Passionate farming stalwart and Rural2Kitchen founder, Wallace Currie, launched his very own podcast ‘R2Kast’, last month, which features fortnightly interviews with inspiring individuals across the food and farming agenda – and it's sponsored by The Scottish Farmer.

The Covid-19 pandemic has touched the lives of everyone over the past two years and has also played a part in changing the mindset of the public view on one of our most important commodities: home-grown British produce. With food delivery services taking priority over doing a weekly trip to the shops, delivery companies stocks’ went through the roof and the public realised that buying local and growing your own had more merits than previously deemed before.

"During lockdown I decided I wanted to make a difference, so I started a Facebook page, Rural2Kitchen. My goal was to show the benefits of getting your food from local places, be that locally supporting grocers or at the farm gate, or even better…growing your own, either indoors or if you are lucky enough to have space for a plot. On top of this, I felt it important to show the good side of the farming industry, as it has at times received a lot of bad press," explained Wallace.

In a bid to help broadcast the voices of leading individuals within the agricultural industry, the 'R2Kast' so far has 18 interviews lined up and includes famous faces like The Funky Farmer’s Richard Cornock; Cammy Wilson, from the Sheep Game; and Pálína Axelsdóttir Njarðvík – a famous sheep farmer from Iceland.

Wallace has also pinned down NFUS president Martin Kennedy, RSABI’s David Leggat and Kenyan-born pig farmer Flavian Obiero to also contribute and share their views on the podcast.

“I’ve featured so many inspiring individuals and the responses I’ve had so far have been amazing. People have been enjoying the variety of topics I’ve covered and I have 18 published with six more sitting ready to go – but I always love feedback from my listeners on who they would like to hear from,” commented Wallace.

As well as managing Rural2Kitchen, recording podcasts and lecturing his students, Wallace also finds time to record short videos for BBC The Social – an online short video platform which features young vloggers and he is now producing one video a month for the BBC, covering the topics of food miles, encouraging consumers to think about their food choices and the impact it has on the climate and another on the challenges facing agriculture around mental health.

If you would like to hear more from Wallace you can follow his Facebook platform 'Rural2Kitchen' or listen in to his 'R2Kast' podcast series available every fortnight on a Friday at 7pm on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and most free podcast sites.