfortunately over time the club stopped operating after what was a good few years. Due to Arran being home for me I assumed that was it for me and YF…little did I know I’d find home again!After speaking at a couple of events for the local club Lower Nithsdale I knew it was time to go back and I feel like part of the family straight away!Today we start a series that could literally take years to complete! I would like to have every SAYFC club in the podcast, so if you’d like your club to be involved, get in touch!There was only one place I was starting though, in this episode, Ross, Joanne, Evan, Tasha, Aileen Molly and for that matter myself speak about what this wonderful club has to offer, what we’re up to (including a fundraiser currently well in excess of 10k) and what’s next given next year is the 80th year!It’s a belter and I look forward to welcoming your club on!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I am lucky enough that in the two things in my life that take up the most time, lecturing and podcasting I get to spend time with some amazing minds, I’m surrounded by passion and find myself in an eternal state of pride for the current food system as well as healthy optimism for its future! Today we welcome yet another one of those people that make you think HOW have you fitted this in and that person is John McCulloch! As I moved to the Dumfriesshire area this was a name I always heard, he seemed to be at everything that was anything and as my involvement increases that is more a more right! An ex-Three S’s member, current Stewartry member, acted as their chair 3 times, the current Dumfries and Galloway district vice chair and on top of that finds himself leading up the Agri and Rural Affairs committee as their chair at national level. That’s just some of his SAYFC involvement! Out of that John is a prize winner for his efforts of promoting agriculture, has been a stockperson and now finds himself starting out as a trainee auctioneer with Wallet’s Marts!Amongst showing and many other commitments John us now pretty well established in our sector!I mentioned age at the start, Johns age? 24. Mental.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I get so many inspirational people on this podcast but Heidi was one of those ones you sit back and think HOW HAVE YOU FITTED THIS IN at such a young age! Heidi was very clever at school and that has continued onto vet school! She openly talks about her struggles with eating disorders and I can’t express how positive an episode this is!We speak veterinary training, recovery, strength, fitness, close bereavement which she has put to amazing use as well as working with Tom Pemberton!It’s a great story I don’t want to ruin!Enjoy!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome 3 NFU Scotland regional managers, Holly, Lauren and Sheena operating out of Ayrshire, Argyll and the Islands and Forth and Clyde respectively. NFU operate as our primary union and lobbying organisation for the rural sector in this country. The regional managers act as the main point of contact for members in that area. As well as this the main opinion gatherers to lobby for a better future. We cover these three ladies’ pasts, currents and futures. Thank you to A-Plan Rural and The Scottish Farmer for their continued support. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charlie, who used to be branded as the globe trotting farm girl now Charlie Farms has travelled the world with agriculture and now farms at home on a mixed unit that at the time of recording was having challenges to get harvest started!Charlie is one of those people you listen to and think ‘she’ll give anything a go!’ whether that is her placement year which led to further work across the globe (hence the original name), in YF she has sailed through the ranks and acts as her regions chair, or even just the employment of progressive techniques at home!A great episode talking mules, flights, gin and…true crime!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gemma along with her colleague at Genus talked to our 3rd year students studying Livestock Management Systems as part of their agriculture degree with SRUC. Straight away I knew she would be getting an invite to the podcast!Gemma left the UK for a period of time after her degree heading for the US and used her dissertation knowledge on embryo transfer on a unit that used the technology. I would say that it's clear Gemma was hooked!For the last 5 years Gemmas has been with Genus as part of their beef team and will soon be moving onto QMS!Along with her partner Hamish, they have a farm as well!One of those stories with someone that is clearly passionate and I don't want to ruin too much a Gemma is an amazing story teller!