Tag: farm

John Holmyard – Lowest carbon protein aka mussels: it’s food, not a high tech unicorn

A conversation with John Holmyard, founder and managing director of Offshore Shellfish, 21st century mussel farming: guilt-free food that helps regenerate marine biodiversity and captures carbon. We talk about protein. With a growing population, we need more and more of it. So, what is the lowest impact and positive impact protein source we can grow? A deep dive into the largest offshore mussel farm in Europe, where they grow large amounts of mussels by grazing large number of plankton that naturally flows by. And, in case you are wondering, there is so much plankton around because we depleted most of the fish stocks that used to eat a lot of it.

We learn all about how to build the largest mussel farm in the UK and how to deal with regulators who have no idea what shellfish farming even means (they think you hunt mussels in the wild). We explore why mussels are such a potential crop to grow, and they can even restore natural mussel reefs, which used to be present all around the North Sea until we started bottom-trawling. And why are politics fundamental to the business when all of your crop goes fresh to mainland Europe?

Chris Smaje – High tech manufactured food won’t save us. Spread money, people and energy more thinly instead

A conversation with Chris Smaje, farmer and author of Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future, about manufactured food not being the solution to the food, agriculture, and climate crises, despite what George Monbiot portraits in Regenesis. Why don’t we just grow food from thin air and all move to cities and have nature rewild the countryside? If this sounds dystopian to you, this conversation is perfect for you. We unpack the many issues with that worldview and how it most likely creates more problems than it solves. There are huge technical challenges with this kind of manufactured food, like energy costs and health. But this is about much more; this is also about the concentration of people, capital, and power in cities and the rural-urban divide.

Matteo Mazzola – Walking the land of Iside Farm with a regenerative farmer

This is a special episode, the first one ever of the Walking the Land with a Regenerative Farmer, where we walk the land of the farm with a farmer while we talk about regeneration. 

Walking through Iside Farm on the Iseo Lake in Italy, with regenerative farmer Matteo Mazzola, we unlock the secrets of regenerative agriculture as we traverse the innovative landscapes crafted by Matteo, Paola and the Iside crew. We embark on a profound exploration of sustainable farming, showcasing Matteo’s expertise in farm design, water systems, and the integration of olive trees and animals into the land. Learn how access ways are more than just paths across a farm; they’re a vital component in the flow of energy and resources, helping to prevent erosion with concrete strips and alfalfa, and offering additional crop space. Matteo’s wisdom extends to the creative reuse of shipping containers, illustrating a commitment to terraforming that marries functionality with environmental stewardship.

Heather Terry – If you sit in a boardroom, you have the responsibility and obligation to visit the farm where the food is produced

A conversation with Heather Terry, CEO and founder of GoodSam Foods, about how an exit from a chocolate company led to a female-led consumer goods company, how education of consumers is key, networks vs. chains, multi-crop buying, and much more.

Every CEO and high-ranking manager working in food companies should be obligated to visit the farms and farmers they source from. So many decisions in the board rooms would be taken differently.

With Heather we dig into a story of a company about how an exit in a chocolate company led to a female led consumer good company focussing on chocolate, coffee, nuts and dried fruits. Preferably sourced from the same farmers paying them 2 to 3 times as much, marketed and sold throughout the US in Whole Foods and online and only being 2 years old. How is that possible? And why, according to Heather, is this the only way forward?

Millán Millán – Farm water at its proper scale

A conversation with Dr Millán Millán, director of the Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo (CEAM),about restoring the small water cycle, why the summer storms and rains have disappeared and how this turned out to be connected to massive snows in the UK, and massive floods in Central Europe and much more.

James Arthur Smith – Regenerative aquaculture is more healthy for you and the planet than wild caught fish

James Arthur Smith, founder of Seatopia, pioneering Regenerative Aquaculture for the Direct-To-Consumer Markets, shares about aquaculture, the challenges with unsustainable feed, concentrated pollution, commodified markets and more.

Boris Spassky on building the biggest organic almond farm in France and making it investable

Boris Spassky, cofounder of Greenpods, joins us to talk about the critical role of project developers, creating bankable investable projects, the funds being raised and the missing deal flow.

Benedikt Bösel, updates from the 3000h German farm in transition

A check in interview with Benedikt Boesel, German farmer in transition to regenerative agriculture. Benedikt has been the co-host of our special series on Transition Finance for Farmers in 2020.

Kellie Walters on how an Australian input company is helping China to regenerate 20 million acres

A conversation with Kellie Walters, CEO of VRM Biologik, about the different processes and programs they provide on a smaller scale, regional scale, national scale to the Food and Agriculture space in Australia, Malaysia, the USA, and China.

Mellany Klompe, leading regen farmer going all in on nutrient density

A conversation with Mellany Klompe, the Co-founder of Soil Heroes and the Director of the Soil Heroes Foundation about how measuring nutrient density is key towards having farmers as well as consumers on board with regenerative transition.