Wilson & Ashley

Put your thoughts into the mix Should we be stockpiling food, or are we getting carried away? With growing concerns about global instability, food security and supermarket supply chains, stockpiling has suddenly become a hot topic. But how prepared is the UK for a major disruption to its food supply? We look at the idea of national stockpiling, how our reliance on just-in-time deliveries leaves su...

Put your thoughts into the mix Are we really at risk of sending women back into the kitchen in the name of healthy eating? That’s the argument behind a recent Telegraph opinion piece, which suggests that the backlash against ultra-processed foods risks overlooking the freedom that convenience food has given women. We get stuck into whether the push to cook everything from scratch is realistic for...

Put your thoughts into the mix Prince Harry has found himself in the farming headlines after being pictured riding a quad bike with his two young children, with none of them wearing helmets. Is this another example of the gap between the realities of farming and what the general public sees on social media... and would the public even question it? We discuss quad bike safety and whether we need to...

Put your thoughts into the mix PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has been calling on the fashion industry to ditch wool, with protesters even crashing New York Fashion Week. But is wool inherently cruel, or is there a difference between animal abuse and sheep being shorn for their fleece? PETA has released footage of sheep being mistreated during shearing, but we hear from contrib...

Put your thoughts into the mix Before we get onto this week's episode, Charlotte has been creating the most amazing pieces of wool artwork! The two unique pieces will be auctioned off at the upcoming British Farming Awards to raise money for the Farming Community Network. So, if you’re heading to the awards, make sure you’ve got your pennies ready! Now, onto the SFI debacle. The application w...

Put your thoughts into the mix Following last week’s episode about the Animal Rising farrowing crate protest, this week on The Wilson & Ashley Podcast we’re taking a closer look at factory farming and mega farms. We start by looking at how Animal Rising defines a “factory farm” — and why their definition is based on the production system and conditions rather than simply the number of animals....

Put your thoughts into the mix There’s a woman in a farrowing crate in Trafalgar Square — but what exactly is Animal Rising trying to tell us about pig farming? In this episode of The Wilson & Ashley Podcast, we’re looking at the protest involving Michelle, the Animal Rising activist who put herself inside a farrowing crate as part of their campaign to end factory farming in Britain by 2040. T...

Put your thoughts into the mix Can we restore nature while still producing enough food? And which Derek has the better argument? In this episode of The Wilson & Ashley Podcast, we’re talking about Derek vs Derek , the new documentary putting two very different visions of the British countryside head-to-head. We’ve seen the film ahead of its official UK release, so we’re giving you our thoughts...

Put your thoughts into the mix M&S is bringing artificial intelligence onto British dairy farms, using cameras and algorithms to monitor the health, behaviour and comfort of cows across all 46 farms in its Milk Pool. The technology is designed to spot changes earlier and give farmers more detailed information about individual cows — but does more technology automatically mean better animal wel...

Put your thoughts into the mix Farmers are notoriously good at saying “I’ll be fine” — but when it comes to serious injuries and accidents on farms, waiting for it to get better isn’t always an option. In this episode, we talk about farming accidents, farm safety and why farmers can be so reluctant to seek medical help, before taking a look at the new RABI Farmers Aid app, designed to help in the...

Put your thoughts into the mix We're taking a closer look at misinformation in the countryside, how quickly assumptions about farming can spread online, and why sometimes what you think you’re seeing isn’t necessarily what’s happening. In this episode: Why do people so often form opinions about farming without knowing the full story? The assumptions people make about pesticides and plant prot...

Put your thoughts into the mix We’re back! And after a VERY busy summer, we’ve got a lot to catch you up on. It’s been a while… and when we looked at our diaries, we genuinely don’t know how we were supposed to fit recording a podcast in as well! From weddings, Cereals at Diddly Squat Farm and Zach Bryan, to the Great Yorkshire Show, The Game Fair, Farm 24 and Meat Up — we’ve basically been here,...

Put your thoughts into the mix Almost three quarters of England is in drought at the time of recording— so what does that actually mean for farmers, food production and the price of our food? We’re talking about what we’re seeing on our own farms, from crop yields and forage to water availability, boreholes and the risk of fires, as well as some of the less obvious consequences of a dry summer, in...

