R2Kast - People in Food and Farming/All In

As a sector that is required by those lucky enough 3 times a day you would like to think we wouldn’t need to protect ourselves from increasing input costs, only marginally increasing output costs, anti farming propaganda and more however we do!We stand stronger together and that is where the NFU and in Scotland, the NFUS come in!Today we welcome Emy, Penny, Beatrice, Lisa and Sarah into the podcast to tell not on there but the organisations story from 5 very varied perspectives! There’s a hell of a lot more than 5 people in this organisation so if you’d like to hear more I’m sure we can make that happen! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Proper fanboy moment for me! I have been a fan since what turns out to be Karen’s SECOND ever video! I like to think I’m not a stalker but it’s not helping here! Karen posts stories about her fame in County Kerry on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram and by god it’s entertaining!! On top of this she is an area manager of Aldi! Karen talks about how her family ended up there, tragedy and much more! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rhys was brought up on a small dairy farm in Wales. Always interested in the sector he also was keen on fitness and showed promise as a rugby player. He played semi pro for 10 years but also carried out a degree in rugby coaching! He came home to the farm and started to carry out personal training for a few friends and over time that grew to the points it’s at now. 4 employees including himself, around 240 clients and bricks and mortar expansion on the horizon! He also spoke about his family’s experience with Down’s syndrome which has been entirely positive apart from the way it was dealt with in the hospital. Real thought provoking episode that delved into some deep topics! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

80% of businesses are missing out on tax relief worth almost always at least £5k. Today we welcome just the man to help you find out if you’re one! Thorfinn comes from London and has had various businesses himself. Through running these he found funding available for research and development in his business. He now finds himself working for Easy R&D helping others claim what is some cases has been over 100k per annum. That can continue year on year if you continue you carry out eligible practises. It’s also important to mention that your R&D doesn’t strictly have to be successful but prove you are in fact carrying out progressive methods that could better the business for yourself and the sector itself! Check if you’re eligible here - https://assessment.easyrnd.co.uk/sf/85c1b9a3?fpr=wallace88 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Couple of days ago we welcomed the lovely Holly Thomson onto the pod!Much like many young folks the country over Holly always wanted to work with horses but unlike many made it a reality! A true hard work pays off story! Holly went to NZ after uni and found herself milking cows albeit the plan was to work with horses but the desire for an equine career was still there! Upon coming back to the UK she started her whirlwind of creating the In The Country magazine, a quarterly rural based high production quality release. COVID brought an end to that but new beginnings for Holly! She then took on a livery yard and is the manager to this day! Also she may or may not have a wee announcement! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Henry Bung, from north west Cameroon talks to us about Fungom Farms, a community group aimed at battling food security in the area. The group are responsible for feeding 370 families across 5 villages in the area. They grow cassava, wheat, palm oil amongst others as well as rearing goats, pigs, cattle and donkeys (for transport). They make honey and bread while operating a completely closed circular economy! Great chat learning about a new culture which is always eye opening and reminds me that as a nation countries like the UK, USA and such may be more economically and demographically developed but we have so much to learn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tonight, we welcome the wonderful Justine of rack of glam on instagram onto the podcast! Since leaving school, Justine has tried various careers over the years such as Aupairing throughout Europe, working in health and welfare, a job her kindheartedness was perfect for. However, it does lead to bringing home some of the troubles emotionally, and she realised she had to find something different. On top of this Justine, tried a few qualifications but never found that thing that clicked! As lockdown hit, her and her partner started delivering products from a local butcher shop in the area! Alongside this Justine was diagnosed with ADHD, a diagnosis that brought understanding, relaxation and ability to look forward and work with what she never understood before! Delivering products from the local butcher shop was fun. However, Justine started to find an interest in butchery. Now a couple of years into her career in the sector, you can see her passion and positive outlook shine through! She speaks about the challenges and benefits of being a female in the industry and she was just a joy to speak to throughout!Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome Louise Penn onto the podcast. Louise found herself travelling the world just before Covid and then decide to come back on the last plane available. Having studied at Newcastle University she wanted to pursue a career in agronomy. Where she now finds herself working full-time, a great story with a really passionate youngster in our sector. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The reason I originally started this podcast was to showcase the various jobs you can find in agriculture today. We have an absolute perfect example of someone who doesn’t come from the sector but has paved her career and what a career it has been. Milly Fyfe comes on the podcast today. Milly has been the CEO of the shorthorn cattle society, she was national chair of the National Federation of Young Farmers, she has been a regional manager of RSABI, otherwise known as the Royal agricultural benevolent Institute with this, she finds herself as a director of the Oxford farm in conference!Believe it or not, we are not quite at what Milly is doing today…everything mentioned so far is in the past. Currently Milly Fyfe is at home with two fantastically name children working on the farm with her husband, on top of this she runs her own PR and marketing company, as well as her own podcast similar to the R2Kast showcasing those in food and farming, “the countryside kitchen meets” and on top of that, a weekly blog showcasing affordable meals that parents can make themselves, “no fuss meals for busy parents”.As always, enjoy!!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Olly who had contracted in this local area for years decided to start posting some videos on Facebook during Covid that got picked up by some teachers! Since then Olly has seen an exponential growth forced by a prolific upload schedule! Really interesting chat that was filmed on an Instagram live hence the random questions half way through! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

