Meet the Farmers

Mike Duxbury is the co-founder of Inclusive Farm , along with  Ness Shillito. After a career in the wider agricultural sector and then at Vodafone, Mike saw the farm as his next step. Blind from  the age of 6, inspiring disabled people and people with special needs is Mike's focus, through the means of farming.  Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast prod...

Find Zoe on Instagram here . Today we’re heading across to the US, to Ohio to meet 8th generation farmer Zoe Kent. Zoe grows 2000 acres of corn and soybeans and she has amassed a whopping 420,000 followers across Facebook, Tiktok and Instagram sharing her farming life. She graduated from college in 2017 and worked for her dad Mickey as an employee before becoming a partner in 2019 and taking on th...

Today we’re heading to Denbighshire in Wales to meet dairy and beef farmer Huw Foulkes. Huw was brought up on a dairy farm but was initially put off farming when he saw his father having to sell his herd. He got the farming bug at college though and ended up re-establishing a dairy on his family’s farm with a micro-dairy of 15 red polls. For his beef he crosses Welsh black heifers with Wagyu bulls...

Today we’re heading to Wiltshire to meet arable and beef farmer Ben Cooper. Ben farms 800 acres alongside his brother and father in the Pewsey Vale of Wiltshire, growing wheat, barley, oats and canary seed as well as producing hay and straw. As well as the cattle and the crops Ben has helped the family diversify into 'pick your own pumpkins' and Christmas trees, and he also works off farm carrying...

Today we are heading to Shropshire to the Oteley Estate which has been in the Mainwaring family for 500 years. Ben's guest is Clare Mainwaring who runs the 2000 acre estate with her husband Ian. Clare and Ian rear two herds of native British cattle – Shorthorns and Highlands, they have a flock of sheep and some pigs. They’re also not afraid of trying new things and in recent years have launched pr...

Niels Corfield is an agricultural consultant based in Norfolk. You can find out more by visiting his website - Home - Regenerative agriculture consultancy for farmers and landowners (nielscorfield.com) Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency.  Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer can be found he...

Today Ben meets Rachael McGrath who is a dairy farmer based in south west Victoria in Australia. She farms with her dad and the herd is made up of stud Jerseys, Brown Swiss and some cross breeds. They also have sheep and horses on the farm.  Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency.  Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice...

Ben heads to New Zealand this week to meet Norwegian dairy and beef farmer Ola Utgaard. Ola farms in Lesja which is 2 hours south of Trondheim in Norway but is currently working away in New Zealand.  Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency.  Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer can be found here...

For the last episode of the year Ben is joined by Sue Pritchard (CEO at Food, Farming and Countryside Commission), Stuart Roberts (Hertfordshire farmer and former Deputy President of the NFU), Jez Fredenburgh (agri-food journalist and knowledge exchange fellow at Agrifood for Net Zero Plus) and Ranald Angus (Caithness arable farmer) to round up the year and take part in this year's 'Big Farming Qu...

Andrew Court runs the family’s 275-acre mixed farm with his mother and brother. The rotation includes winter wheat, spring oats, spring peas and winter barley as well as oil seed rape. Andrew studied agricultural engineering at Harper Adams before returning to the family farm. He is also involved with the Institute of Agricultural Engineers, is the new chair of the Farmers Club under 35s committee...

Today we’re in Shropshire meeting farm manager Michael Kavanagh who is also a founding director of The Green Farm Collective, a company set up for knowledge exchange, to trade carbon and biodiversity and regeneratively farmed produce. Michael has also previously managed farms in North Yorkshire and Essex. In 2014 he transitioned 600 acres of the arable farm that he currently manages to zero till a...

Christmas is coming so Ben heads to Essex to speak to turkey farmer Paul Kelly of Kelly Turkeys.  Ben last visited Paul in episode 8 of the podcast in June 2017.  Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency.  Please note that this podcast does not constitute advice. Our podcast disclaimer can be found here.  About Ben and  RuralPod Media Ben...

We’re heading to the US today and meeting the stars of the Discover Ag podcast – New Mexico dairy farmer Tara Vander Dussen and Nebraska based rancher Natalie Kovarik. Discover Ag sets out to discuss ‘agriculture you can relate to’, connect listeners with farmers and explore the food system. As well as the podcast Tara and Natalie formed Elevate Ag which helps producers to tell their story online ...

