AHDB Food & Farming

In this podcast edition Emma Steele, AHDB Beef & Lamb’s regional manager talks to Strategic Farmer, Neil Brown, about what has happened on farm since his last discussion meeting in February and what his top tips are for a successful farming enterprise. Online Strategic Farm event How to start direct selling with Strategic Farms Dupath Farm and Chestnut Farm – Thursday 18 June – 7:30pm Find out...

In this episode we talk to Richard Laverick, who is the Chief Officer for Livestock Information. He updates us on the progress of the Livestock Information Programme (LIP) and the plans for the foreseeable future.  The Livestock Information Programme (LIP) will deliver a new multi-species livestock information, identification and tracking service known as the Livestock Information Service (LIS). I...

AHDB's KE manager for protected edibles and mushrooms Nathalie Key managed to catch up with Adrian Fox of Fera Science to discuss all things tomato brown rugose fruit virus.  Access our tomato brown rugose fruit virus hub by visiting  https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/tomato-brown-rugose-fruit-virus . There, you can find a range of information including common symptoms, the background of the v...

Every household across the UK is being urged to #MilkYourMoments on social media as part of a £1 million joint-funded dairy campaign. In this episode John Bates talks Rebecca Miah who leads the marketing activity for AHDB Dairy and Paul Flannagan, AHDB Dairy’s strategy director, about the campaign and the reasoning behind it.  You can find more information about the Milk Your Moments campaign here...

This latest podcast showcases the latest activity as part of the #MakeitSteak campaign. Find out about the new initiative involving football and steaks in a fun competition to get people inspired by cooking prime steaks at home. Join AHDB's John Bates as he chats to Karl Pendlebury, AHDB's Senior Manager (Quality Schemes) and the chefs Hampden Parks Executive Head Chef Colin Dempsey, Sous Chef Ste...

With Strategic Farm Week 2020 well underway, AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds Board Chair, Paul Temple, chats to our three Strategic Farm hosts, Brian Barker, Rob Fox and David Aglen. They discuss the benefits of being part of the Strategic Farm programme and what they are learning as strategic farmers, as well as the challenges they face. For more information about Strategic Farm Week, and to catch up...

In this episode we will discuss: Irrigation systems efficiency Licensing for abstracting water  Current water levels  How to use irrigation to reduce common scab  An overview of the latest trials looking at use of brackish in potato irrigation    Our guest speakers: Nicola Dunn - AHDB Resource Management Scientist Dr. Mark Stalham - Head of NIAB CUF  Mark Taylor - Vice Chair of Nene Potatoes Ltd ...

Join Leah Shanks, AHDB Beef & Lamb knowledge exchange manager as she chats to colleagues and farmers about how the drought could affect farming this season. She's joined by livestock farmers Graham Rutherford, Phil White, Phil Kinch, Ben Walker and AHDB Beef & Lamb board member and farmer James Shouler about how they coped with drought in the summer of 2018 and how they are planning to man...

Food a fact of Life – As part of our preparation for life alongside, Maths. English and the Sciences it’s imperative our children have a rich understanding of how food is produced, have an accurate and positive impression of farming, an idea of how to cook and the role food plays in a healthy balanced diet.  In this episode John Bates finds out how Roz Reynolds, AHDB’s head of education and nutrit...

In this episode, we talk about heat stress in pigs. From what this actually means, to how it can affect pigs and what you can do to minimise the impact. We hear from Lauren Dimmack, Animal Health & Welfare Scientist, and Andrew Palmer, Knowledge Exchange Manager for the East of England. More information You can find a variety of useful resources related to heat stress in livestock on our websi...

During this challenging time it is still vitally important to maintain consistent protocols and growth rates in your youngstock to ensure the enterprise stays on track. In this episode Knowledge Exchange Manager Bryan Nicholson talks to Andy Dodd from the Farm Consultancy Group about the importance of correctly managing youngstock and how the upbringing of a calf affects production in later life....

Regenerative Agriculture comprises principles and practices aiming to: improve soil health, increase biodiversity and nurture resilient crops in an environmentally sustainable way. A growing number of farmers around the UK are enthusiastically embracing regenerative agriculture and overhauling their farming systems. One such farmer is East Anglian cereals and oilseeds grower Russell McKenzie. He r...