QMS are the main assurance scheme in Scotland for promoting Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork. They work the world over to increase exports and make sure Scotland can compete on a global stage! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

GRANFER! You’ve probably went onto TikTok and heard a young lady shout GRANFER before her granfer (Cornish papa)shuts down a new TikTok comment! Proper fanboy moment for me with this pod and really interesting to speak to an extremely insightful young mind!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sophie, from Manchester grew up with parents who farmed in a few places across the UK. Her mother and father started a good trimming business and after a go at the police Sophie decided to join her dad after her mum left the business! 10 years on and a strong father daughter team they are full time with various clients trimming hoofs all over the area! She has now joined the hood trimming content creation with her Instagram, thefemalehooftrimmer to document it all! You should check it out! Thanks for a great chat Sophie! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart, Rachael and Pauline told about the potentially industry changing funding stream aimed at strengthening rural communities in the south of Scotland and north of England through funding a research aimed direction at the dairy sector! Promising times ahead I’m sure you’ll agree! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Blythe, born in Zimbabwe had to leave at a young age before heading to a farm in Scotland, studying in Scotland and deciding to head back to Zimbabwe on the last flight before the second lockdown closed them! She works in Zim managing a team advising in flower production and acts as an advisor to Blueberry farmers also. On top of this she is involved in trials being carried out on the flowers!…also, what an accent! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve heard of no dog gardening this is the man who popularised it and brought it to the masses. Charles, from a dairy farm never saw a future in that sector for ethical reasons. Since then he has ventured into crop production on a horticultural scale, been involved in scientific trialing, written 14 books and built up a following across all platforms of over 1 million. Including over 500k on YouTube. A topical chat with a progressive mind…with me trying to not get confused! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7 people from various backgrounds all with one goal, sustainable food production! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael, not from farming always knew he wanted in but didn’t know how. After a few jobs getting him a well grounded network in the sector he still wanted to farm himself. One failed tenancy application after another never stopped his dream and now farms his own farm still with plans to evolve. On top of this however he still found time to carry out a Nuffield scholarship, the farming ladder - one in which I advise you read, or at least skim! It’s an engaging read with stories from New Zealand, Australia, India, Cambodia, USA and France. People in these nations tell the points of challenges and benefits of being a first generation farmer there for Michael to bring back to the UK. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You may have seen the Instagram account adventuresofashepherdess and the lady behind that is today’s guest, Bizza! Bizza studied at Cirencester before tackling a season of lambing in Glasgow, Orkney and Iceland! Her day job is as a rural advisor and the rest of the time works on the home farming enterprise which is comprised of a commercial sheep flock, her own Greyface Dartmoor’s, a feed and agricultural store, shoot, fishing and holiday home. That is however still not the MAIN experience that drew me to Bizza. She has spent some time working in South Africa with rhinos and speaks about the potential of rhino horn legalisation. You’re going to want to hear this! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Jane Craigie Marketing approaches 2 decades in the business it is one of the most recognisable names in the rural sector in Scotland. Jane started the business with the intention of never employing and over the years has built up a marketing business built on grounded morals and has deservingly established a strong long term client network. Oh and you bet there needs to be employees now! Very interesting story with 3 of Scotland’s best Agvocates Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily, is one of few Quinoa growers on the UK, has a vineyard and grows cereals. Her father and uncle were beef farmers but Emily saw a chance to change and has diversified into two very different crops for the UK. A great story with a forward thinking person. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ben, is a 4th generation British Alstroemeria grower. It was very interesting to hear his story talking about the business starting in the 30s all the way to today and how the production has stayed the same but the challenges have increased. Ben is at the forefront of fighting for the flower industry with his British Flowers Rock campaign! The team are award winning and it’s an all in great story! Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This year RHET Ayrshire and Arran becomes 20. Alec, Christine, Elaine and Willie do a fantastic job to tell the story of the countryside initiative from a breadth of perspectives. RHET, an initiative pushed by our now king connects schools and farms and fills a niche in education the countries youth about where their food comes from. Until recently they had the great displeasure of me as their vice chairperson and it was an honour I didn’t take lightly however due to relocation I had to step hence why the sponsorship of this episode will go to RHET A+A. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A young Rachel Stratton had an avid interest in farming, whether that was lambing, showing or even breeding and in the day of her final school exam decided to fly to Cyprus to experience a new country. Then after a few more travels and a trip back home Rachel really started seeking a career in the sector. Her travels have taken her to 20 nations, soon to be 21 including Germany, Italy, New Zealand and her current (most of the time) residence, Norway! A great podcast for anyone considering travelling to know what problems can be faced and how to take them on! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke comes from farming but quickly established a self-made career in the sector for himself. Farming tatties, wheat, barley, OSR and other crops Luke tells the challenges and methods associated with crop production. He dedicates a lot of his time to education, social media and spreading the story of food production! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kriss Woodstead comes from a farming family but was in no way ‘passed on’ the family business! Zoë Colville is a hairdresser to trade. Why are they on a food and farming podcast you may ask…WELL, if you follow any social media farming accounts in the UK, these two are probably at least one of them! With a combined following of over 60k they are great agvocates! We spoke about family trauma, personal trauma, how Zoë has felt she’s been accepted into the industry, dog attacks, social media, book sales, merchandise and a lot of laughs! Enjoy the last episode of this year and see you in 2023! Thanks to or primary sponsor A-Plan Rural Insurance as well as the Scottish Farmer for supporting! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A couple months ago a guy messaged me on Instagram, “I have a question for you, I’ll probably sound like a **** and it might offend you, do you mind if I ask you?” My favourite thing about it was he didn’t say ‘don’t be offended…BUT’ like a lot do, he told me I probably would be and he was happy with that! I liked that!It was a great question, that would have offended some people but I loved it, you don’t need to know what it was but for the last 6 weeks I’ve spoke to this guy who I have personally described gives off an ‘aura of being a knob’ and I completely mean that! After he sent me the cutest video of one of his animal compadre’s (not seen on screen🦌 👀 ) I knew he was a softie as well!This man has went from a smallholding in wales with non farming parents who bought some sheep…to study history, masters in anthropology, and a masters in social pedagogy before getting into farming by buying some pigs, then a few sheep. He proceeded on a drunken night to buy a sheepdog online,the best dog he’s ever had and a dog he still has to this day at least 10 years on, Twig! He has been in charge of 8000 sheep at points in his career, he has experienced turmoil worse than anyone I’ve had on this podcast, he has experienced exponential growth and it’s all done with inquisitive decisions and a full heart!…which lead him to win this years British Farming Awards ‘new entrant - against all odds’ gold prize!A bloody great story that goes on for a quarter of a conventional working day or a 12th of our guest for R2Kast 72’s working day, James Edwards! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This young couple, who have a lovely wee boy Hamish come from a family who have farmed in Aberdeen, Iona and Arran! They are new to Arran and have been establishing themselves in the industry in recent months! A real heart warming talk with a fantastic young family with a bright future ahead of them! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I want people to be farmers, not have to rely on farming!” Raj Regis is a Rwandan farmer who has progressed his career to chair of agriculture in Rwanda at THERTY THREE! He carried out his dissertation on the potential of sweet potato, a readily available crop in Rwanda that is somewhat looked down on by the public. Since then, alongside the CARL GROUP Ltd (of which he is the R in CARL) they have produced breads and biscuits from sweet potato to increase vitamin A in the diets of the masses. This is a vitamin that there is a blanket deficiency of in his country and to have a product with a high Beta-Carotene level without gene editing (similar to that of golden rice) is ground breaking.…on top of that they have developed a cheap method of storage that allows a product that used to have a shelf life of a few weeks in Rwanda to now be stored in excess of a year! A passionate man who as a child experienced one of the most documented and brutal atrocities in recent history with an excellent and progressive vision of creating a food secure Rwanda. What a pleasure this was to film! Thank you to Katie Burns for connecting us!With you on December 2nd! …another country ticked off the list! ✅ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, for our first group podcast we welcome on the CLS team, these guys devote their time to bridge the gap between secondary pupils and the rural sector! Some of the team, Ian, Bryony, Tors and Kirstie tell the history, day to day and more about the company! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I want people to be farmers, not have to rely on farming!”Raj Regis is a Rwandan farmer who has progressed his career to chair of agriculture in Rwanda at THERTY THREE!He carried out his dissertation on the potential of sweet potato, a readily available crop in Rwanda that is somewhat looked down on by the public.Since then, alongside the CARL GROUP Ltd (of which he is the R in CARL) they have produced breads and biscuits from sweet potato to increase vitamin A in the diets of the masses. This is a vitamin that there is a blanket deficiency of in his country and to have a product with a high Beta-Carotene level without gene editing (similar to that of golden rice) is ground breaking.…on top of that they have developed a cheap method of storage that allows a product that used to have a shelf life of a few weeks in Rwanda to now be stored in excess of a year!A passionate man who as a child experienced one of the most documented and brutal atrocities in recent history with an excellent and progressive vision of creating a food secure Rwanda.What a pleasure this was to film! Thank you to Katie Burns for connecting us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natalie and Tara are both based on farms…a mere 14 hours apart! They have started their business which aims at helping people build their brand within the last year and it is going from strength to strength! Great chat that I think you’ll love! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colin was not from farming but after a love for livestock at a young age Colin pursued a career in veterinary medicine. A few jobs, a wedding to another vet and a placement in Tanzania later Colin started with SAC as a disease investigator and now manages the Dumfries vet lab. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason, from a wine trading family has taken on the Tablas Creek vineyard which is a worlds first regenerative organic vineyard! They utilise alpacas, sheep and other systems to work alongside the vineyard! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