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Josh, and his partner Abigail were sick of the London rat race and after seeing a billboard on a bus on the daily commute decided it was time for a change.One, an artist and the other a mobile application developer they set their sights on Spain, Portugal or Josh's homeland South Africa. Due to circumstance that you will hear in the episode the decision was made to head for Wales where they now operate an enterprise as well as being parents to their wee one, Ada!The first attempt was organic duck production which had reached a point where a deal was about to be made that would send the business to the next level, then disaster struck...you'll have to listen to find out what! However the change led them to their new venture, worm farming to sell worms and also worm casts...again to find out what that is you will have to check!Amazingly honest episode and massive kudos and respect to Josh for that!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Holly, not from a farming background as a youngster had a fascination with fossils and saw a future in the sector however younger teenage years saw her direction change and the goal was set as being a vet. She chased the dream and caught it after years of weekend, holiday and uni dedication she was qualified.Holly worked at a few practises and loved the role, almost too much really taking the job home with her, a nice evening read for Holly would be a nice disease case to research. Focussing both on large animal and small she got a comprehensive coverage of business acumen and various species.During her time as a vet one farmer in particular, Adam asked her on a date, a boundary Holly questioned breaking at first, fast forward to today and they have 2 kids and run an organic 700 cow Friesian x Jersey herd where Holly is in charge of heifer replacements from calves.She now posts on instagram to promote the sector and show what happens on the ground on farm as Cups.On.Cows!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From very near Wrexham, Will Evans laid the foundations for people like myself who have found themselves in the agricultural podcasting game. Having the struggles of having to record a Skype call to a landline it's fair to say he had it much harder than we have these days. Will keeps himself busy running the home farm alongside his wife and father, being chair of the OFC, writes for Farmer's Weekly and much more...oh and did I mention that he has 4 girls to look after as well!...4 future employees? Will's wife Sarah has started a very successful diversification in the form of home grown veg boxes being sold direct and indirect in the local area.Will was also one of the people on the pitch at that famous pitch invasion vs Notts County a few months back with Wrexham! Some story!This is a discussion with a man I could learn a lot from as could you! I know I'll be doing what I can to be at the OFC next year.Enjoy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt, otherwise known as thehonestfarmer_ was originally from a farm and found himself following the route of working in drama. One day, in the middle of summer in a script read in a black room he decided that was no longer for him and a change was needed. I did make sure to ask him if he felt the same way stuck in a filed in December but you'll have to listen to find the answer.Matt, went to Easton College and felt like farming was his future, fast forward a few years to now where Matt is 29 works essentially full time on an arable farm, contract keeps stock over winter on said farm, runs his own flock and shears in his 'spare' time. He talks of his journey to be at one with his own mental health over the years, the struggles and the realisation of the power of actually talking about it.This, much like episode 99 with Neil Basset is a chat between two guys and we both proper open up and that to me is precious!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On an exchange Ed and his brother, Tom hosted Duncan and one other from Australia and after a few days together Ed and Duncan became good mates even though they live have the world away from each other. This was their first chat for longer than the odd Snapchat and what a chat it was between the three of them!Duncan, who it turns out comes from a farm of around 110000 acres but that wasn't the topic of discussion for todays chat!We were here to chat about the reality of Iraqi deployment, domestic employment and more. I don't want to give much away, I'll leave that to you to listen!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes you hit record and can't believe how much someone has done - this is one of them! I simply thought we'd talk pick ups for peace but I found Vince to be one of the most interesting people I have ever spoken to, an inventor, a businessmen, a philanthropist and I think maybe a genius. He has developed precision tech for ag, he has travelled the world and helped many and now he finds himself involved in an initiative that helps the front line in Ukraine backed by his connection in that his wife is Ukrainian. Listen to the pod to hear the nicest meet cute!Great story by a great person promoting a phenomenal initiative that I have no signed up for as a driver and will be sure to be on the next mission that time allows for heading to Ukraine.