#340 Breaking open the Story of Bread: How stories of food can change the future with Abby Rose of Farmerama
Good podcasts are part of an ecosystem of ideas that have the potential to change the world – to shift us into the new system we so badly need. For a long time, Farmerama Radio has been at the leading, radical edge where food, farming and activism meet. In the early days, it was all about fostering the voices of grassroots, small-scale farming with monthly episodes featuring stories from the field. Then, in 2019, the co-founders, Abby Rose and Jo Barratt worked with Katie Revell to produce their first in-depth series Cereal, which looked at the process of creating bread, from seed to loaf.
It was a huge hit, and building off the success of Cereal – which won two Guild of Food Writers Awards – they went on to produce several more series, including their most downloaded, Landed, a powerful exploration of land ownership and colonial legacy in Scotland.
In April of this year, Farmerama launched a new project Cereal Revisited, looking at the real-world impact of their podcast, and how Farmerama’s stories helped listeners take action, both big and small. This is a story of Thrutopia in action and we are really delighted to welcome one of the co-founders, Abby Rose to this podcast.
Abby continues to lead the podcast today (the team is all women) and is both a farmer and soil health advocate. She was named one of 50 New Radicals by The Guardian and Nesta in 2018 for her work developing simple apps that help build ecology, profitability and beauty on farms around the world, and then in 2020, she was named in Code Hospitality’s Top 100 Influential Women in Hospitality. Farmerama Radio itself was named Best Investigative Work and Best Food Podcast at the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2020 and won Best Environment and Natural World podcast at the Independent Podcast Awards 2024.
So for a story that really gets to the heart of the power of story, please do listen and enjoy.
Abby recording John Cherry for Farmerama
(photo by Joe Sarah Photography)
More from Accidental Gods…
We offer three strands all rooted in the same soil, drawing from the same river: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass.
Our next Open Gathering offered as part of our Accidental Gods Programme is Walking the Path of the Inner Warrior which will run on Sunday 28th June 2026 from 16:00 – 20:00 GMT – details are here. You don’t have to be a member of Accidental Gods – but if you are, all Gatherings are half price.
If you’d like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life.
If you’d like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you’ll find us here.
If you’d like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are here
Manda and Louise both offer one-to-one Mentoring Calls. Manda is fully booked just now, but if you’d like to contact Louise, details are here.
In Conversation
You may also like these recent podcasts
Trust like the Web (of Life) trusts – Biomimicry for Social Innovation with Toby Herzlich
How can we bring the insights of Biomimicry to the field of human inter-being? How can we shift our sense of self and other, our communities of place, purpose and passion, our businesses, our governance structures…everything that we are and do onto a different trajectory using the web of life as our template?
Thoughts from the Edge: Manda explores Thrutopian narratives, the building of intent and the paths to a future we’d be proud to leave behind
In this solo episode, Manda walks us through the middle way between the dystopia of now, towards the utopia of a future in which humanity flourishes as an integral part of a thriving plant. What could it and would it be like if each of us woke up every morning feeling safe, feeling confident in our ability to meet the challenges of the day in ways that would leave the world a better place? How would we feel if every moment of life was alive with a sense of meaning and purpose, of connection to all parts of ourselves, each other and the web of life?
Playing the (New) Money Game – how to recreate sustainable money with Stef Kuypers of Happonomy
How do we create a monetary system that encourages people to help each other, to create communities of place, purpose and passion that are genuinely supportive and to invest where trust and hope lead, rather than simply the hoarding of ever-increasing amounts of value?
Brave Containers: Sharing stories, pushing boundaries & creating trust with the Generative Journalism Alliance
When we talk about building community, we often get stuck trying to bridge tribal divides, particularly in a media landscape designed to monetise division, amplify hatred, and draw us into cycles of righteous anger. But what if there was a different approach? One that creates a sense of individual and collective agency, that centres the gifts and strengths of everyone in the room in a way that lets everyone feel heard and so sweeps beneath the tribal divisions to the heart of things?
STAY IN TOUCH
For a regular supply of ideas about humanity's next evolutionary step, insights into the thinking behind some of the podcasts, early updates on the guests we'll be having on the show - AND a free Water visualisation that will guide you through a deep immersion in water connection...sign up here.
(NB: This is a free newsletter - it's not joining up to the Membership! That's a nice, subtle pink button on the 'Join Us' page...)