Agri Culture

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to John Scott and Jock Gibson from Farmstrong Scotland.  Farmstrong Scotland is a new initiative which is inspired by Farmstrong New Zealand and Doug Avery’s visit to Scotland a couple of years ago.  John and Jock tell us what Farmstrong is, why they want to be involved in it, what wellbeing means to them, and give examples of how they implement Farmstrong’s five s...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Lawrence Martin who was a new entrant to farming. After doing an HNC in agriculture at college, he started an apprenticeship with Lantra and SRUC. The apprenticeship gave him the opportunity to get out on farm and ultimately became a farm manager. He tells us of his farming journey, how the apprenticeship scheme works and how you can get involved in the scheme.  &nbs...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Lucy Mitchell.  Lucy was an active member of Young Farmers from her early twenties and went on to become national chair of SAYFC from 2022 to 2023.  Lucy has recently handed over this role, and she tells us about what Young Farmers is, what sort of opportunities it gives young people, and what her year as national chair was like.  Related Resources:  L...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Ana Allamand. Ana grew up in Chile before moving to Scotland. She tells us about agriculture in Chile and her work over here with the Soil Association. Ana works to bring farmers together to learn from each other and foster innovation, and has great knowledge about how culture and agriculture fit together. FAS Resources FAS Connect | Helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Ad...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE, aka The Black Farmer.  Wilfred is of the Windrush Generation and describes his difficult start to life in the UK, before he eventually found his chance working at the BBC, where he found his passion for food.  He left television to start his own food and drink marketing company which gave him the opportunity to finally realise his dre...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Charlie Burrell, a farmer and environmentalist, farming 3,500 acres at Knepp Estate, in West Sussex.  Over the last twenty years, he has transformed the farm from an intensively managed dairy and arable unit into a rewilded biodiversity hotspot.  He has recently co-authored a book “The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding, Big and Small” with his wife...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to David and Wilma Finlay from Rainton Farm, Gatehouse of Fleet.  They are authors of the book “Our Dairy Story”, in which they tell their farming story from traditional farming, through various diversification projects, to starting a cow with calf dairy system, which they call The Ethical Dairy.  They are forward thinking and not afraid to take on new challenges,...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Mike Duxbury, the Blind Farmer, about his life in agriculture, and how he set up the Inclusive Farm, a working farm with the aim of making agriculture accessible to all. Mike tells us about how he was knocked back by all the agricultural colleges he applied to, apart from one, and how that one chance has given him the knowledge, skills and opportunity to help others into...

*Content Warning: This episode discusses themes of suicide and may not be suitable for all listeners*   Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Nigel Owens, a Welsh former international rugby union referee, who retired in December 2020 after a 17-year career. He currently holds the world record for the most test matches refereed and is one of five international referees listed as professional within the We...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Richard and Fiona Lamb of Fordhead Farm, Kippen, about how they have diversified their farming business and how they have adapted to the many challenges that starting new ventures has thrown at them. Richard and Fiona Lamb are the definition of ‘give it a go’. From exiting the Metropolitan Police and dipping toes, (and losing part of a finger) in their entry to farming, F...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Anna Davies about the importance of great storytelling in agriculture and gets an insider's view from this journalist on how the media could cooperate and celebrate Scotland’s farming successes and the people who create them.   FAS Resources    https://www.fas.scot/publication/positive-pr-infographic/   https://www.fas.scot/new-entrants/positive-p...

Mary-Jane Lawrie is joined this week by Sammi Kinghorn MBE.  Sammi is a farmer’s daughter and Team GB wheelchair racer from the Scottish Borders.  We spoke the week after she was back from the Commonwealth games where she won bronze in the 1500m.  We chatted about her childhood on the farm, the accident that left her paralysed and how she got into wheelchair racing.  She has su...

Mary-Jane Lawrie talks to Chris Dyer of Garths Croft, Bressay about how an Archaeologist from the South of England found himself owning a croft on Shetland.  He discusses some of the fascinating archaeology of the Shetland Islands, how he started out volunteering on farms, and what his life is like as a crofter.  Chris tells us about starting his croft, the livestock he owns, and how he...

Peter Eccles is a farm manager from East Lothian.  He started out as an agricultural consultant with SAC, before taking on the farm manager job at Saughland Farm, Midlothian.  There he changed the farming system quite dramatically and went on to win the Farmers Weekly farm manager of the year and farmer of the year, and AgriScot Sheep farm of the year.  He recently moved jobs to Dal...