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Damian, who has worked in finance, sales and owned businesses in those sectors too has had one constant in his life, training dogs.At 16 he took on his first client and has never looked back…fast forward 30 odd years and he found himself pacing around the room as he paid the world record fee for a dog he hadn’t seen in person! Oh did I mention the dogs he trained were exclusively gun dogs and the dog he broke the world record with was a sheep dog?At 50 Damian made the plunge to be a new entrant farmer, now almost 2 years on he is selling up and moving to a county away from what has been home his whole life! We talk mental health, the impacts, both positive and negative of farming and much more…also a bit of whisky chat that I pretended to understand 😂Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grant and Jacalyn both from farms were in Avondale and Mauchline YF' respectively. At a young age they met at the Highland Show and in Grants words he was in the car home with his mum asking 'can you get a bus to Tarbolton?' - a proper meet cute, eh?They have set up as PT's under the name GJCoaching and hope one day to have a gym on their farm so they don't have to rent the one they currently do in Hamilton.Both compete at fitness competitions and have even competed at the Hyrax world championships against some Love Island competitors..much to Jacalyn happiness...and for that matter Grant's dismay! He did win the farmers carry though so it's a win really!Both play an active role at Grants farm and are involved in Young Farmers which has lead them to create the first Fittest Farmer for SAYFC members in the west region with intentions of making it national in the future.This is just a bit of craic and three people taking the piss out of each other...a personal favourite is during the love island chat I should go on to which Grant says "Oh here comes the camera man onto set"...we can't all look like Greek gods, Grant! Or maybe you can...sign up to GJCoaching now!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Iona, from a farm in Muirkirk always loved the farm as a kid but as a youngster probably didn't see it in her future! As she left school her intention was to go into physiotherapy but a last minute change of mind realised who she liked about that potential job was the paediatric side and therefore changed her field of study to primary teaching.Iona completed her degree at the Dumfries campus of University of Glasgow and flew off to New Zealand for a short break.On her return she saw a job opening at Dumfries House in Cumnock and now heads up a team as part of the Farming and Rural Skills team there!Iona tells her story which is fuelled by a strong passion for telling the story of farming to the future of the nation. Great chat with food, farming and...swans of all things! You'll have to listen to why!Enjoy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome someone who I have followed probably since before the podcast started Sophie Bell from county Cavan has played a key role in taking the home farm from a conventional suckler system that proved clunky around the full time jobs she and her family have to a contract rearing unit.Starting with dairy beef they gave transitioned into contract rearing heifers!On top of this Sophie has a devout following on Instagram and personally I absolutely love her TikTok’s 😂As mentioned she does also have time for a full time job and Sophie, after her degree start d as a veterinary pharmaceutical tester…that took me about 6 attempts to spell correctly! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Halfway through this podcast I ask Erin’s age, she’s 20 and what’s she’s done in that time is insane!!She has won the British young handler with her sheepdog, Moxy as well as the one man and her dog duo at 15 and 16 respectively! She’s been a student and young farmer NFU ambassador which taught her a lot and in a very Kaleb Cooper-esque moment let her go to London and ride a train!Oh also Erin runs her home farm of 350 ewes and a dairy calf rearing unit!The farm is where the original sheep dog trial in 1873 occurred! How cool is that?!Enjoy!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his younger days our guest from today, Ross found himself playing rugby at a good level and football even better. However after his international level volleyball PE teacher noticed how tall he was in his first week of secondary school and Belmont academy his trajectory was marked out!Ross explains how the volleyball scene works, the opportunities for skill development, international travel and more that it has afforded him as well as his methods of funding what is not quite a sport that pays too well!He works as a PE teacher, has his own PT community, workitout and a few things in the pipeline!Enjoy!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For fans of the All In series that we launched last month a lot of you will know my co host, Ed! For those in the Dumfries farming community I’m sure that is the case also!I wanted to hear Ed’s story more in depth than we did in the 100th episode! Ed, from a now dairy farm tells about the transition to beef, arable and dairy, the reasons why and more! He talks about fitness, his time as Lower Nithsdale YF chairperson, rugby and much more!Great chat with someone it’s crazy to think is only 21!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

