Agricology Podcast

In the final episode of the series, we explore how the island's farmers have diversified their businesses to adapt to changing markets and build resilience for the future. Along the way, we'll discover how these new enterprises are creating benefits that extend far beyond the farm gate, supporting local jobs, producing essential goods and services, creating educational opportunities, and helping people reconnect with the land and the food they eat. Episode guests Alisa Currie Ailsa Currie set up and runs the visitor and education programme at Bellevue Farm, a family-run beef, sheep and arable farm located near Blackwaterfoot. The farm welcomes tourists, families and students to learn about farming, experience local food and build a deeper connection with Arran's landscape and natural environment. Bellevue also hosts a regular farmer's market in partnership with other local food producers. Kenny Bone Kenny Bone is a mixed farmer at Glenkiln Farm who also runs a livery business, indoor riding arena, holiday lets, a hydroelectric energy scheme, and is the co-owner of The Drift Inn in Lamlash - alongside several other enterprises! Kenny is interested in caring for Arran's environment and is involved with many local organisations, including Arran Economic Group, Arran Development Trust and the local Forestry Commission panel as well as hosting the Arran Farmers Show. He was awarded Diversified Farm of the Year and the Champion of Champions award at the Scottish Agriculture Awards in 2024. Colin Mackenzie Colin Mackenzie successfully transitioned his family farm business away from dairy and now runs Mackenzie Logs - supplying seasoned firewood across the island. He also has a small herd of beef breeding cattle and store lambs. Alistair Dobson Alongside his role of Managing Director at Arran Dairies which he runs with his son Matthew, Alistair Dobson is Managing Director of Taste of Arran, a collaborative business that promotes, sells, and distributes food and drink from 10 SME producers on Arran to markets in the UK and abroad. Alistair is also the founding Chairman of VisitArran and a founding member of the Arran Economic Group focused on fostering community development and preserving Arran's cultural and natural heritage.

From the early days of crofting and subsistence farming to the present day, animal protein has provided an essential and highly valuable source of nutrients for Arran's population. While sheep and beef production have always been central to Arran's farming economy, venison is now also being embraced as a sustainable protein source that can help to combat the growing threat that the wild deer population poses to island ecosystems. In this first episode of our new series Agroecology Around Arran, we explore how the production of meat on Arran embraces the ethos of agroecology, how farmers are working together to reduce carbon emissions from livestock farming, and what we can learn from their example. Guests Alistair Currie Alistair talks to us about his livestock farm based in the Shiskine Valley. He maintains a herd of around around 30 native-breed beef cattle which are fed on pasture and home-grown silage. Colin Currie Colin Currie is an upland hill farmer who has been farming sheep and beef at Bridge Farm with his wife Laura since the 1970s. Bridge Farm is situated within a SSSI-designated site that is home to a rich diversity of flora and fauna. Colin uses his innate knowledge of the land to create a low-input livestock system that has allowed him to reduce reliance on external markets, maximise animal welfare, and work in harmony with the surrounding ecosystem. Zoë Hughes Zoë Hughes runs Wild Isle Venison with her partner Chris. Their work aims to honour the deer that are harvested alongside protecting the natural landscape on Arran and strengthening the local food chain. Zoë is passionate about sustainable, affordable meat that has a positive impact on the environment. Wild Isle Venison works to reconnect producers and consumers, processing venison in small batches and selling to local residents, chefs and businesses across the island. Alec Pirie Alec Pirie is a Senior Consultant and Area Manager for SAC Consulting. Alec works with over 120 clients across Scotland and has a particular interest in carbon, climate and conservation. He has also recently completed a Master's degree in Wildlife, Conservation and Management. Alec started the Net Zero Arran group in 2019. This aim of this group of farmers is to quantify the island's agricultural carbon footprint and take collective action to improve it. Find out more about the series here.

This is the last episode of a new series exploring agroforestry, in which we use the elements as a framework to deepen understanding and challenge assumptions around trees on farms. The overarching aim is to explore how trees on farms contribute to more than just individual functions, holding the ability to transform whole landscapes and ecosystems. This episode dives into the human element of agroforestry. Wallace Currie welcomes Andy Dibben, Bid Webb and Dr Jonathan Code who focus on the educational and social dimensions that shape how agroforestry is understood and adopted. We explore the importance of co-design, community networks, shared knowledge, and long-term relationships in building agroforestry systems that work for both land and livelihoods. Show notes: Find out more about the series here. Explore the Agricology Agroforestry Hub here.

This is the third episode of a new series exploring agroforestry, in which we use the elements as a framework to deepen understanding and challenge assumptions around trees on farms. The overarching aim is to explore how trees on farms contribute to more than just individual functions, holding the ability to transform whole landscapes and ecosystems. This episode investigates how trees improve soil biology, structure and fertility. Wallace Currie is joined by Lincolnshire farmer Thomas Gent and Professor Paul Burgess to explore how agroforestry systems can play a fundamental role in supporting life below ground, supporting nutrient cycling, and offering knock-on benefits for landscape productivity, ecology and climate resilience. Show notes: Find out more about the series here. Explore the Agricology Agroforestry Hub here.

