
This episode of The FarmED Podcast is recorded on location, at Baddaford, Guy Singh-Watson’s farm in Devon. Guy, founder of Riverford, has been dubbed ‘the most brutally honest farmer in Britain.’
Here, Guy talks to Alex about how he finds regenerative agriculture a ‘difficult subject, because I absolutely welcome the sort of broad church approach that has drawn in farmers who, for whatever reason, felt antagonised by organic’ admitting that ‘we got it wrong somehow. We did alienate a lot of conventional farmers, the farmers who really we should have been getting on board.’
But it’s the ploughing vs glyphosate argument that he wants to see more openly discussed. He explains why he hates the term ‘food poverty’ and why his mission has always been to produce food ‘that's accessible and affordable by all,’ whilst also being fair to producers and the increasing challenges of that. He also talks about his wrangles with the supermarkets, why he is anti-commodity, why we should all eat less meat and how his hopes for the future, for ‘size and specialisation’ replaced by the mixed farming model.