The Science Behind Your Salad

^{Crossing the globe to discover how the best ingredients that end up on our tables are grown}

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Latest Episode: Celebrating Farmers

Social media has given farmers the perfect way to share the many joys, challenges and the daily realities of farming with people interested in how their food is produced.
A growing number of influencers have gained millions of followers who welcome their regular and honest posts and the insights the content gives into their lives. 
Many say that they started sharing their stories to play a part in developing society’s interest in food production, land management and in appreciating the trade-offs that are a daily part of profitable and compliant agriculture. 
In this episode of the Science Behind your Salad we are celebrating some of these farmers who came together to connect and inspire one another at an AgXplorers’ Influencer Camp in Germany. 
Host Jane Craigie caught up with five of the 20 influencers at the event - Marie Hoffman, from Germany, Ally Hunter Blair who farms with his family in England’s Wye Valley, Tonis Soopalu, Estonia’s only farming influencer, Lasma Lapina from Latvia, and Austrian farmer, DJ and restaurateur, Johannes Burchhart, who describes farming as “like a heartbeat”.
Jane also spoke to Thomas Fischer who farms very sustainably at Quellendorf near Berlin, one of the farm’s ecologist partners, Christian Schmidt Egger and BASF’s Anna Lena Hottendorf.

Our guest: Ally Hunter Blair

Ally farms at Weir End Farm in the heart of England’s Wye Valley just outside Ross-on-Wye. The farm is around 500 acres & is tenanted from The Duchy of Cornwall.
The Hunter Blair family have been farming at Weir End Farm since 1968, when Graham first got the tenancy. In 2012 Ally took on the tenancy, and he now lives at the farm with wife, Annie and their three children, India, Harry and Rosie.
The farm is predominantly cultivated to arable crops, and Ally has been practicing reduced tillage since 2019 with the view to making the crops we grow as sustainable as possible.
The Hunter Blairs also have an equestrian enterprise using Annie’s experience as a riding instructor offers ‘glamping’ in Bertha's Box - a converted Bedford Horse lorry, Shepherd's View, two huts linked uniquely together with a SkyBridge and Snipe's Snug, an open-plan cabin with a hot tub.
The farm has featured in four television series. First Time Farmers and Born Mucky - Life on the farm.
Ally has long been very active on social media advocating for farming and family farms.

Our guest: Anna Lena Hottendorff

With deep roots in agriculture, Anna grew up in Lower Saxony, Germany, and have been passionate about farming from an early age. Her enthusiasm stems from a strong family tradition—agriculture has always been part of her life. She was exposed to it from a very young age. After studying Agricultural Economics at the University of Kiel, Anna joined BASF as a trainee and has remained with the company ever since. Over the years, she has held various roles in sales and sustainability, including several years leading the FarmNetwork Sustainability. Since 2024, Anna has  been responsible for engaging the food value chain in BASF’s Carbon Farming Projects. Privately, she is a mother of two girls and married to a farmer—giving her daily insight into the realities of practical agriculture.

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