Cereal

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Permaculture's Solution to the Refugee Crises 
Podcast interview with Rhamis Kent, focussing on land degradation and it's impacts on global security, refugees, and the solutions that can be found through Permaculture. Rhamis has worked in Somalia, Yemen, and throughout North Africa and Southern Europe. He is really tuned into the conditions and challenges of regions that are viewed as "unstable" by the Western world, and has a great deal of insights about how Permaculture can assist people, and solve the refugee crisis through large scale land restoration.

Rhamis's Links:
https://permacultureglobal.org/users/51
http://permaculturenews.org/author/rhamiskent/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mur0Nz9W3Q

SEE RELATED EPISODE 008 - Rhamis Kent: Land Degradation and the Roots of ISIS 
https://soundcloud.com/user-193856180/episode-008-rhamis-kent-land-degradation-and-the-roots-of-isis

Rhamis's full biography:

Rhamis Kent is a consultant with formal training in mechanical engineering (University of Delaware, B.S.M.E. ’95) and permaculture-based regenerative whole systems design. He has previously worked for the renowned American inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen at DEKA Research & Development, with subsequent engineering work ranging from medical device research and development to aerospace oriented mechanical design. After taking an interest in the design science of Permaculture, he sought extended training with permaculture expert and educator Geoff Lawton at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. This led to his involvement with design work connected to the development of Masdar City in UAE after Mr. Lawton and his consulting company (Permaculture Sustainable Consultancy Pty. Ltd.) were contracted by AECOM/EDAW to identify solutions which fit the challenging zero emissions/carbon neutral design constraint of the project.

Episode 001 - Rhamis Kent: Permaculture's Solution to the Refugee Crises

Regular contributor Joel Rodker is creating a market garden from scratch and recording a diary for Farmerama as he goes. Here's is his report from May 2018

Shorts: Harvest Barn market garden May

Regular contributor Joel Rodker is creating a market garden from scratch and recording a diary for Farmerama as he goes. In this report he lets us know what he's been up to during the month of June. Time have been tough but he's enjoying being outside and working in the English summer sun.

Shorts: Harvest Barn market Garden June

This month, we chat with compost pioneers in the USA about compost’s role in building microbial life and how to produce a more fungally dominated compost. Abby has some thoughts on soil health and soil carbon, and we share a rallying cry from a member of La Via Campesina to get us all in action growing food. Next, we give you a teaser with one of the characters from our upcoming series, CEREAL, which uncovers the secrets behind the bread we eat. Finally, we hear about a community project growing and brewing their own beer.

51: Compost, soil carbon vs soil health, a call to farm, CEREAL, and community beer

November 18th marks the start of #SeedWeek - a great opportunity to celebrate and raise awareness of local, organic and open pollinated seed. In this special short Katie Hastings, Wales coordinator for the Gaia Foundation’s Seed Sovereignty Programme, takes us on a walk with Gerald Miles, a Welsh organic farmer who recently protested the planting of GM crops by driving his tractor down to London. Katie and Gerald talk about growing black oats, and the work of Llafyr Ni to trial new oat varieties and strengthen seed resilience.

This short was recorded by Katie Hastings, and produced by Jo Barratt, Hanna Soderlund and Abby Rose.

Shorts: Celebrating #SeedWeek with seed sovereignty champions Katie Hastings and Gerard Miles

Bread. How did something so basic, so fundamental, get so complicated – and even start making us ill?

How have the needs of industrial production come to dictate the way that seeds are bred, grain is grown, flour is milled, and bread is baked and eaten? And why are more and more people cutting this age-old staple out of their diets? In this episode, we hear from bakers and researchers who reveal the hidden truths about what goes into our bread, and explain how that’s impacting our health. And we’re introduced to the Real Bread Campaign, a movement promoting bread that’s nourishing, tasty and environmentally sound.

The radical changes that our bread has undergone are revealing of much wider truths about our relationships with food, farmers, the land, the environment, and each other. If you eat food, you have a stake in this story.

This if the first episode in a 6 part series, Cereal, uncovering the hidden truths behind our bread and the people who are building a new grains movement.
Cereal is made possible by the generous support of the Roddick Foundation.

This episode features:
Chris MacCormack, a home baker (Govanhill Bread Man)
Kimberley Bell, founder of Small Food Bakery, Nottingham
Chelsea Marshall, Trustee of Scotland the Bread
Andrew Whitley, Bread Matters, co-founder of the Real Bread Campaign, and Scotland the Bread
Theo Laffargue, Riverside Bakery, Stirling

'Cereal', Episode 1: Flour, water, salt

Today, wheat covers an estimated 218 million hectares of the planet – more than any other food crop. The quality of a loaf starts with the wheat. Most bread we eat today is made using modern varieties of wheat that were bred for yield at the expense of everything else. These seeds produce a monoculture of plants that can yield a lot in a good year, but are reliant on chemical inputs and extremely vulnerable in the face of climatic extremes. Most shockingly international legislation dictates that trading any wheat seeds that don’t fit the modern wheat breeding criteria is essentially illegal. 

