Farmerama

In the second episode of our 2026 summer series, Farmerama hears from Sheila Das, Head of Gardens and Parks at the National Trust. She reflects on regenerative agriculture’s influence on gardening, argues for less combative language (rejecting terms like “maintenance” and “ornamental”), and more focus on soil, roots, process, and seeing weeds as signals in living systems. Josiah Meldrum of Hodmedod introduces their forthcoming cookbook Whole Food (DK), framed as both recipes and a “recipe” for food-system change by “eating the rotation,” reviving stigmatized dishes like gruel and pottage, and valuing diverse UK arable crops and bi-cropping. You can pre-order Whole Food here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/hodmedods Anand Ethirajalu of Conscious Planet outlines Cauvery Calling’s agroforestry-led plan (2.42 billion trees; 140 million planted), organic nurseries, and Save Soil’s farmer training (50,000 trained; one-third transitioned), emphasising farm accounting and net profit. Finally, baker and historian Chloe-Rose Crabtree of SOURCED Journeys discusses “Sugar season,” linking sugar’s technical uses to histories of slavery and ongoing exploitation, questioning ethical sourcing, exploring unrefined sugars like piloncillo/panela. Read or pitch to SOURCED here: https://www.sourcedjourneys.com/blog *** If you would like to support Farmerama to keep on sharing the stories of the regenerative farming community, there are lots of different ways you can help: Sign up for our monthly newsletter here. facebook.us12.list-manage.com/subscribe?…5e20dde279 Become a community supporter on Patreon here. www.patreon.com/farmerama Show the world how much you love Farmerama by wearing one of our Farmerama caps – available here. farmerama-radio-ltd.square.site/ If you are a business who is aligned with our vision for crafting a positive ecological future rooted in the people on the land and seas, you can become a commercial supporter of the show. Read more about our mission and what we do here. drive.google.com/file/d/1yupfV514…view?usp=sharing

SOIL: Common Ground is a three-part podcast series produced by Somerset House exploring what soil can teach us about being human, through the lens of art. Our Future is tied to the future of our soil. Our decisions as to how we care for and use it matter. Soil teaches us that cycles are ongoing, and even in decline every day offers us opportunities for new beginnings. In this final episode Shenece Oretha explores the regenerative qualities of soil and composting as a model for personal redemption. We hear from Palestinian grower Mohammed Saleh whose life story offers a personal story of hope, looking at how permaculture and art can help to heal the destructive impacts of war. Somerset Studios artist Harun Morrision’s singing compost invites us to see decay in a new light and Fin Jordâo lays out how composting can be a radical action for rethinking our relationships with each other and the planet. Does the future hold a closer, more natural relationship with the soil by rethinking our relationship to burial? Radical undertaker Ru Callander reconsiders our attitude to death. The series launches off from the Somerset House exhibition SOIL: The World at Our Feet. Presented by Shenece Oretha Produced by Jo Barratt and Alannah Chance Exec produced by Alannah Chance and Eleanor Ritter-Scott. The series is mixed by Mike Woolley Original music by Andrew Pekler. This series is part of the Somerset House Podcast.

This month we start at Folx Farm in Sussex with new entrant farmers Chrissy, Rae and Dunia. Next, we learn about the power of a composting network with Thomas Daniell and catch up with food activist and grower Jo Kamal about attending La Via Campesina’s international conference last year in Brazil, as part of the Landworkers’ Alliance. To finish, we ask Marco Carbonara about his experience learning to grow olives in Italy.

What do we do about meat? With this urgent question as its starting point, this series seeks to move beyond polarised debate and identify key questions and shared values to help us build a better meat future for all. In this final episode, co-hosts Katie Revell and Olivia Oldham reflect on everything they’ve heard over the course of the series, thinking about what they personally have learned and considering what common ground has been found amongst the values and priorities of everyone they’ve spoken to.

What do we do about meat? With this urgent question as its starting point, this series seeks to move beyond polarised debate and identify key questions and shared values to help us build a better meat future for all. In episode 6, co-hosts Olivia Oldham and Katie Revell explore questions of food justice as they relate to less and better meat. By speaking to food producers, researchers and eaters, they explore whether less and better meat risks entrenching existing injustices, or could support a transition to a fairer, more equitable food system.

What do we do about meat? With this urgent question as its starting point, this series seeks to move beyond polarised debate and identify key questions and shared values to help us build a better meat future for all. In episode 4, co-hosts Katie Revell and Olivia Oldham ask: why do we use land the way we do, and how should we use it in the future? They meet with farmers, academics and land management advisors, to delve into the history of land use in the UK, reflecting on the cultural and political factors that continue to shape it, and looking for common ground between advocates of different approaches.

What do we do about meat? With this urgent question as its starting point, this series seeks to move beyond polarised debate and identify key questions and shared values to help us build a better meat future for all. In episode 2, co-hosts Katie Revell and Olivia Oldham meet a climate scientist, along with regenerative and organic farmers across the UK, to discuss the complex ways that animal agriculture interacts with our natural environment. From how we measure emissions of greenhouse gases, to what we feed our animals, and which management systems we use, they ask – what is the place of farmers when it comes to less and better meat? Thank you to everyone on our Patreon. Your support helps us in bringing you the stories of regenerative farming around the world, each month. We appreciate it. If you'd like to join, please visit patreon.com/farmerama where you can choose your level of support.