Put your thoughts into the mix This week on the Wilson and Ashley Podcast, we tackle two issues affecting rural Britain right now: the rise of AI and concerns around the future of creativity, alongside the growing rural crime epidemic impacting farmers and countryside communities across the UK. We begin by discussing a recent video from artist and farming supporter Doodling Lucy, exploring fears t...

Put your thoughts into the mix We're tackling the controversial British food labelling loophole and ask whether supermarket packaging is confusing consumers — or outright misleading them. With imported food products often displaying Union Jacks, British countryside imagery and phrases like “Packed in Britain” or “Prepared in the UK”, are shoppers being led to believe they’re supporting Britis...

Put your thoughts into the mix In Part 2 of our Foot and Mouth series, we move beyond the initial outbreak and into the harsh reality of what it took to bring it under control — and the lasting impact it had far beyond the farm gate. This is the side of the story that is rarely spoken about. We hear from a slaughterman working at the very front line of the response — confronting the scale, intensi...

Put your thoughts into the mix In this first part of our two-part series, we step back into 2001 — to the beginning of the Foot and Mouth outbreak. An outbreak that would change British farming forever. What started as a single confirmed case quickly escalated into a national crisis. But behind the headlines and statistics were real people, real farms, and real lives being turned upside down. In t...

Put your thoughts into the mix What really happens when you put rewilding, farming, and real-life rural voices in the same conversation? In this unfiltered and often hilarious episode, we dive deep into one of the most controversial debates in modern agriculture : 👉 Should land be rewilded—or should it feed people? From sleep-deprived lambing nights and muddy farm realities to the growing pressur...

Put your thoughts into the mix In this episode of the Wilson and Ashley Podcast, off the back of a great reel from Schöffel Country and The Country Food Trust, we talk about how game meat is being used to tackle food poverty in the UK.  When you actually look at the numbers, food poverty is hard to ignore - millions of people in the UK are struggling to access enough food, there are now more food...

Put your thoughts into the mix In this episode of the Wilson & Ashley Podcast we’re looking at two topics that have been making plenty of noise both online and in real life: the controversy surrounding multi-million follower account, Ballerina Farm, and the ongoing debate around taking children out of school during term time. If you spend any time on the rustic American farming side of social...

Put your thoughts into the mix This week we're asking should farmers be wearing SPF like it’s PPE? From influencer 50-step skincare routines and £100 moisturisers to the harsh reality of UV exposure in agriculture, we dig into why so many farmers skip sunscreen — and whether that says something bigger about how the industry approaches wellbeing in general.  With 17,500 new melanoma cases in t...

Put your thoughts into the mix This episode is brought to you in partnership with with our Headline Sponsor, BKT and Kirkby Tyres .  Is solar grazing a genuine triple-win or just clever greenwashing? This episode talks about two big topics in farming at the moment - land use and milk price - and who ultimately pays the price for cheap energy and cheap food. We open with the rise of solar grazing,...

Put your thoughts into the mix This episode is brought to you in partnership with with our Headline Sponsor, BKT and Kirkby Tyres .  In this episode of the Wilson and Ashley Podcast, we take on two big questions shaping the future of food, work and farming. We begin by looking at the significant changes happening on our supermarket shelves... changes which are perhaps going under the radar. From c...

Put your thoughts into the mix We're starting this week's episode with animal welfare and the UK Government’s new Animal Welfare Strategy for England, which aims to cover farmed animals, pets and wildlife under one policy framework. With proposed changes ranging from livestock production systems to dog breeding and wildlife management, we ask whether one strategy can realistically work f...

Put your thoughts into the mix Welcome back to Episode 19 of the Wilson & Ashley Podcast — our final episode before Christmas! Somehow, despite an entire year to prepare, we’ve managed to finish on Episode 19 instead of 20 (sorry to those of you who like your round numbers!) A festive combination of poor planning, questionable maths, and general disorganisation. Should we record a bonus episod...