100 years ago this year a group of young people farming in Caithness got together and without realising it kickstarted the largest rural youth group in Scotland! Fast forward to now and SAYFC offers opportunities that dwarf that of some careers! International travel, professional development, a safe social space and so much more activities, events and experiences!For some years the running of SAYFC was facilitated by a national council which was essentially a voted on group of members from around the country that required progression through club, district and regional level! That has recently changed with a restructure based around 6 focussed committees that sees a senior leadership team of the CEO, Penny alongside national chair and vice, Jane and Ally as well as the regional chairs, vices and 6 committee chairs and vices also!Those 6 committees areAgri and Rural AffairsCommunications and MarketingCompetitions and EventsDevelopment and Wellbeing Finance International TravelIn this call we had myself, Aimée Margrove, Laura McCulloch, Grant Barr, Jane Strawhorn, Ally Brunton and Skye Watson to talk about them and their committees!What this means is I have now set the challenge of having every club on the podcast so please get in touch! Lower Nithsdale get first dibs! 😉Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

15 months ago I was one of Josh and his now wife, Leah’s best men! A gorgeous late March Day in St Andrew’s that won’t be forgotten soon. About 13 years previous we annoyed the hell out of each other at school and subconsciously because bloody good mates basing out relationship on FIFA, a bit of drama, teenage drinking, being head and vice head boy of the chippy together and most importantly, WWE!Now, Josh works as a chef and truly has found his calling! Hear his story of getting to the stage he’s at, his intentions for the future, how to make what he calls ‘simple’ meals and more!! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I introduce this podcast by saying:‘For those of you yhat know me I’m pretty good with an axe, todays guest is maybe as good!’Glen Penlington is the current male Stihl Timbersports British champion! Builder to trade, Glen was always interested in sports, taking part in rugby, golf, cricket and others throughout his early years! His dad competed in timber sports and therefore him and his sister, Zoe (the current female champion in the same sport) were always around it! Ed and I proper get into questioning the intricacies of a sport that has always interested me! Oh and did I mention he was on 2017 worlds strongest man, Eddie Halls YouTube channel showing the big man the ropes…or saws of timbersports! Good luck to Glen defending his championship on Saturday! Find it on the website! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome a good friend of mine into the podcast! John, from a beef and sheep farm in Darvel, Ayrshire always enjoyed working with livestock but didn’t see farming at home in his future.Veterinary was always the goal and work was required for that! John mentioned that he was clever but by no means didn’t have to try, highers required effort and his firs year of vet school came as a bit of a shock! Getting through the first year he got into the swing of things in the second and 4 years later was qualified!A few vet practises followed before settling at his current practise, alongside his partner Chloe at ark vets in Lockerbie! He tells stories about getting into veterinary, his travels to SE Asia and NZ where he both worked and holidayed! Always enjoy chatting to someone in or as you ALWAYS learn something about them! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays guest is a well known figure in scottish farming however lives closer to Oslo than Edinburgh! Born and bred on Bigton Farm on Shetland, Aimee knew her career would involve animals she just didn’t know to what extent exactly…horses, farming or otherwise! I’m her teens Aimee and her sisters unfortunately lost their father. At the time the decision was made for her eldest sister, mum and grandfather to continue with the farm with assistance from Aimee around her degree which she studied at the Aberdeen campus of SRUC, Craibstone!During the time Aimee was studying the farm was approached by BBC’s successful This Farming Life offering the family the chance to share their story to the masses in turn showcasing what Shetland and they had to offer! All of this together saw the farm with the Countryfile Farming Heroes Award in 2018 A story where in Aimee’s words you don’t know how strong you are until being strong is you’re only option…a joy to see a business transpire from uncertainty to the current plans for the future! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What can you expect to do in 9 years? In some ways, a lot…one that doesn’t spring to mind is become a fountain of knowledge on a subject as diverse as organic dairy farming! Today we welcome Sophie Gregory onto the podcast, Sophie posts her farming life to instagram under the name farmer_in_training justified by her words “I don’t think you ever become an expert in farming!” however her depth of knowledge with a focus on organicity and regeneration backed up by a loving passion is powerful! After welcoming her first wee one into the world when she was 18 Sophie took up a career in accountancy to be able to balance parenthood and income. 5 years later her husband wanted to get into dairy farming much to Sophie’s dismay, 9 years on and 10 months off of starting their second 10 year tenancy they run a notably progressive system running Irish Fresian cattle.Sophie also sits on the board with arla and spends a lot of time working with the cooperative to ensure a better future for their producers or in other words the owners! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When I went to uni, there was a course which looked at management skills and entrepreneurship, this module was taken by more than just the agriculture students, there was also RBM, activity, tourism, and outdoor pursuits. On that activity tourism group there was a lad called Dylan Goodison. We spent an hour or so together on a project and apart from that I barely knew him!Since we left uni, it’s been inspiring, watching Dylan’s travels throughout the globe to 59 countries, including a trip to the top of Kilimanjaro, learning various cultures and religions, and some dangerous stories on the way too!One of the many things I found interesting during this discussion was the parallels I in particular was able to pinpoint between our astronomically different lives! For me Arran was and always will be a home but I knew I had to leave to achieve, what at that point I didn’t fully know but turned out to be creating content both for academia and social media, for Dylan Wexford holds the same emotions and travel was his future. After finding that thing Dylan has sunk everything he has into it, money, time and energy to the point of social sacrifice but with ALMOST no regrets, me the same. The most striking to me was reconvening with that idea of a forever home in Arran and Wexford for myself and Dylan respectively. We both love those places for the supportive upbringing they offered us before openly accepting and assisting in our leaving of it for self betterment. We both love the idea of going back but don’t think it’ll be permanent, certainly for some time.In recent times, Dylan has spent a lot of his travels with his partner Celtia and watching from the sidelines, it has been a pleasure to see them travel together, bring out the best in each other and experience what is currently almost half of the planet.Tonight we welcome Dylan and Celtia to talk about raw global travel field by broadening their understanding of global culture by getting to know small communities the world over by living there and acting as a welcomed member of that community. This isn’t a jump off a plane at an airport, tick that country of the list story…Celtia, studied translating to monetise her tri-lingual ability which had Ed and I feeling inspired yet lazy and questioning the failings of our nation that purely assumes “everyone else will know English”. Translation wasn’t for her but she continued her studies and finds herself carrying out an MSc in Social Policies and a migration Studies!My now favourite couple find themselves for 6 months in Mexico split into 3 2 month stints in different parts with various plans for what’s next! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rarely does someone need no introduction but Ben is kind of one of them…ESPECIALLY in the rural podcasting game! You may look at me and think my upload schedule is prolific and 106 episodes is crazy…Ben reckons he has uploaded over 500 across all platforms! Over 200 of his original series meet the farmers and hundreds more across his other media businesses! A wealth of knowledge and an interesting mind I could have listened to for hours and I’m sure you’ll feel the same! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Annie, from a dairy farm was always involved in farming whether that was through the home farm or YF. However there seemed to be a theme throughout that cattle nutrition was her thing from day one. Originally she wanted to be a vet however an aversion to science proved problematic throughout her school life…your guess is as good as mine as to why she chose to study animal SCIENCE at SRUC in Edinburgh! Nutrition really caught on here, carrying out her dissertation on dairy nutrition at the Crichton Royal Farm in Dumfries! Basically straight after finishing uni (before her graduation) it was time to travel for Annie, NZ, South America and more was what was next for Annie before coming back to find her career in nutrition where she still is! Great story with someone that should be more confident in her ability! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome Ioan Humphreys onto the podcast, you may know him as @that_welsh_farmer or from being all over the telly lately all for the right reasons!As a youngster growing up on a farm, farming didn’t seem to do it for Ioan but circumstances happened and the weight of the farm being in the family since 1908 caused him to make the decision to take over. His vision for the business in no way aligned with its operation at the time and built a 32000 bird ‘Bentley of bird sheds’ shed to start an egg business.We speak about the challenges of the egg sector, the corporate manipulation of public opinion to avoid blame family difficulty and his wee tattoo that’s shows he’s petrified of grass snakes…you coulda chosen a Boa, Ioan but you do you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome Jack Iredale onto the podcast. Jack was born in Scotland and emigrated to New Zealand as a baby. In New Zealand he took up rugby and judo before moving to Australia with his family. His mother, an olympian taught Jack the ways of Judo guiding him to win the Australian Junior Judo Championship in his words 'a couple times I think'. All the while this was going on Jack was playing on other sport and in truth it was the only thing for him, soccer!He has battled type one diabetes, 3 major ACL injuries and only managing to fully hit the ground running at 20 he has found himself working up from Greenock Morton (the town in which he was born) all the way to Bolton Wanderers a club with a history of legends such as Jay-Jay Okocha and Fernando Hierro, notable premier league pedigree and more. At the time of recording Bolton have just guaranteed their place in the play offs so in the next month Jack may find himself playing in what is commonly regarded as the most intense league on the planet, the English Championship. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A bonus episode with Jane Strawhorn, Colin Mckinnon, Ewan, Emma and Len (this farming life) and Christine Cuthbertson! Sponsored by A-Plan Rural conducted through SAYFC…hence the noice in the back, the tent was busy all day!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After living in Dumfries for the best part of 2 years and having a podcast for the vast majority of that time I realised there was another ag podcaster in the area and suddenly discovered Farming Funny which has to be one of if not the most popular farming podcast in Scotland! Run by Nick and James who come from the polar opposites of farming, James from the way coast arable and Nick west coast sheep farming have also lived somewhat parallel lives! Meeting in Aberdeen at uni, then trying something different…for Nick sales in London and for James driving tractors he would deem toys in Australia Then both came back to their respective home farms to put their major stamps on things! James putting a fair few generations eggs into a successful biogas themed basket and Nick moving away from the conventional and into easy care sheep! Lots of laughs had, I’d you enjoyed the three of us go and check out farming funny’s episode ‘the influencer’…shut up! I hate it as much as you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes record on a podcast is the first one said you realise you’ve underestimated your guest.I read Hannah‘s bio on Instagram what in store! Pretty quick I realised it was more than good! I could try explain but feel a notable journalistic inadequacy so will simply tell you some notable events from her last 10 years! Life changing injury at 16Made the choice of changing career plans at SEVENTEENBeat two cancer’s by 2426?Public speakerOn the telly sometimesOwner of her very own visitor centre to help the disabledTravels the world for charity workAmbassador of 4 animal based charities that she actively contributes toOh and did I mention the fact she has released 19 books, sold 35000 in one 5 hour period, literally doesn’t know how many of her books exist and is a best selling author many times over!TWENTY SIXHear the insanely inspirational story of Hannah Russell here! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A big day for the R2Kast with this being the first episode with 3 digits! In 2 years over 100 episodes we have spoken to 130 people throughout the food and farming sector across 4 continents and now it's time to branch out. The people and groups in food and farming will continue as is but you will start to see 2 extra episodes a month with ANYONE! The only rule is that they have nothing to do with food and farming, the first person has been to 59 countries at 28! Before that however we need to meet out co-hosts for this series, Ed and Wallace!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome Neil Barrett onto the podcast.Neil posts, his daily life on Instagram under the account name NJB HoofCare is a hoof trimmer to trade. He tells his story about hoof trimming, Instagram, previous jobs and his inspiring career but at the heart of it this is a podcast talking about the importance of being at one with your mental health. Two heavily bearded dudes with a passion for agriculture talking about their lowest points, the methods used to get out and our favourite beard oil! Truly enjoyed it and learned a lot about a topic that we need to know more about, please listen to this one! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.