Cymraeg A grassroots food, farming and climate justice podcast brought to you by the Landworkers’ Alliance – where you ask the questions, we investigate the answers.
The Landworkers’ Radio trailer, brought to you by the Landworkers’ Alliance.
This podcast is available to listen via the Landworkers’ Radio on Spotify, iTunes and most other podcast apps.
EPISODE THREE: ARE WE FACING A GRAIN CRISIS?
This podcast is available to listen via the Landworkers’ Radio on Spotify, iTunes and most other podcast apps.
The world is abundant in cultures and food traditions that centre around the farming, processing and cooking of grains.
The central role that grains play in our cultures and diets, makes it one of the most important and yet contentious food substances in the world. It feeds and nourishes our societies, bringing people together in community and celebration. Whilst in times of scarcity, price fluctuation and crises it is an attributing cause of war, conflict and famine.
The recent war on Ukraine has exposed the overwhelming concentration of the globalised food system, and our reliance on only a few varieties of grain. Here in the UK we import 130 million pounds worth of grain every year from Ukraine including wheat, maize, barley, and rice and we have been affected with rises in food prices and threats to the supply of food as well as gas for fertilizers and fuel. These impacts highlight just how much our food systems are unable to withstand the shocks of political conflict and war, and is highly vulnerable in the face of climate breakdown – so are we facing a grain crisis?
To understand more about the context of grain here in the UK, hosts Georgie Styles and Dee Butterly spoke with Kimberley Bell, founder of the UK Grain Lab and the Small Food Bakery in Nottingham which aims to demonstrate that small scale food manufacturing businesses have a crucial role to play in enabling transition to a more resilient, nourishing and equitable food system.
The Landworkers’ Radio – where you ask the questions, we investigate the answers
EPISODE TWO: HOW DO WE GET ACCESS TO LAND?
This podcast is available to listen via the Landworkers’ Radio on Spotify, iTunes and most other podcast apps.
When you think about land, what comes to mind? Do you have a reaction? Maybe it evokes joy, peace, anger or frustration.
Land is one of the most foundational resources needed for farming, forestry, food and fibre production and yet finding ways to access and work with the land here in the UK is becoming increasingly difficult.
The UK has one of the highest levels of concentrated landownership in the world, with less than 1% of the population owning over half of all agricultural land. Over the past 20 years, over 50,000 small scale farms in the UK have been either closed down or consolidated, in part due to little government support for anyone farming on less than 5 hectares of land. Rapid increases in land prices, in places tripling in price per acre, have caused huge challenges for regeneration in land-use, as new entrants find themselves almost entirely locked out of the industry.
Join hosts Georgie Styles and Dee Butterly as they explore the issues around land access for new entrant farmers, foresters and landworkers. In conversation with Sinead Fenton from Aweside Farm in East Sussex, we hear about her journey onto the land, the issues she has faced and what progressive, innovative models are out there to help secure land access for new entrants like her.
The Landworkers’ Radio – where you ask the questions, we investigate the answers
EPISODE ONE: HOW CAN WE TRANSFORM OUR FOOD SYSTEMS?
This podcast is available to listen via the Landworkers’ Radio on Spotify, iTunes and most other podcast apps.