The Farmacy – Details, episodes & analysis

Rachel and Charlie speak to John Hartley, CEO of Levidian, a decarbonisation tech company, founded and based in UK.

https://www.levidian.com/

Their tech deals with the issue, so frequently discussed, of methane production by cattle and is already in place at Worthy Farm, Somerset.

Is this the answer to decarbonising agriculture while maintaining a viable business model for farmers?

The Election Special: Charlie and Rachel review the main political manifestos in advance of the 2024 General Election.  They review what each party is promising and how they believe this stacks up against the reality on the ground for Health, Farming and Food. If your health, what you eat and British Farming is important to you, then this is a mandatory listen before 4th July!

1:15 Introduction to the Election Special

3:00 The last 14 years under the Conservatives and what they are promising.

11:50 The Labour Manifesto

22:20 Liberal Democrats manifesto

27:15 The Green Party manifesto and The Reform Party

30:00 Our take home thoughts

Episode 7: Charlie and Rachel speak to Rosa Holt @foodandfarmingdietician, an NHS critical care dietician who is also passionate about organic farming and sustainable food and farming. She sits on the Sustainable diets committee for the British Dietetics Association and is also an advisor for the Soil Association. Charlie and Rachel dig deep into the potential of organic produce while balancing this with affordability, availability and environmental impact.

1:30 Intro

3:00 Introducing Rosa Holt

5:00 The health benefits of organic produce

6:15 Nutrient density in organic plants and potential health benefits

12:00 Healthy behaviours of people eating organic produce

12:50 Environmental benefits of organic principles

13:50 Deficiencies in the diet

16:00 Affordability of organic food

19:00 The Food Strategy,  https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/

21:00 More on affordability and education

25:00 Is an organic diet truly better?

27:00 Traditional mixed farming benefits

28:45 Can we feed ourselves organically?

32:50 Genetic modification/Gene editing

34:08 Rosa's wild turkeys

37:55 The cost of organic farming and crop yields

43:00 If you are going to start buying one organic product, what should it be?

44:45 Summary

Episode 6 - VenisonCharlie and Rachel interview Tom Cackett,  deer stalker and founder of Oxondeer. They review the heath and environmental benefits of eating venison and consider why this super healthy, environmentally friendly product is not as popular as other farmed red meats.www.oxondeer.co.uk, @oxondeerltd, @the_deercast

1:15 Introduction and catch up

1:45 Mental health strain in farming

3:00 Low Carb recap

4.45 Introducing Tom Cackett and Oxon Deer, @oxondeerltd, @the_deercast

7:00 Increasing numbers of wild deer in UK

8:20 Why do wild deer need to be culled?

11:50 Road traffic collisions with deer

12:45 Some vegans eat venison

13:55 How are deer killed?

16:30 Bovine TB in deer

17:10 Farmed deer Vs Wild deer

21:45 The health benefits of venison

27:00 Why are more people not eating venison

30:00 Controlling the population

33:00 Deer Stalking as a career

37:00 Lead shot in venison

39:25 Venison - a low carbon footprint meat

42:10 Charlie's joke of the week 🤣

Charles and Rachel talk to Dr David Unwin, @lowcarbGP, also known as the Low Carb GP, who is a GP in Southport, diabetes expert and pioneer in the low carb approach to managing and reversing Type II Diabetes.  He won the NHS Innovator of the year award for the successful strategies he has developed for reversing type II Diabetes with diet. In this fascinating episode Charles and Rachel learn about how David developed his approach and how we can all consider the carbohydrates in our diet whether we are type II diabetes sufferers or not. David's other passion is for regenerative farming and he talks about this with equal passion and compares the lessons and challenges we face in medicine to those in farming

.2:50 Introduction to Dr David Unwin

4:30 How the low carb approach started

8:00 The outcomes of using the low carb approach

9:30 Why are rates of Type II Diabetes increasing and insulin resistance

14:20 The low carb approach in General Practice

19:50 Food addiction

22:25 Should we all be going low-carb?

26:50 Why is the NHS Diabetes advice not following low carb?

