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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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.

Guts & Glory with Lucy Williamson. In this week’s bonus episode of Gut the System I am joined by the extremely knowledgable and deeply passionate Lucy Williamson.

Lucy is an award-winning Registered Nutritionist but intriguingly also a former Vet with over 30 years’ experience across health, food, and farming. Since becoming a nutritionist Lucy has founded The Gut Project, a project to help in the sharing of an evidence-based approaches to nutrition, bringing whole health back to its roots - through soil, nutrient-dense food, and the gut microbiome. Lucy also recently launched a Gut Health learning platform that empowers individuals, to make food choices that benefit both personal health and planetary well-being. As you will hear, Lucy is a passionate advocate for climate-positive farmers and growers and goes to great lengths to provide public-facing nutrition support.

Lucy and I talk through a whole host of topic related to our guts, what we are eating and more crucially what we are not eating and how to navigate through some of media disinformation and actually as it turns out positive media attention too. With Lucy’s background in veterinarian medicine she is able to bring a extremely considered a holistic view to the world of nutrition, really addressing the root cause of systemic issues but still providing solutions, that not only benefit our guts but also nature and farms.

I met Lucy in the lovely Hertfordshire village of Sarratt, where with Rory (Scottish spelling) the dog, we took a lovely meandering walk through the Hertfordshire countryside. I really enjoyed talking Lucy and spoiler alert I am eating some grains again! Enjoy.

https://lwnutrition.co.uk/

Soil/ gut similarities:

Microbes do 3 key things for the living systems they serve:

1. Build resilience

2. ⁠Impact vital metabolic processes

3. ⁠Release nutrients

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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.