Field to Front Door – Episode 14 on selling direct, harvest, food prices and taking back control

Today we’re back with Field to Front Door 🎙️

David, Martin and Wallace catching up as harvest continues, with plenty happening around grain, changing markets and some increasingly ambitious plans from David.

We got into regenerative milling wheat, cleaning grain, mixed cropping and what Martin has learned from growing wheat and peas together. There was also plenty around harvest, from spelt and buckwheat through to linseed and how different crops are performing this year.

A big part of this one was David’s latest experiment with selling food directly from farms to consumers. Potatoes, vegetables, flour, apples and even milk are already involved, with meat potentially coming next. We spoke about whether farmers can work together to create a genuinely competitive alternative that gives customers fresher food while being completely transparent about what the farmer actually gets paid.

That led into a wider chat about supermarkets, postage, contracts and why the price paid to farmers can feel completely disconnected from what eventually reaches the consumer. We also got into the drought, food shortages and why farming seems to operate differently from almost every other industry when supply drops.

And we finished with the British Farming Awards, with David up for Content Creator of the Year and somehow already making friends with the competition 😂

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! 🙂

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Today I had Grace on the R2Kast 🎙️ Grace is a British vet based in New Zealand, working across large animal medicine, parasite management and the development of DAGI, while also helping establish the Aotearoa Veterinarians Union. 🌾

We spoke about a pretty incredible upbringing across Australia, Papua New Guinea, Africa and the Middle East, before eventually coming back to the UK to study veterinary medicine at Bristol. From there her career took her through Cornwall and South Africa before eventually settling in New Zealand and building a life and career there. 🍎

A big part of the conversation focused on drench resistance and DAGI, which stands for Drench and Grazing Integration. We spoke about refugia, grazing, weather and parasite risk, and how DAGI is helping make some of those invisible decisions much easier for farmers to see. We also got into the scale of drench resistance in New Zealand and plans to bring DAGI to the UK. 🌍

DAGI are currently looking for UK farmers interested in being part of the beta trial ahead of its planned launch here. Anyone interested can get in touch with Grace and the team through the DAGI website contact page or at info.dagi.nz@gmail.com.

We also chatted about veterinary wellbeing, setting up the Aotearoa Veterinarians Union, biosecurity, travelling the world and why your veterinary degree doesn’t have to define everything you do for the rest of your career.

Enjoy! 🙂

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Today on Tales of a Nuffield Scholar supported by NFU Mutual we bring series two to a close with something slightly different 🎙️ After seven episodes looking at the presentation groups taking to the stage at the 2026 Nuffield Farming Scholarships Conference in Leeds, we finish with the Next Gen Scholars who will also be taking to that stage to share their experiences 🌱

The Next Gen Scholarship gives those aged 18 to 25 the opportunity to experience Nuffield through a curated study tour, travelling together, visiting businesses and learning from some of the best people across the sector. For this episode we hear from both the Regenerative Agriculture and Dairy groups who will be presenting their experiences in Leeds 🌍

First up were Regenerative Agriculture Next Gen Scholars Summer Wyatt Buchan and Jessica Walker, with Craig Alexander Byrne completing their group but unfortunately unable to join us for the episode. We heard about four weeks travelling together around farms and businesses across England and Wales, exploring soil health, resilience, livestock integration and the importance of community within regenerative systems 🚜

What really stood out was how much the experience went beyond simply learning about regenerative practices. For Summer, coming from outside farming but working within climate resilience, it offered an intense introduction to practical agriculture. For Jessica, growing up on an organic beef and sheep farm in the Scottish Borders, it provided the opportunity to challenge what she already knew and learn from the journeys of people who have spent years developing their systems.

For the second half we moved into dairy with Lottie Wilson, Ed Martin and Isobel Bennett 🐄 Three young dairy farmers already taking serious responsibility within their family businesses, but operating across completely different systems in Wales, Scotland and England.

Their journey took them from Yorkshire through Scotland and across England before heading to the Netherlands, seeing everything from low input grazing systems to incredibly intensive automated dairies. We spoke about labour, succession, efficiency, family farming, environmental pressures and what British dairy can learn from the challenges already being faced elsewhere in Europe 🌾

One of my favourite parts of both conversations was hearing how quickly strangers became friends. Weeks travelling in the same car, staying with hosts and constantly questioning what they were seeing created relationships that will undoubtedly continue long after the scholarship itself. That network has always been one of the most powerful parts of Nuffield and it was brilliant seeing it beginning so early for these six scholars.

All six Next Gen Scholars will take to the stage in Leeds alongside the wider Nuffield Scholar presentations, sharing what they learned from their respective journeys and what they plan to take forward. It feels like a really fitting way to finish series two and our preview of what you can expect from the 2026 conference.

Thank you to NFU Mutual for their support of this project.

Enjoy! 🙂

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