Today Ben speaks to a man who is no stranger to agri podcasting or indeed broadcast journalism in general - Surrey farmer and Farmers Weekly podcast host Hugh Broom. Hugh worked full time as a broadcast journalist in radio for 10 years first in local radio in Reading before moving to Capital Radio, LBC and Classic FM in London and then going part time with BBC Radio Five Live doing news and travel...

Today on the show we’re meeting Lancashire based beef and arable farmer Amy Wilkinson who farms with her family on 285ha of tenanted land. As well as their arable rotation the Wilkinsons raise 650 dairy crosses up to finishing. Amy is also a columnist with Farmers Guardian.  Meet the Farmers is produced by RuralPod Media, the only specialist rural podcast production agency.  Please note that this...

Today on the show we're talking sheep and Ben is meeting Matt Blyth who is a livestock advisor and has many years of experience managing sheep. Born and bred in Lincolnshire, Matt did a course at Northumberland College specialising in sheep and beef and then went on to work with a number of sheep flocks - from assisting a shepherd on an 1800 ewe flock in Hampshire to running a 540-ewe flock near B...

Today we’re in Leicestershire and Ben is meeting fifth generation dairy farmer Amy Egglestone who some of you will know better as ‘the dairy daughter’ on Instagram. Amy and her family run a 600-cow dairy herd on a New Zealand-style grazing and spring calving system. As well as her life on the farm she is also a rural marketing specialist and is the Director of Pastures Green Communications which s...

Ben has teamed up with the Forestry Commission once again to make this mini-series focussed on trees on farms. In this series we are asking three questions focussed on the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of farm woodland management. In the first episode we asked why we need to improve our management of farm woodlands in the UK in the first place? Then in episode 2 we had a question time format asking ‘wha...

Ben has teamed up with the Forestry Commission once again to make this mini-series focussed on trees on farms. In this series we are asking three questions focussed on the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of farm woodland management. In the first episode we were asking why we need to improve our management of farm woodlands in the UK in the first place? In this second episode we have a question time format...

Ben has teamed up with the Forestry Commission once again to make this mini-series focussed on trees on farms. In this series we are asking three questions focussed on the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of farm woodland management. In this first episode we’ll be asking why we need to improve our management of farm woodlands in the UK in the first place? Then in episode 2 we’ll have a question time format...

Today we’re marking the 5th anniversary of Just Farmers, which if you don’t know it, is a unique communications project for British agriculture. It was founded by agri journalist Anna Jones following her Nuffield Scholarship and has seen dozens of farmers pass through its doors. So today we’re going to reflect back on those 5 years, ask what Just Farmers is all about, how it helps farmers and the...

Today we’re heading to Hertfordshire to meet arable farmer Eveey Hunter who alongside her role on the family farm wide hustles for two haulage businesses, does some consultancy work and is a current member of the Next Generation Forum for the NFU. Eveey chose to not go down the academic route and learnt on the job working for grain storage and haulage companies before returning to her family’s far...

The Agroforestry Show was held on 6th-7th September 2023 and was organised by The Soil Association and the Woodland Trust.  Many thanks to all of the contributors to this podcast episode including Helen Browning, Ben Raskin, Rhodri Owen, Liam Armstrong, Connor Kendrew, Chris Jones, James Ramskir Gardiner and Will Simonson.  For more information on the Agroforestry Show click here . For the Agrofor...

Today we’re heading to the Yorkshire Dales, to near Skipton to speak to sheep and beef farmer Tom Carlisle who keeps 650 ewes, 30 suckler cattle and 2 pygmy goats on 420 acres of land. He’s also recently diversified into glamping pods. On Instagram he is known as 'dalesfarmer' and you may know him for his quite fantastic lamb national reels. Tom married his wife Aimee a little over a year ago and...

Pigs are back on the podcast today and Ben is joined by Mark Jagger who is based in Suffolk and works as Assistant Grower Farms Manager for BQP. BQP breeds and rears over a million pigs a year using a number of different systems including outdoor born, straw finished, RSPCA Freedom Food Assured, free range and organic. They have around 30 per cent of the UK market share making them the largest pig...