These two ladies married dairying brothers and decided to diversify the enterprise! There is 2 farms being run simultaneously with slightly different systems then between the brothers, Tracey and Aylett decided to start doing door to door deliveries of milk and other groceries which has snowballed hugely! Here the story here! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phillipa from Ometata in New Zealand talks about her role on the family 40000 hectare farm which is home to 30000 sheep, 1000 dairy cattle and quite a few workers. Those workers need fed and Phillipa makes sure they are provided with a high standard smoko! She also documents get stories in one book so far and possibly a second by the time this episode has been released Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jane, from a farm never saw her career on farms and found her way into her profession as a paralegal after finding herself work in various jobs and for that matter locations. In her very minimal spare time Jane has worked her way through the ranks of Young Farmers in Scotland and will by next year find herself at the highest possible position in the charity as national chairperson! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colin, otherwise known as my old man was born on the Isle of Arran, has lived in the same house at Bridge Farm his whole life and has over the course of the last 60 years added to the farm on various occasions with his wife Laura. The farm is beef and sheep with about 630 ewes and 15 cattle. For his birthday Colin and Laura (maw and paw) have decided to visit every livestock market in mainland Scotland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lorraine has tried a few things in her time, whether that is the police or buying a ‘swanky mansion’ in France! Truth is neither of them were for her and her partner. They have had small holdings in Cornwall and now in France with a particular focus on cider making and small livestock enterprises. In her ‘spare’ time Lorraine also write various books varying from how to succeed at smallholding to murder novels! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Karl tells his story about working up to head chef at a young age before realising it wasn’t for him and within 4 years working up from nothing to almost owning 100 breeding ewes. He documents his story on Instagram and even became a recurring feature on Zoe Ball’s radio 2 show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maria and Gordon both come from non-farming backgrounds and after studying different courses at different times and by chance finding themselves working together at a laying unit have now progressed their own business to the point of nearly self sustaining. They have also found themselves winning an RHS Overhead Championship! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrea Flemming is not the first generation to take the reigns of her family farm in Minnesota! Running an arable and beef unit and with a previous interest in veterinary we talk about how to farm in all weathers, the methods used to do so and much more! We even delve into mental health as Andrea has been brave enough on numerous occasions to talk about her battles and her coping mechanisms that will hopefully help others! It certainly resonated with me! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colin, from Dumfriesshire went to Barony College as a Claas apprentice and in the years since has climbed almost as high as he possibly can on the Claas mechanic ladder. His ladder climbing in SAYFC has very much mirrored his efforts with Claas as he now finds him in the position of the west regions vice chair. As well as this Colin has started his own ag contracting business which has built up to 3 tractors in the same amount of years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Based in Canada, Brian and Mandy produce cranberries for Ocean Spray as well as their own bog brand! An interesting chat as always but I was so out my depth…as are the cranberries!😉. Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you have TikTok you’ve probably seen Katie’s videos pop up on your type as she has about 120k followers on there! Here farming story is just as interesting as her TikTok though having just found her way back into the industry during covid! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charlotte has 90k followers on TikTok, and posts a lot of REAL posts on there from an education perspective with a large hint of humour! Enjoy another great episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jane will often have in excess of 1500 birds either ready for sale, getting ready or newly bought and sells the country over. This is all while running a farm as well as touring county and national shows with her birds…oh and did I mention she races pigs? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amy had on Facebook go viral 18 months ago with over 55 thousand shares and 40 thousand reactions promoting British produce and that is very much not all she does! She works with the Farmers Guardian, has been on a TV advert, does social media and oh did I mention farms a very large farm with her dad alone! Bonus points because she is a fan of the R2Kast! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew and Sophie contract farm where Andrew grew up rearing 1000 head of sheep, 80 head of cattle and the best part of 40 hectares of barley and a small amount of rye all for Bruichladdie whisky! A proper field to ‘glass’ story! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EPISODE 50 is here!! Insane to me that we’ve done 50 episodes and it’s a big one for a big occasion! We talk about TV, getting into farming, sheepdogs, diversification and so much more! Emma burnt dinner, I choked on the smoke over zoom and lots of laughs had! Enjoy!! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.