The Agri-Food Comms Cast is back with a bang! In the first episode of season four, Catherine Linch delves into the role of different communication platforms, from the ultimate ‘long form’ book to the fast-paced world of social media. In particular, we explore how food and farming topics can present a challenging dialogue between town and country.

Our first guest, journalist, broadcaster, founder of Just Farmers Media Portal and Nuffield Farming Scholar, Anna Jones, joins Catherine to introduce her brand-new book ‘Divide: The Relationship Between Town and Country’.

With the current climate of polarised attitudes to food and farming, it’s easy to have an ‘us and them’ mentality, but Anna’s book aims to break this mindset by demonstrating how both communities have an opportunity to come together for good. This thought-provoking topic encourages us all to find common ground with each other so that we can reap the benefits, socially, politically, and culturally.

We also hear from agri-media professional Emily Davies, who describes herself as a digital storyteller and provides valuable insight on the power and the pitfalls of social media for propelling stories and comms strategies to a wider audience.

This fast-paced comms channel has proven beneficial for many brands seeking to build awareness, but the episode importantly touches on the issues social media users need to be aware of when consuming content on social platforms including biased algorithms and lack of accountability.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk

The Agri Food Comms-Cast (AFCC) unpicks the marketing and communications stories behind the issues facing the food and farming sector.

Episode 17 explores the communications challenge behind the massive global issue of transitioning the livestock sector to net zero.

Lynsday Chapman, CEO of the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL), introduced their new, independent industry report: Net Zero Carbon & UK Livestock.

Providing a summary of known research and science on what’s understood about the topic of net zero in livestock systems, it delivers an unbiased baseline position for retailers, processors, governments and NGOs to talk from.

Rob Hues, agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries manager at Waitrose joins the discussion having recently been part of the retailer’s roll out to their farms that laid down the gauntlet of reaching net zero on all its UK farms by 2035.

He concurred that CIEL’s report is a practical framework that will be invaluable to the industry and support positive dialogue and a change in practices.

The pair agree that communicating the practical steps to net zero is a major challenge, but one that shouldn’t be held back by finding a uniform means of measuring the carbon footprint of any one particular farm system.

It’s anticipated that sharing progress of the journey to net zero, even where a diversity of carbon footprinting tools are employed, will encourage others to follow.

Both Lyndsay and Rob agree that the farming community shouldn’t wait for the perfect tools for measuring net zero progress; far better to choose a system and make positive progress, even if the comparisons cannot yet be accurately compared and contrasted to farms using other measurement criteria.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk

Our Agri Food Comms-Cast explores the issues in the food and farming supply chain, with a marketing and communications spin.

Episode 10 focusses on export opportunities for British produce following the introduction of the Government’s ‘bounce back’ plan for food and agriculture.

Ian Wright, chief executive at the Food and Drink Federation, explains how, with just one in eight food and drink businesses considering entering the export marketplace, more awareness of export is needed, along with help in removing the fear factor of entering new markets.

He says communications tools such as webinars, online conferences and having export ‘champions’ – all part of the bounce back plan – are some of the best ways to educate and share knowledge of developing foreign trade.

Next up is Adam Sopher, co-founder of gourmet popcorn producer Joe & Seph’s. He explains how since leaping into the export market without an initial plan in place, the business has gone from strength to strength and is now exporting to 19 different countries. They have even won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade this year.

Adam offers advice to other companies looking to export food and drink products, such as the first steps to take when entering markets overseas and how to promote the best of British produce to the local buyers.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk

In light of the nation’s growing obesity crisis and subsequent pressures on the health service, episode six of season two of the Agri-Food Comms Cast, explores the potential influence that the food industry could initiate by actively marketing healthier food choices.

This month, Catherine Linchis joined by food campaigner and crossbench member of the House of Lords, Baroness Rosie Boycott, and marketing guru and host of the US-based Gooder podcast, Diana Fryc.

Our guests discuss the challenges faced by natural 'straight from the farm' produce when competing against highly processed, cheaply produced food and drink brands. The episode highlights food inequality, as well as calling for greater honesty and balance in how foods are promoted. This is especially true of many well-known brands that boast sizable marketing budgets to promote their frequently nutritionally poor products.

It’s a challenging but important subject with many questions to answer. Do marketing professionals have a responsibility for introducing healthier lifestyle choices through their advertising campaigns? How can we analyse the influence that brands have on Western society’s eating habits and use this to affect change for the better?

This episode explores a range of comms strategies that aim to tackle these difficult issues, while supporting public health policies and initiatives.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk

The Agri-Food Comms Cast was first broadcast on Earth Day 2022, and delves into the opportunity for businesses to engage more proactively with the environment.