In this episode we will discuss which herbicides have shown good results during SPot Farm trials, after linuron was banned in 2017. We will speak with representatives of FMC and Bayer about best practice when applying Shark or Emerger.  Speakers: Joe Martin – AHDB Crop Protection Senior Scientist - Weeds Jeff Fieldsend – Agronomy Manager FMC  Edward Hagues – Campaign Manager – Potatoes and Industr...

In this podcast we hear from Duncan Wyatt, one of our lead analysts in the market intelligence team. He speaks with colleagues Rebecca Wright who is also a market analyst, and Rebecca Gladman who is our retail insight manager here at AHDB. Together, they provide an update on the effects they are seeing in the data and the impact this is having on markets and prices. We also hear from AHDB's Senior...

Things have changed, for the short term at least and today’s podcast will share a peek into the multimillion-pound marketing campaigns the agriculture industry has spent to boost sales and demand for these products nationally and globally.  John Bates asks Christine Watts , our Chief Communications and Market Development Officer, what is the state of play in pork and is it only that sector which i...

In this edition Nerys Wright, knowledge exchange manager for the South East and Eastern regions, talks to farmer, Chris Elkington, our 2019 Strategic Farmer and Hefin Rowlands, a farm animal SQP from Techion about worm control with a particular emphasis on lambs. For more information: SCOPS website Nematodirus forecast Worm control in sheep for Better Returns Parasite control guide

After several years of stability, dairy markets have seen rapid shifts over the last few weeks driven by the outbreak of Coronavirus. A changing consumer landscape has hit demand and the knock-on effect is being felt by processors and farmers alike.    In this episode Alistair McLaren spoke with Chris Gooderham, AHDB’s Head of Market Specialists, to understand how the industry is being affected un...

In this episode, we hear from two of our market analysts about the impact of coronavirus on pork markets, both in the UK and around the world. Demand Pork demand has fared better than some of the other proteins, with an uplift in supermarket sales compensating in some way for the loss in the foodservice market. However, fresh pork sales have dropped in more recent weeks and we are beginning to see...

In this episode AHDB’s Grass and Forage Scientist Siwan Howatson talks to silage expert and researcher Dr. Dave Davies about the results of a recent AHDB funded project investigating clamp silage slippage and how to avoid silage slippage this season.   You can learn more about the findings from the study by watching our webinar .   For the latest research and advice on grass, forage and soil manag...

We caught up with Professor Rosemary Collier of the Warwick Crop Centre and discussed the work being done at Wellesbourne through live projects to advance current aphid control methods. 

Welcome to another short episode of the AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds podcast on markets Following this week’s news about the unprecedented drop in the price of oil, AHDB’s arable market specialists discuss what this means for the cereals and oilseeds sector. The team discuss both the domestic and global trends, as well as the latest on how coronavirus continues to affect markets. For more informati...

Farmers and growers are used to managing changing situations, weather, pests and crop diseases. But how to manage the human health implications of the Coronavirus pandemic is a whole different matter. Or is it? Protecting people’s health alongside the need to keep the tractor wheels turning and the pickers working has taken some dynamic management. Suffolk-based, Velcourt Farm manager Ben Martin a...

The closure of restaurants and cafes during the Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on dairy farmers supplying milk to the food service.  In this episode Knowledge Exchange Manager Steve West talks to business consultant Neil Wilson (SAB Advisory Ltd.) about how to reduce input costs and manage cashflow during periods of low milk price. You can hear more from Neil along with Veterinary...

The so-called farm to fork journey is sometimes brief and straight forward,  when food is sold via local farm shops or butchers but some markets are thousands of miles away.  In this podcast John Bates talks to a special guest, live from Beijing who work with us to put British produce on tables, in front of families, in China. Holly Chen, our China representative based in Beijing, shares her perso...

Welcome to the second podcast in our series which focuses purely on how the coronavirus outbreak is affecting the beef and lamb sector. In this episode we hear from AHDB’s Retail Insight Manager, Rebecca Gladman, who provides an update on current retail trends and meat category performance in-store, as well as our Senior Consumer Insight Manager, Steven Evans, who discusses the effect in which the...