91: CropKit, bulrushes, and Wandering Feathers

This month we hear from an industrial designer who has created a ‘farm tool ecosystem’, next up is a farmer with a fresh approach to farming on peatland and finally we tune into a Pitch Up competition winner who has started their egg business at a multi-enterprise farm in Hampshire. Plus, a reminder for any Cereal fans out there about how to get involved with a new project six years on from the original series. ---- We start with CropKit – a modular open-source customisable farm tool ecosystem tailored for small farms and recently shortlisted for the Dyson Award. Its inventor, David Soche, tells us how it works and why he’s committed to keeping farmers in control by ensuring they can repair and adapt the tool themselves. This was all part of his Industrial Design Masters, you can read much more about the tool ecosystem and his research here. Next, we speak to Cameron Edwards at Goose Meadow Farm in Lancashire about his decision to start growing bulrushes, in collaboration with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust. The farm sits on lowland peatland that had previously been drained and is now being re-wetted. Cameron is working with PONDA, a clothing company who use bulrushes to make insulation in their coats and jackets. When they’ve processed the bullrush fibres, they give the leftover seeds back to farmers to plant more of the crop. We end with an insight into one of the Pitch Up! Program winners, Rodrigo Navarro. He and his wife Kirsten have been running their chicken business, Wandering Feathers, for just six months. The Pitch Up! scheme at Kingsclere Estates paved the way for him to break into the unfamiliar world of rural life. Pitch Up! is a farmer-led movement connecting businesses with forward-thinking farms to spark new ideas and enterprises. A number of farms across the UK are involved so you can head to the website and see where you might want to pitch your land based business idea with the application season running the month of November. Did you listen to our series Cereal? We want to hear from you! We’re collecting voices and stories from the movement, to feature in a show about Cereal 6 years on. Send us a voicenote on our Farmerama Radio whatsapp, letting us know who you are, how you came across the series, and whether it sparked any change or action, big or small. If you don’t want your voice shared on the episode, that’s fine, we’d still love to hear your thoughts, just let us know you don’t want it shared. We want to understand the collective impact of the series and celebrate the work of those continuing to build the new grains movement. We are also interested to understand the impact that storytelling can have within the regenerative farming world. The Whatsapp account will be live from the 1 Nov, you can just search Farmerama Radio on Whatsapp and then send us an audio note up to 5 minutes long.