28:50 The Freshwell low carb app and the Diabetes UK plan: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/eating-with-diabetes/meal-plans/low-carb

30:50 Analogies with regenerative farming

33:50 Long term effects of fertiliser

36:30 David's role at The three Owls bird sanctuaryhttp://www.threeowls.co.uk/

39:30 Nutritional density of food

41:30 Sharing knowledge between health and farming

47:00 Summary of the analogies between medicine and farming

Charlie and Rachel talk to Lutfi Radwan, co-founder of Willowbrook Farm in Oxfordshire, the first Halal farm in UK. In this fascinating episode Lutfi dispels many myths about what Halal is and the implications for Halal meat production.  They also consider the positive impact Willowbrook Farm has had in its community from breaking down cultural barriers to introducing sustainable farming methods.

 https://www.willowbrookfarm.co.uk/
@willowbrookfarmers

2:05 - An Introduction to Lutfi and Willowbrook Farm

5:40 - What is Halal and Tayib?

8:10 - Contrasting factory farmed and halal farmed poultry

14:20 - Who buys Willowbrook produce?

15:20 - What does Halal slaughter entail and where does it happen?

19:10 - We return to the question of whether these high-quality products are accessible to all?

23:11 - Meat and lamb consumption in Muslim population, UK

26:20 - Breaking down cultural barriers

33:05 - Are there health benefits to the Halal produce?

38:00 - Community engagement with farming

39:50 - Other environmentally responsible processes on Willowbrook Farm

Charlie and Rachel speak to Richard Kennell, CEO of SOFEA in Oxfordshire about the FareShare movement, food poverty and insecurity in UK. They consider how the price of food and food waste fits into this complex issue.

SOFEA Oxfordshire: https://www.sofea.uk.com/
SOFEA Community Larder Membership: https://www.sofea.uk.com/purpose-projects/community-larder/

FareShare https://fareshare.org.uk/

2:28 Food insecurity in UK

3:40 Introduction to Richard Kennell and SOFEA

5:00 The FareShare Charity and Network

7:20 Where does surplus food come from

12:50 Excess produce and rejected goods

15:00 DEFRA/FareShare Surplus for Purpose

19:00 Community Larders

22:30 Food Poverty Vs Poverty and Food Prices

25:00 Food Culture in UK

26:00 The barriers to eating well

30:00 Health impacts of food poverty

32:50 Should we subsidise food production more

35:50 Education regarding food

Charles and Rachel talk to Nikki Yoxall, a beef farmer from Grampian Graziers in Aberdeenshire and Research Manager for Pasture for Life. They discuss restorative and pasture fed meat production while comparing this to mass produced products and what benefits each method provides from an environment and health perspective.

2:20 Introducing Nikki Yoxall

7:00 What should people be looking for when buying meat?

10:50 Barriers to eating healthy food

14:35 Should pasture fed meat be sold as a premium product?

17:30 Abattoir shortages in UK

21:00 The environmental impact of different diets, discussing Nature Food study:Scarborough, P., Clark, M., Cobiac, L. et al. Vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters in the UK show discrepant environmental impacts. Nat Food 4, 565–574 (2023). 

31:50 Intensively-produced Vs Pasture-fed meat

37:20 The health recommendations on eating red meat.

42:30 Saturated fats in red meat.

47:30 Ultra-processed meat alternatives

49:50 Where to buy pasture-fed meat

In this episode Charlie and Rachel focus on Milk, considering the pros and cons of dairy versus plant-based alternatives and the environmental impact of producing each type.Their guest is Dr Kerry Lock (linkedin.com/in/kerry-lock-phd), a nutritional therapist who leads the Nourish and Flourish Programme and SOFEA . She is also a former departmental lecturer in environmental conservation and sustainability at University of Oxford, . She also happens to be vegan. They leave no stone unturned when considering which milk is bets for us and the planet, and why!

0.00 - Intro and catch up

4.20 - Introducing Kerry Lock

5.30 - An overview of the Nourish and Flourish Programme

8.00 - NHS guidance on Milk

11.15 - Comparing milks nutritionally

13.00 - Plant based milk comparison

16.30 - Coconut milk and saturated fat content

19.00 - Additives in plant based milks

20.30 - Organic Cow milk21.00 - Price comparison

23.40 - Maintaining a healthy vegan diet

25.40 - Calcium in milks

28.30 - Osteoporosis

33.00 - Lactose intolerance

36.00 - The environmental impact of different milks

40.20 - Methane production

41.45 - Comparing environmental impact of different foods

42.50 - Water consumption in milk production

44.15 - Food miles of milk

47.30 - Take home messages

More information can be found about the Nourish and Flourish programme: Nourish and Flourish - SOFEA

Farmer Charles and Dr Rachel introduce themselves and the concept of the Farmacy Podcast. Each episode they will be chatting to guests from all backgrounds about food and farming, health and wellbeing, the countryside around us and how they all tie in together.