Over the last three years, two friends have made a success of a podcast focused on rural life. Emily Ashworth finds out more.
Many new projects were started during in lockdown, and one in particular, started by friends Dan Grist and Holly Gilbert, has continued to flourish.
Their podcast, Its in our Roots, has now got quite the following, which is no doubt down to the variety of key agricultural figures the pair have managed to interview from artists and influencers to singers and chefs.
Holly, 25, and Dan, 27, have known each other for most of their lives and both share a passion for Young Farmers Clubs (YFC), attending the same club in Cheriton and Tedburn, Devon. In fact, Holly is now Chair for Edgcott and Winslow YFC in Buckinghamshire, and Dan is the County Vice Chair for Devon YFC.
Both have ties to farming too Hollys grandma and uncle are dairy farmers and Dan hails from a 89-hectare (220-acre) beef and sheep farm on the edge of Dartmoor.
Dan, who now does freelance marketing and PR for various agricultural businesses and organisations, says: I left school and worked on the farm for three years, but I realised it was not what I wanted to do full-time.
Me and Holly went to different universities, and both studied geography. We finished when lockdown hit.
Left at home with time on their hands and no particular idea of a career, Its In our Roots podcast began. To start it off, they featured well-known farming photographer Emily Fleur, who happens to be Dans cousin.
Holly says: We said it would be really cool if we could talk to different people with different careers to get inspiration and advice for ourselves.
We are both proud of our rural upbringings, so we really wanted to talk to those inspiring characters from the countryside.
We then had people like Sammi Kinghorn, a Paralympian who was injured in a farm accident.
That is still one of my favourite episodes, and it was really kind of her to give us her time.
They are now on series four and have since been finalists in the 2022 British Farming Awards digital category. The podcast is gaining more and more followers, featuring people such as survivalist Ness Knight who has almost 40,000 followers on Instagram.
Feedback from the rural community means a lot to them.
It is satisfying when you get people messaging to say our conversations have resonated with them, says Dan.
I had a random member of my young farmers club a young girl who I would never have thought would have listened come over to me and say she and her mum listen to the podcast, she wants to start her own and how can she do it?
We are not farmers or claim to have the best farming chat, but we wanted to create a space where we can talk about agriculture and then in some episodes speak to a country singer, for example, to try and bridge that gap. People can listen to what it is like to grow up in the countryside and hear positive messages.
One way to connect to those outside the industry is for the general public to realise that there are people behind the food. It is all about the people.
The more we can share real life stories, the more people can connect because they will not just think of it like a field of wheat, they will think about the person behind it, producing it.
Both are surprised at how well-received the podcast has been and hope to encourage people to take notice of the opportunities theindustry can provide.
Over the years, the agriculturalsector has been heavily criticised, more specifically regarding its contribution to climate change and environmental issues. But, Holly says listening to all the people on the podcast fills her with excitement about how invested people in farming really are in terms of challenging perceptions.
She says: You grow up in the industry and feel proud, but then the media perhaps makes you feel like you should not feel that way. You start to think maybe you are in your own little bubble.
Then you speak to all these people who have really good messages to share, and hearing how many other interesting people feel the same is really empowering.
The original goal was to showcase the variety of opportunities, and it is about sending out the message to say: just because you grew up in the countryside does not mean you do not have opportunities like others.
Now it is also about showcasing the people in our industry, and the diversity of it.
There is a space for everyone, and you do not have to be from farming to be in farming.
The podcast can also be a way of showcasing how many people truly form the fabric of the rural community, and Dan believes we should be working harder to become more diverse.
Getting new entrants is hard in itself, he says.
The more diverse we make it the better we will connect with the public they will engage more if they can see different types of people.
So, what has made Its in our Roots such a success? A fundamental part of it, they say, is that the podcast feels like a chit chat in a pub and you come away feeling like you have been chatting with a friend; these are conversations that are needed, but in an accessible way.
Being part of the community and feeling part of something bigger is key for Holly.
The negativity we face in the media has maybe brought us more together, she says.
And we have not let that negativity phase our community spirit.
