Today we’re back with Field to Front Door 🎙️

David, Martin and Wallace catching up right in the middle of what can only be described as peak peony madness.

A big part of this episode focused on the realities of direct selling during the busiest part of the season. We got into subscription boxes, picking peonies at exactly the right stage, managing labour, and the challenge of trying to get a product from field to customer as fresh as possible.

There was also a fascinating discussion around logistics and delivery. David shared the story of dealing with thousands of parcels during peony season, the impact of bank holidays, working with DPD and the reality that one delay can suddenly create hundreds of customer messages, emails and problems to solve.

We also spoke about tractor runs, community events and how those sorts of gatherings help connect farming with the wider public. Alongside that there was plenty of chat around direct selling, customer loyalty and why looking after existing customers is often more important than constantly chasing new ones.

One of the strongest themes throughout was value. Not just the value of a product, but understanding what it is actually worth, building trust with customers and creating systems that allow farmers to keep more of the value from what they produce.

We’re going to keep this going fortnightly for now and see where it takes us. If you’ve got ideas on what we should cover or who we should bring in, send them our way.

Enjoy! 🙂

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

Today we’re back with Field to Front Door 🎙️

David, Martin and Wallace this time chatting right in the middle of peony season pressure, with everything starting to speed up very quickly on farm.

A big part of this episode was around direct selling and how different things become when you’re dealing with the customer yourself rather than supermarkets. We got into the reality of picking peonies at the right stage, managing subscriptions, handling labour pressure and trying to deliver quality at exactly the right moment.

There was also a really interesting discussion around regenerative farming and soil biology, with Martin explaining everything from cover crops and reduced tillage through to microbes, seed treatments and why farming systems have changed so much over the last few decades.

We also spoke a lot about social media and building value around what you produce. From apples and peonies through to grains and direct selling, the conversation kept coming back to the idea that farmers have more value in their products than they often realise if they can build trust and connect with people properly.

Alongside all of that there were the usual stories and tangents, from Chelsea Flower Show and tourists stripping apple orchards bare through to agroecology on Arran and the challenge of keeping farming viable in very different parts of the country.

We’re going to keep this going fortnightly for now and see where it takes us. If you’ve got ideas on what we should cover or who we should bring in, send them our way.

Enjoy! 🙂

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

Field to Front Door – Episode 6 on regenerative farming, soil biology and getting out your comfort zone

Today we’re back with Field to Front Door 🎙️

David, Martin and Wallace this time getting really stuck into regenerative farming, soil health and what changing systems on farm actually looks like in practice.

A big focus of this episode was David starting to move parts of the farm towards lower input and regenerative approaches, with Martin explaining everything from soil biology and cover crops through to seed treatments, ploughing depth and why modern systems may have stripped so much life out of soils over time.

We also got into the balance between wanting to farm differently and the reality that changing systems is scary when your business depends on it working. There was a really interesting discussion around biology, fertiliser dependency and whether farming can move back towards building healthier soils rather than constantly feeding crops directly.

Alongside all of that there was still plenty of the usual mix of stories and tangents, from agroecology on Arran through to David somehow finding himself at leadership events, embassy receptions and talking about peonies with people from all over the world.

We’re going to keep this going fortnightly for now and see where it takes us. If you’ve got ideas on what we should cover or who we should bring in, send them our way.

Enjoy! 🙂

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