AHDB Food & Farming

In this latest Cereals & Oilseeds podcast, AHDB Knowledge Exchange Manager Chris Leslie is joined by David Aglen (Strategic Farm Scotland host), David Cunningham (Dods of Haddington) and James Hopkinson (Arable Ventures) to discuss what it is that plants really need from a nutrition perspective to thrive. The AHDB Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) provides useful information to assist with nut...

In this episode Antonia Walker, AHDB Senior Knowledge Transfer Manager, speaks to Nigel Simpson of Catchment Sensitive Farming about how following a best practice when it comes to irrigation can reduce soil erosion and mitigate pollution risks. Host: Antonia Walker - AHDB Senior Knowledge Transfer Manager Guest:   Nigel Simpson - Catchment Sensitive Farming Coordinator Producer & Feedback If y...

Tim Rycroft has been appointed to lead the AHDB team and takes up the role of Chief Executive on Tuesday 31 August 2021. Tim joins us having recently stepped down from the Food and Drink Federation and in this ‘getting to know you’ interview, John Bates asks about his career and why he was attracted to lead the AHDB. Read the full news story here.   Feedback survey: We'd love to know what you thin...

In a rapidly changing world, what do you think makes your business stand out? And most importantly how do you measure success? Key performance indicators can be mistaken to be complex but in fact, once adapted to your business model – the results are prolific!  In this podcast, John Bates interviews Ben William AHDB’s Senior Knowledge Transfer Manager will introduce the four pillars of efficient p...

This special podcast will focus on Great British Beef Week, which will place on Friday 23 until Friday 30 April. Now in its 11th year, the campaign aims to highlight and celebrate the sustainable practices of British beef farmers. GBBW is a Ladies in Beef initiative, working with industry partners.  John Bates talks to co-founder of Ladies in Beef, Jilly Greed, as well as two beef farmers, Anna Bl...

The AHDB Pest Bulletin, hosted by Syngenta, provides forecasts and up-to-date reports for most key field crop pests.   This podcast looks at the Pest bulletin tool and new tools in development and how they fit within the wider IPM programme. Dawn Teverson and Rosemary Collier discuss the Pest Bulletin and latest trends in pests, while Bastiaan Brak looks at the latest tools that utilise data and h...

Cattle handling can be stressful for cows and farmers and the speakers on our recent series of webinars on this topic have given us a better understanding of how our cows see and think and what we can do to make handling them safer and less stressful for all concerned.   In this episode Knowledge Exchange Manager Becky Miles talks to Joep Driessen from Cow Signals in the Netherlands to find out ho...

In this episode, Philip Dolbear, AHDB's South West Knowledge Exchange Manager, talks about the Fungicide Challenge with Chloe Morgan and Jonathan Blake of ADAS, and AHDB Monitor Farm host Ashley Jones from Saltash, Cornwall. They explain the Fungicide Challenge in which groups of farmers across the country compete to achieve the best margin over fungicide programme costs in a local wheat crop. Las...

In this episode we hear from Beef & Lamb Strategic Farmer Ian Norbury as he reflects on the changes he has implemented and the lessons he has learnt during the past three years being a part of the project. Running a beef farm in Mobberley Cheshire, Ian now works full-time on the farm alongside his father to look after the 250 acres of land, located close to Runway 2 at Manchester Airport. Sinc...

AHDB has released the latest in a series of Horizon reports which scan the landscape ahead, and in this podcast we are going to look at the report, which takes a look at the key opportunities for the sheep sector over the next 10 years.  There are around 33.5 million sheep in the UK, spread over 78,000 farm holdings.  The average number of sheep and lambs on each holding is 430.  About 10,400 hold...

A ballot to decide the future of the AHDB Potato levy has concluded and the voting report has been passed to Ministers in London and the devolved administrations for a decision on what happens next.   In this podcast, John Bates gets AHDB Chairman Nicholas Saphir's reaction to the voting outturn.    The Independent company UK Engage was appointed to run the ballot and the outturn has been publishe...

In this episode Knowledge Exchange Managers Hannah Lilburn and Kate Harris talk to New Zealand vet Neil Chesterton about understanding cow behaviours, and how we can change our behaviour to make the cattle handling process less stressful on all of us.   Read the summary article of the webinar with Neil Chesterton.   Watch our cattle handling webinar with Temple Grandin. Feedback survey: We'd love...

