Ian Wilkinson on organic seeds and the importance of knowledge sharing

01/10/24 • 49 min

Kicking off the new year and marking our fourth episode in the latest SFT podcast series, Patrick Holden meets with Ian Wilkinson at this year’s Oxford Real Farming Conference.

Ian is the Managing Director of Cotswold Seeds which boasts a bespoke seed catalogue, supplying 15,000 farmers across the UK with green manures, cover crops, herbal leys and more. He is also the co-founder of FarmEd, an organisation based at Honeydale Farm, a diverse 107 acre mixed farm in the Cotswolds, operating as a space for education and connection around sustainable farming and food systems.

During the episode, Patrick and Ian discuss the history behind events like the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) and the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC), recalling earlier iterations of both and how each has developed over time. Ian delves into the origins of organic seed, the evolution of Cotswold Seeds and the importance of demonstration farms as beacons for knowledge-sharing and on-farm education. Patrick and Ian also take a moment to highlight the potential of true cost accounting to reveal the hidden costs behind so-called ‘cheap food’ and why good quality, organic food appears so expensive.

To find out more about Cotswold Seeds, visit cotswoldseeds.com and for more information about FarmEd, visit farm-ed.co.uk.

This episode doubles up as a dual podcast, in which Patrick and Ian both take turns interviewing one another. You can also listen to the episode on FarmEd’s spotify channel here.

To listen to more SFT podcasts, featuring some of the biggest names in regenerative food and farming, head to our main podcast page. And to keep up with our news, you can subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter or follow us on Instagram, X or Facebook.

Kicking off the new year and marking our fourth episode in the latest SFT podcast series, Patrick Holden meets with Ian Wilkinson at this year’s Oxford Real Farming Conference.

To find out more about Cotswold Seeds, visit cotswoldseeds.com and for more information about FarmEd, visit farm-ed.co.uk.

This episode doubles up as a dual podcast, in which Patrick and Ian both take turns interviewing one another. You can also listen to the episode on FarmEd’s spotify channel here.

Previous Episode

Sarah Langford on getting back to the land through regenerative farming

For the third episode of the SFT podcast, and closing out 2023, Patrick Holden caught up with Sarah Langford – a criminal and family barrister, turned organic farmer and author of the critically acclaimed book, Rooted: How Regenerative Farming Can Change the World.

Sarah spent 10 years as a barrister living in London, during which time she also wrote her debut book, the Sunday Times bestseller In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law, to highlight the stories of those she represented and the legal system she was once a part of. In 2017, with her husband and two sons, she decided that it was time to leave the city and get back to the land in Suffolk, where she and her husband took on the management of his small, family farm.

In this episode, Sarah shares with Patrick her journey from barrister to farmer, as well as her love of the land and belief in the power of farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange in driving the transition to more sustainable systems. Finally, Sarah reflects on the life of her farming heroine, Lady Eve Balfour.

You can find out more and keep up with Sarah by following her on Instagram (@sarahlangfordwrites) and X (@wigsandwords), or by visiting her website: www.sarahlangfordwrites.com.

Next Episode

Dave Chapman on the history and evolution of the organic movement

As we reach the halfway point in this current series of the SFT podcast, Patrick Holden becomes the interviewee in a conversation with Dave Chapman on all things organic.

Dave is the co-founder of the Real Organic Project, a farmer-led movement based in the US which aims to strengthen people’s understanding of the organic movement, including the traditional values and practices. Dave has devoted much of his life to organic farming and is also the co-founder of Vermont Organic Farmers.

In this episode, Patrick and Dave both share how they came to be involved in the organic movement in the UK and US respectively, and reflect on how the movement has changed over time and continues to develop across the world. Later on in the episode, they discuss the challenges associated with commercialising organic standards and how in doing so this risks diluting the philosophy and basic principles behind the movement. Speaking from the US, Dave also talks about how organic standards there have deteriorated in recent years with the rise of so-called organic CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) and hydroponics, and how this could influence the organic standards of other countries around the world.

To find out more about the Real Organic Project, visit https://realorganicproject.org.

This episode is also available to listen to on the Real Organic Project’s website here.