Heard (of) Farmerama? Amplifying the voice of the smaller farmer

Farmerama is a monthly podcast sharing the voices of smaller scale farmers around the world. The idea of Farmerama is to amplify the voice of ecologically minded farmer and growers from the four corners of the globe, and to do so in a fun, accessible and informative sort of way. 

In their own words, the makers of farmerama want to “rejuvenate the respect, confidence and vibrancy of smaller-scale farmers and rural communities. Plus, everyone can learn about the multitude of decisions producers make and how this affects all of our lives. It’s about the food we eat but also our health, flooding, animals, carbon storage, biodiversity and more”.

Below is some info on  – and links to – recent episodes. Enjoy!

NEW:

Episode 31 Herbs, Christian perspectives on farming and Aquaponics

Episode 31 This month, Farmerama hears from herb growers and suppliers about the opportunities for growing herbs in the UK; Jubilee Farm in Northern Ireland, offering a Christian perspective on agriculture and the environment; Humble by Nature, a tenant farm in the Welsh Wye Valley run by TV presenter Kate Humble and an artisan pasta producer in Italy.

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episode 30 Gove, Agri-culture, Human Ecology, Sanfoin and Pollarding

Farmerama, episode 30 features the 9th Annual Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC). The Conference this year saw  politics take centre stage, and the show features Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in conversation with Zac Goldsmith.

A brilliant part of the conference was the launch of The Soil Never Sleeps, a book of poetry from the Pasture Fed Livestock Association (PFLA), written by their poet-in-residence Adam Horowitz – you can get a copy here. Listeners hear two PFLA farmers, Fidelity Weston and Chris Jones, share their experiences of working with a poet and read poems written about their farms.

Human Ecology and holistic food systems in cities are explained by Abi Morden of Propagate, who run Glasgow based food projects. Richard Smith, farm manager at Daylesford talks about his favourite crop, Sanfoin and just how beneficial it can be.

Finally listeners hear from Ted Green who is focused on pollarding for fodder – if that doesn’t mean anything to you (it didn’t to some of us) then listen in and all will be revealed!

Episode 29 Biodynamic vines, Catalonian chickens & medicinal plants

Visit one of the lesser-known wine-making regions – Wales – to get one perspective on biodynamic farming. Welsh biodynamic farmer Dave Morris grows and makes natural wine at Ancre Hill Estates in Monmouthshire in Wales. Biodynamic farming is often seen as pretty esoteric but Dave makes it all seem fairly straightforward and sensible.

To get a biodynamic certification you must prepare and use both the 500 and 501 sprays. Preparation 500 is an animal horn manure and Preparation 501 is animal horn silica. Dave explains how he uses each in the vineyard.

Then the team go to the hills of Catalonia to hear from a small-scale chicken farmer. Jaume Pretel, a chicken farmer in Catalonia who is moving towards making a living off the land and why he is doing this. Finally, Ari de Leña is the owner-operator of community-supported Kamayan Farm, near Seattle. As well as being a farmer, Ari is also an educator with a focus on the land and plants as medicine.And, finally, we take a dose of medicine just outside Seattle – in the form of herbs, human connections, and the land itself.

More Farmerama

Here’s the homepage for farmerama including its blog.
Farmerama is the brainchild of Abby Rose (that’s her in the feature picture).
You can find her writing on her medium page