We hear from a top scientist about new findings showing we need to dramatically rethink the seeds we sow if we want to feed the planet in years to come, re-focusing on diversity and quality. 

And there’s real hope – stories of people all over the UK who are finding ways around these oppressive laws, building up a seedbank that supports diversity, low-input ecological farming and nutritious grains to feed people.

This is just the beginning. The radical changes that bread has undergone are revealing of wider truths about our relationships with food, to farmers, with the land, the environment, and with each other.

This if the second episode in a 6 part series, Cereal, uncovering the hidden truths behind our bread and the people who are building a new grains movement.
Cereal is written and produced by Katie Revell and made possible by the generous support of the Roddick Foundation.

Featured in this episode:
Andrew Whitley, Bread Matters, Chairman of Scotland the Bread, currently based at Bowhouse Fife
Rupert Dunn, Torth y Tir, community supported peasant bakery, Wales
John Letts, Heritage Harvest
Martin Wolfe, Wakelyn’s Agroforestry (previously Professor of Plant Pathology at Cambridge)
Mark Lea, Green Acres Farm, Shropshire
Kimberley Bell, Small Food Bakery, Nottingham
Josiah Meldrum, Hodmedods

'Cereal', Episode 2: Nature hates uniformity

Intensive chemical (or conventional) farming systems can be incredibly efficient in perfect conditions, but in a global climate emergency this method of farming is out of date. We hear how soil health, biodiversity and regenerative farming are enabling farmers to move to a new system of farming that is nutritious for humans and the land. What is the experience of farmers growing the wheat, that’s ground to flour, that makes our bread? We explore why farmers are moving away from intensive chemical systems to more ecological approaches, why farmers are reclaiming their autonomy, detaching themselves from exploitative commodity markets, re-building connections with seed breeders, millers, bakers, and consumers – and once again finding reasons to celebrate diversity and distinctiveness. 

The radical changes that bread has undergone are revealing of much wider truths about our relationships with food, to farmers, with the land, the environment, and with each other. If you eat food, you have a stake in this story.

'Cereal', Episode 3: Farms produce food

Last year the majority of wheat grown in the UK went to feed animals. And of the wheat that did become flour in our homes and bakeries, most of that flour had to have nutrients added back into it - by law - because it was almost nutritionless by the time it came out of the mill. 

In episode 4 we ask how did the milling process lead us to producing flour with almost no nutritional value? And why would the majority of the wheat grown in the UK go to animal feed?
We meet millers around the UK who are doing things differently, providing flour with terroir, flour that is fresh and filled with nutrition, using locally grown heritage varieties that are benefiting people and planet.

The radical changes that bread has undergone are revealing of much wider truths about our relationships with food, to farmers, with the land, the environment, and with each other. If you eat food, you have a stake in this story.

‘Cereal’ Episode 4: The miller is missing

The UK is the fifth largest economy and has some of the cheapest bread in the world - is that something to be proud of, or is it a convenient outcome of a system that prioritises shareholder profit, fobs off economically deprived people with poor quality food, and throws away a third of what it produces?

It’s so ingrained in us that cheap food is better for everyone, but in this episode we ask you to stop and really think - are we supporting a system that is efficient for lining the pockets of a few, whilst impoverishing everyone else? 

What if the real cost is our collective health, and the health of the planet? 

Bread is not just money, bread is nourishment, deliciousness, companionship, connectedness, pride, politics.

In this episode we hear from bakers up and down the UK who are redefining the value of bread. Bakers who are making a stand for their communities and the planet.

Bakers from some of the most economically deprived areas who are bringing meaning, intention and joy to their baking. Bakers who are being recognised for their craft and sharing the benefits with their local communities.

This is about food networks, not food chains -- this is about reaching true efficiency that takes into account the whole system (health, environment, waste, community, joy), not just the financial balance sheet.

The radical changes that bread has undergone are revealing of much wider truths about our relationships with food, to farmers, with the land, the environment, and with each other. If you eat food, you have a stake in this story.

Voices: 
Chris MacCormack, Govanhill bread man
Theo Laffargue, Riverside Bakery, Stirling, Scotland
Ben MacKinnon, E5 Bakehouse, London
Catriona Milligan, High Rise Bakers,The Gorbals, Glasgow
Rupert Dunn, Torth y Tir, Wales
Kimberley Bell, Small Food Bakery, Nottingham

‘Cereal’ Episode 5: The best thing since sliced bread? Unsliced bread

Farmerama Radio is an award-winning podcast sharing the voices behind regenerative farming. 

We are committed to positive ecological futures for the earth and its people, and we believe that farmers of the world will determine this.

Each month, we share the experiences of grass roots farmers instigating radical change for the future of our food, our health, and the planet. Tune in to hear how these producers are discovering a more ecological farming future and to learn how their decisions can have a positive impact on us all. This is regenerative farming in action.

‘Cereal’ Episode 4: The miller is missing

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