This is the first episode of a new series exploring agroforestry, in which we use the elements as a framework to deepen understanding and challenge assumptions around trees on farms. The overarching aim is to explore how trees on farms contribute to more than just individual functions, holding the ability to transform whole landscapes and ecosystems. 'Water' includes exploring how trees impact flood risk, rainfall, and soil moisture. Guest podcaster Wallace Currie is joined by Ben Raskin, Head of Agroforestry at the Soil Association and co-organiser of the Agroforestry Show, who brings a wealth of knowledge about using trees effectively to manage extremes of water in a changing climate. Colin Tosh, Senior Agroforestry Researcher at the Organic Research Centre talks about his work modelling agroforestry systems to understand how trees impact water on farms through their influence on rainfall interception, soil characteristics, and microclimates. Vicki Hird, a lady of many hats, including being Strategic Lead on Agriculture at The Wildlife Trusts, touches on the challenges of water pollution caused by agriculture and sewage companies and how agroforestry can help tackle these issues, and talks about her work with lowland peat soils. Find out more about the series here. Explore the Agricology Agroforestry Hub here.

We are joined by the Sustainable Food Trust's Senior Researcher Robert Barbour for our sixth episode of this season. Tune in to discussions surrounding methane, carbon footprints, and the complexities and challenges of measuring environmental impacts associated with livestock. Robert draws on his experiences as a researcher and his family farm (an upland beef and sheep farm that also produces timber in Highland Perthshire, just north of Pitlochry), to dive into the positive role livestock can play from a food systems and environmental perspective. He considers grazing strategies, livestock breeds, and the role herbal leys can play, whilst emphasising the productivity levels that can be achieved in pasture-based systems. He points out his family farm is running a system that has very low levels of inputs so what determines their carrying capacity is largely what the land can naturally support, and one limiting factor for them is a lack of early season grass growth. Show notes: Explore the two papers by Hannah Van Zanten, the paper Robert wrote with Richard Young and Michael Wilkinson that looks at the production of meat and milk from grass, the Agricology profile of his family farm, and learn more about GWP and GWP* here: https://tinyurl.com/5dr8kv75

In this fourth episode we are joined by renowned conservation grazier Bill Grayson who brings us his perspective on the concept of optimal carrying capacity and the way that it is deployed within the system he and his wife Cath run as part of the Morecambe Bay Conservation Grazing Company. He discusses how they go about planning putting animals on to a piece of land, the various practical considerations, and the role livestock play and the benefits they can bring to the land, along with the main challenges in relation to the conservation grazing picture against a backdrop of a pervading opinion of ruminants causing climate change. We touch on the impacts of stocking rate, forage management, breed selection, extended calving period, the set stocking versus mob grazing approach, and the difference between 'maximum sustainable output' (essentially an economic interpretation) and optimal carrying capacity, and how it fits with agroecological principles. Show notes: Read about the Chillingham cattle, explore the 'Less is more' report and the 'Farming for Change' model Bill refers to, and access another interesting read recommended by Bill here: https://tinyurl.com/5dr8kv75

In this episode we are joined by Dr Lindsay Whistance, Senior Livestock Researcher at the Organic Research Centre. Lindsay, who started her working life as a dairy herds-woman, comes to the conversation through the lens of animal welfare. The episode is an enlightening exploration of thoughts and ideas relating to optimal carrying capacity. It covers topics including the important partnership between humans and livestock which can be lost when animals are reduced to being just a tool, and the need for wider acknowledgement of animals' fundamental place in the ecology of a landscape, being critically important to ecological health. Lindsay touches on how we can provide for animal's needs, farming in a way that allows animals to adopt natural behaviours, and approaches that can help balance the relationship between human, animal and environment. She also considers peoples different conceptions of "good animal welfare" and the challenges associated with focusing on health in the round. Show notes: Access the David Fraser paper and the poem by William Henry Davis that Lindsay mentions here: https://tinyurl.com/5dr8kv75.

This episode features our visit to Three Hagges where we were shown around by Woodmeadow officer Dan Carne & one of the founders Ros Forbes Adam. They talk about what a woodmeadow is, potential relevance to farmers, layout of the site, how it was created & is now managed, tips for farmers interested in putting some land over to a combination of woodland & meadow, & thoughts about wider scale adoption of woodmeadows & agroforestry. It is produced as part of 'A National Network of Agroforestry Farms' project. View accompanying notes & site photographs here.

In this episode we explore the science and practice of biofumigation - the use of a temporary brassica (mustard) cover crop to help manage soil pathogens and weeds. Katie Bliss introduces footage from a webinar which features researcher Dr Matthew Back (Harper Adams University) and Alec Roberts (Tozer Seeds) in a lively discussion with a group of growers innovating with enhancing diversity in protected cropping as part of the DiverIMPACTS project.

In this episode we hear from organic mixed min till farmer John Pawsey & arable conservation ag no-till farmer Clive Bailye in featured footage from an online event 'Know your soils and know your sales' that took place in July 2020 as part of OF&G's NOCC, with support from the AHDB. Renowned broadcaster Charlotte Smith leads the conversation which focuses on their approaches & practices they deploy that equip their farming businesses with resilience in light of the many environmental & economic challenges.

Iain Tolhurst runs one of the longest running stock-free organic vegetable farms in England. In this episode we talk to him about his involvement in the Farm System Health project - which brought together international farmers who have established personal philosophies & strategies of best practice that make them successful in running healthy farms & producing healthy food. We ask him what farm system health means to him & how he relates his practices to the 10 principles of health defined in the project.

In this episode, we explore ideas around land sharing and sparing; considering how to balance the need for sustainable food production with the need to protect the environment and wild spaces in the future. The discussion is hosted by Charlotte Smith and recorded as part of NOCC online in partnership with OF&G. Featuring Sue Pritchard; Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, Roger Kerr; OF&G, Bruce Pearce; Organic Research Centre, and Vicki Hird from Sustain: The Alliance for Better Food and Farming.