On 9 March, our team of Cereals & Oilseeds Market Specialists presented on the key drivers for global and domestic markets, the path for fuel, fertiliser and interest rates and the future of farm policy. This podcast focuses on some of the key messages from that session.

John Bates speaks to Louise Woodward from the AHDB marketing team  behind the campaign and potato sector chair Alison Levett about why the humble jacket potato has taken centre stage in T he new packed lunch AHDB campaign.  The six week campaign (the campaign has now been extended until end of March 2021) talks about  the versatility of baked potatoes in health conscious and delicious looking reci...

In this podcast Stephen West, AHDB knowledge exchange manager for AHDB Dairy talks to Dr. Temple Grandin, a globally respected animal behaviourist from Colorado State University, who changed the way the US handled cattle. He finds out Grandin’s top tips for handling both beef and dairy cattle. We also held a webinar in February, which can be viewed on YouTube Cattle handling with Temple Grandin ....

Two months ago the transition period from Britain being a full-blown member of the European Union came to an end. Over several weeks since we have seen reports and comments about increased paperwork, delays and the slow resumption of normal levels of traffic, at the borders. In this podcast, John Bates interviews Sarah Baker, AHDB’s agricultural economist who explains the implications of new polic...

Being part of an industry, which is frequently criticised for not doing enough to reduce its impact on the environment, it can be tough to know what and who to listen to. The more we all understand about the carbon cycle, and where we as farmers fit into it, the sooner we can understand how we can make a difference. This year, AHDB has launched Carbon Week, which takes place the first week in Marc...

Nathalie Key, AHDB Horticulture Knowledge Exchange Manager for Protected Edibles and Mushrooms is joined by Jonathan Swain, Technical Director at NFU Energy, leader of the Growsave project. Also joining is Eirinn Rusbridge, Project Manager at NFU Energy, Rebecca Fry, Development Manager at Neame Lea (an ornamentals growing business) and Georgia Whitehouse, a geography student at Leeds University s...

The evidence suggests shoppers are becoming increasingly curious about where their food comes from.   Red Tractor says the logo is seen on around £14bn worth of food products sold each year, and many retailers incorporate the logo on their advertising as the Red Tractor Assurance Scheme famously covers from farm-to-fork.    Behind the scenes, 46,000 farms are members and inspected by independent a...

In this episode Antonia Walker, AHDB Senior Knowledge Transfer Manager, talks to agronomist Andy Steven and Agri‑Business Consultant Philip Dunn​, about the things potato growers should take in consideration when renting land. The conversation looks at aspects such as soil quality but also legal aspects regarding the contracts. Host: Antonia Walker - AHDB Senior Knowledge Transfer Manager Speakers...

A ballot to decide the future of AHDB Horticulture has concluded and the outturn has been passed to Ministers for a decision on what happens next. In this podcast, John Bates interviews Nicholas Saphir, AHDB's Chair on the outcome of the horticulture ballot results.  The voting information reported by UK Engage shows different sentiment across different crop sectors and size of business – it is re...

Potato sector levy payers have a ballot and between the 17 February and 17 March 2021 AHDB want you to cast a vote.  To help make a judgement about whether you vote Yes or No, as well as this podcast AHDB is running meetings , sending information to levy payers and answering questions to guide levy payers towards the necessary information about how and why to vote. In this podcast hear Alison Leve...

This week’s guests: Jen Waters, Head of Knowledge Exchange (Pork) Duncan Wyatt, Lead Analyst (Livestock) Lauren Dimmack, Animal Health & Welfare Scientist Christine Walsh, Head of Transitional Support Felicity Rusk, Analyst (Dairy & Livestock) In this pork-focused episode, we discuss the standard pig price (SPP) with Duncan Wyatt and Jen waters. We talk about out what does and doesn’t cont...

In this episode Knowledge Exchange Manager Shirley Macmillan talks to autumn block calver George Wade from Honeypot Farm about what changes he made to his mating programme following an online fertility workshop, and whether he still wants to achieve a six week calving block.  We also hear from Dave Gilbert, consultant vet from Dairy Insight who worked with George, about what he found at Honeypot F...

In this episode Claire Hodge, Senior Knowledge Exchange Manager (Scotland) speaks with her guests about mental health and tips for maintaining positivity. In the first part of this episode we speak to Jim Reid, our SPot Scotland host, who will talk about overcoming challenges in the potato sector, life on a family farm and taking on the mantle of SPot farm host. In the second part we speak to Mags...