In episode three, season four of the podcast, our host, Catherine Linch, is joined by founder of Sustainability Impact Agency, betternotstop, Hannah Cox, who is also a B-Corp Ambassador and B Leader.

They are joined in conversation with inspirational business woman Carmen O’Neal, founder of gin producers, 58 and Co, a Certified B Corporation.

The B Corporation Movement is a certification open to ‘for profit’ companies to undergo a rigorous assessment to show they meet high social and environmental standards, along with transparency and accountability.

Becoming a B-Corp is proven to have a positive impact on business and staff teams, as well as benefiting the environment and wider society.

In the podcast, we ask why businesses choose this path, and how to make the transition authentically – and importantly, avoid ‘greenwashing’. We also explore the communications opportunities for improving internal engagement and how brands can add value and improve customer perception and loyalty.

As a team, Pinstone are excited to begin their B-Corp journey, and look forward to the proactive and positive impact the team can have on society and the climate.

See attached below for more information.

UK B-Corp Performance Research Report November 2020

UK B-Corps performance review

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk

The pressures currently facing the red meat sector globally are undeniable, making a strong case for the advocates of British beef production to take on the communications challenge with gusto.

We look at the issue as Great British Beef Week kicks off.

In the latest episode of the Agri-Food Comms Cast, Catherine Linch explores how this traditional sector is challenging some public’ perceptions and setting the record straight about the merits of British beef.

Jilly Greed, farmer and co-founder of Ladies in Beef, discusses this year’s Great British Beef Week (GBBW), a celebratory annual campaign created to promote and champion beef production – from farm to fork.

In the last 11 years, it’s garnered tremendous support from across the industry. This year, GBBW is backed by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI), Agriculture, Horticulture and Development Board (AHDB) and Meat Promotion Wales.

With sustainability as the theme for the 2021 event, Jilly believes connecting consumers with food provenance, the farmed countryside and how beef systems can support the environment is key to restoring the public’s affiliation with eating red meat.

This episode also highlights the value of a breadth of communications channels, including popular films like Kiss the Ground and online events like We Eat Balanced and the RABI cookalong, that are spreading positive messages around sustainable farming within the agri-food sector and beyond.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk

The Agri Food Comms-Cast (AFCC) delves into the current issues being faced in the agricultural industry and food supply chain, with a PR and marketing spin.

Episode 11 explores wildlife conservation and its relationship with food production and land management.

David Hooton, deer officer at the Forestry Commission, explains that although wild deer populations are at an all-time high, the market for venison has significantly dropped in the last 18 months.

By heading up the new Venison Working Group and delivering the first Wild Venison Week later this winter, he aims to help equip the venison trade so landowners can continue to meet their business and conservation objectives, while encouraging a wider consumer audience to eat venison all-year-round.

Then former editor of the Shooting Times & Country Magazine, Joe Dimbleby from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) goes on to explain how his journalistic background has helped to secure editorial for the Trust in the mainstream press, as well as in country sports and farming media, to promote case studies of biodiversity success directly from farmers and landowners.

And to conclude, he explains how the new Working for Wildlife web portal is hosting a ‘pledge’ that’s appealing to all conservationists – from RSPB to NFU– to sign-up to with a view to uniting on commitments to the British countryside. And with 1,000 signatures in its first week, it’s already gaining traction.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk

Episode seven considers the complex communication challenges that Henry Dimbleby was up against when piecing together his National Food Strategy. Catherine Linch is joined by two special guests for the final episode of season two of the Agri-Food Comms Cast to share their insight on this recently launched, comprehensive review.

Communicating information that requires extensive cross-sector knowledge and context can prove problematic and often runs the risk of losing your audiences’ interest. So how did Mr Dimbleby ensure his report was a success?

John Shropshire, chairman of G’s Marketing, was one of the farming representatives on the National Food Strategy advisory board. John joins our host to discuss the process behind the policy influencing report and the role that communication played in pulling together such a comprehensive document.

Acknowledging that farming can often be on the receiving end of bad press, seasoned expert in agricultural communications, Amy Jackson of Oxtale, talks about the challenges of effectively conveying proposed recommendations to audiences that are more likely to be resistant to change.

Amy praises the National Food Strategy for being wholly inclusive by sharing the responsibility for improving our food systems, diet, health and environment. She advises that setting incremental manageable objectives makes meeting targets much more realistic and achievable.

There are some big upcoming changes to farming, but how do we successfully communicate this information? Amy suggests that conveying a consistent message is key and the National Food Strategy does just that, highlighting three key areas of focus: producing food more efficiently, increasing biodiversity and capturing carbon.

The Bees' Knees Comms-Cast is brought to you by Pinstone, a B Corp award-winning PR and marketing agency specialising in food, farming and the environment. Speak to us if you want to engage your audience authentically on your sustainability story. www.pinstone.co.uk