Today we’re back with Field to Front Door 🎙️

David, Martin and Wallace catching up again, with plenty happening around SFI, regenerative farming, biodiversity and David’s ever expanding direct selling business.

A big part of this episode was the latest SFI debacle, with David explaining how he spent hours preparing a £51,000 application only for the funding to run out before he could submit it. We chatted about the uncertainty this creates for farmers, particularly those trying to change their farming systems while keeping their businesses afloat.

We also got into Martin’s recent bird survey, which recorded 514 birds across 45 species, including eight red listed species! That led into a really interesting discussion around biodiversity, soil health, leaving fields green over winter and whether sometimes doing less can actually achieve more.

David’s direct selling venture continues to grow too, with lamb boxes now joining the mix and farmers from further afield getting involved. We spoke about the power of social media, the challenges of scaling a business and why dealing directly with customers can be so much more rewarding than traditional wholesale markets.

Alongside that we chatted about the Farmers Weekly Awards, growing crops with fewer inputs, grain quality, the price of lamb and why farmers need to find ways of keeping more of the value from what they produce.

We’re keeping this going fortnightly, so feel free to send us any ideas or topics you’d like us to get into.

Enjoy! 🙂

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we’re back with Field to Front Door, David, Martin and Wallace catching up as plans for next season start taking shape, with plenty on heritage grains, direct selling and experimenting with different ways of growing crops.

David has made another impulse purchase, this time a roller mill, which led us into naked oats, porridge and swapping grain with Martin. We also got into heritage varieties, why bakers and millers are increasingly interested in them and whether older, taller varieties could offer another route towards growing crops with fewer inputs.

That brought us back to the ongoing no input experiments. We chatted about mixed varieties, soil disturbance, weed control, cover crops and the economics of reducing inputs when conventional crops can cost so much to establish before you even know what they’ll yield.

The direct selling experiment has moved pretty quickly too. Just over a month in, David is now bringing together produce from loads of different farms, with vegetables, fruit, milk and meat all heading directly to customers. There have been a few casualties along the way, particularly the eggs 😂, but some weeks are already seeing thousands of pounds worth of produce going out.

We also got into the bigger question of what food is actually worth, how much of that value reaches the farmer and whether becoming more efficient has really benefited producers when machinery and input costs have risen so dramatically.

We’re keeping this going fortnightly, so feel free to send us any ideas or topics you’d like us to get into.

Enjoy! 🙂

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we’re back with Field to Front Door 🎙️

David, Martin and Wallace catching up after a couple of weeks away, with harvest largely behind us and attention starting to turn towards what comes next.

A big part of this one was David’s growing direct selling venture. We chatted about everything from vegetables, milk and meat through to eggs, delivery companies and whether bringing produce from multiple farmers together could create something genuinely competitive while still giving the farmer a fairer share.

We also got into SFI and what it actually means for farmers. David talked through some of the options he’s considering, while Martin questioned whether schemes like this really reward the farmers who have already spent years changing how they farm.

There was plenty on low input farming too. Martin shared the results from around 100 acres grown with virtually no inputs, the money saved on fertiliser and sprays, mixed cropping with peas and cereals, and why yield alone doesn’t necessarily tell you whether a crop has made money.

And the Johnson Sue experiments continue, with David now treating oilseed rape seed and leaving untreated areas to see whether they can actually spot a difference as the crop develops.

We’re keeping this going fortnightly, so feel free to send us any ideas or topics you’d like us to get into.

Enjoy! 🙂

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.