ADOPT To Survive, with Thomas Slattery.

In this month’s episode of Gut The System I am joined by the deeply thoughtful and hugely amusing Thomas Slattery.

I first met Tom while studying at the RAU. Tom was looking at the technological end of the 4th agricultural revolution, but we were drawn together by our love regenerative systems. A theme that has continued to run through Tom’s work post RAU. Now with the UK Agri-Tech centre, Tom has been managing the launch of the innovative ADOPT fund. A fund to help farmers trial innovative technologies on farm, aimed at improving productivity, resilience and sustainability.

This is by no means the summation of Tom’s work and contribution to the food and farming sector. Tom is a key contributor and author of many great reports in collaboration with brilliant organisations like the Esme Fairbairn Foundation. Tom is also now spending a lot of his time looking at the ‘missing and or messy middle’ of regenerative supply chains, a topic we spend some time reflecting on.

I really enjoyed talking to Tom, he is a great orator and marketeer, which is no surprise given his background in advertising, and I hope you enjoy listening too.

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Contact the show:

• Harry Farnsworth - Host
• Ned Sedgwick - Producer
• Rosanna Farnsworth - Content

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

In this week’s episode of Gut the System I am walking and talking to the deeply considered and incredible astute Eugene Scholten.

Eugene and I met over a year ago now, on another walk, so recording this episode with Eugene felt like picking up exactly where we left off. This episode also happens to be my first international episode. I met Eugene on his home turf in The Netherlands.

I wanted to record this episode with Eugen because not only has he had an extremely interesting and varied career through the wider food and agriculture world, but over his distinguished career Eugene has also had several moments of deep reflection, into what leadership is and how to bring others around you on a new and different journey. It is a topic I am particularly interested in because it is not only going to take pledges and goodwill, to make the changes to our systems but we will also need inspiring and deeply conscious leadership, which Eugene practises.

In this episode we ramble from Eugene’s heritage as a Dutch man, and how that consciously or subconsciously effected his career path, to what conscious leadership is and some of the tools and methods Eugene uses, when in positions of leadership, not only to bring others along with him but to also be reflective of his own impact and position.

I think this episode, although centred around the food industry, really draws ideas and learnings from a broader set of principles, so please be sure to share it far and wide. I greatly enjoyed talking to Eugene and I hope you enjoy listening too.

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Contact the show:

• Harry Farnsworth - Host
• Ned Sedgwick - Producer
• Rosanna Farnsworth - Content

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

Decades and Weeks with Professor Tom MacMillan.

Welcome back to season 2 of Gut the System and do we have a ripper of an episode to start the series!

In this week’s episode I am joined by highly perceptive and deeply passionate Professor Tom MacMillan, CEO of Ag-Impact.

I first encountered Tom while I was studying at the RAU, he was then holding the Elizabeth Creek chair In Rural policy and strategy. I was not fully aware it of the time but Tom’s name and mind, even though he would never openly say this himself, he is very modest, has been behind some of the UK’s foremost innovative programmes, trials and papers related to agricultural innovation, food policies and funding programmes. Many of which are directed at helping farmers research and fund the transition towards more Agroecological farming systems. Tom is truly prolific and yet understated at the same time.

During our walk, through the eclectic Stroud countryside, we encountered living and breathing case studies of community supported agriculture, we mused on the role of research and its applicability to farming and Toms roles across the Soil Association and with the FFCC and final turning our minds to the rocky world of current government funding and subsidies. Throughout his working life Tom maintains a truly can-do attitude, even when faced with extremely testing conditions presented by government and policy.

I greatly enjoyed my walk and talk with Tom and I hope you do to.

https://www.innovativefarmers.org/

https://farminginnovation.ukri.org/adopt/

https://www.ag-impact.org/

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Contact the show:

• Harry Farnsworth - Host
• Ned Sedgwick - Producer
• Rosanna Farnsworth - Content

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