The AG Show team are hanging out with some of their AHDB colleagues in this episode, starting with environment guru Rachael Madeley-Davies, fresh back from COP30 in Brazil. Rachael’s big message? Farmers aren’t just part of the conversation on climate change - they’re absolutely key to it.

Then things get a little techy as Charlotte Forkes-Rees and Hannah Clarke strap on VR headsets to take a virtual walk through a pig abattoir. Yep, you read that right - VR meets farming!

And finally, we catch up with Zanita Markham to find out what earned her the prestigious Chris Brant Award at the National Pig Awards. Spoiler: it’s because she's ace (though we are biased)!

Some useful bits from the episode:

Blog: Why COP30 showed farmers’ views matter | AHDB

Zanita Markham wins Chris Brant Award | AHDB

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Welcome to the Ag show from a slightly different location. We're here at Chesford grange for HDB's Christmas staff conference. I've never seen so many people.

It's so great to be here with everyone that works at HDB because you don't often see everyone in real life these days with hybrid working. It's nice, isn't it? It's a good vibe.

I'd slightly forgotten what you'd look like, Hannah then. I can see more than just your chest upwards on teams. But no, it's a great day. Huge amount of atmospher.

Like Hannah said, getting to see half the people that we don't always get to even interact with on a daily basis is great. And learning about all the different things that they've been doing throughout the year, it's always great.

So brilliant day for us, but it does mean that it's a slightly different format for this episod. Hi, I'm Charlotte Fawkes Rees.

I'm Hannah Clarke and welcome to The AG Show.

Coming up, we'll hear from our environment expert, Rachel Madley Davis, who recently was out in Brazil at COP30 and she's.

Been telling us why farmer buy in is crucial for climate policy.

We're part of a global food system. We don't sit in isolation and actually we know from our own trade work actually how that works and how we benefit from it.

So I think there are multiple reasons why we need to be at that global conversation.

I also recently caught up with our very own Zanita Markham, who won the Chris Brandt Award at the National Pig Awards.

The pig industry kind of found me, I guess, you know, I always kind of put them up there. I'm a little bit biased perhaps with the agricultural sectors that they. They are a real group of professionals.

And we experience a virtual tour of a pig abattoir thanks to some new technology from ahdb.

We've invested now in some equipment and we're dead keen to make the most of it. So the abattoir piece that we've done now with the pig is probably just at the start of this whole experience and journey.

We're now going to go on around VR and how we use that technology going forward.

A reminder, new episodes of the Ag show drop every Wednesday at midday wherever you get your podcasts with audio and.

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Well, I'm not actually quite.

Sure where Hannah's gone, but I have now been joined by Rachel, who very excitingly has just come back from COP 30.

Now Rachel, can we just start off because I don't think I'm going to be the only one here who probably should know what COP30 means, but if you were to test me, I wouldn't be able to say it. So what is it and why were you there?

I think it's a really good point. People probably use COP but have no idea actually what COP is.

So it stands for Conference of Parties, which basically means national governments and the governments who are parties to the UNFCCC or the United Nations Framework on Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is a bit of a mouthful. So basically it's a big gathering of top level negotiations on a global scale. It's 190 countries, it's phenomenal, happens every year. And this is.

So this is actually very focused on climate. There are other cops that focus on other things, so like biodiversity, cop. But so I was at the climate one, very fortunate to go there.

It was in Belem, which is basically the capital city of the state where the Amazon is in Brazil. And I think it's really, it's my second cop, so I was fortunate enough to go last year as well when it was in Azerbaijan.

And I think the big thing for me is actually food systems, our hot topic at cop. So that's why I think we should be there. Because actually the farmer voice there is a farmer sort of constituencies, there's groups of farmers there.

But actually from our British perspective, it's really important that we get over in terms of actually what we're doing for climate change, how we're adapting to a changing climate and actually what our role is going forward.

Because I think what we also need to appreciate is that food, food production is a global thing now, isn't it? So while obviously HDB is very much here for our levy payers, we're not the only ones that are producing food in this world.

And it's that interplay between, you know, perhaps us, who I would say, and correct me completely if I'm wrong, we are perhaps on the more advanced end of some of the initiatives, particularly when it comes to sustainability and environment that we're putting into play. But there are going to be other countries that are perhaps not so advanced that are going to be having very different things that they're looking at.

So how does that all kind of play together?

Yeah, it's a really good point. And I think at the end of the day. We're part of a global food system. We don't sit in isolation.

And actually we know from our own trade work actually how that works and how we benefit from it. So I think there are multiple reasons why we need to be at that global conversation.

So, firstly, there's that and how we fit in, but I think secondly, it's actually how other countries can learn from us and actually the great work we're doing, because we really are streets ahead in terms of how we farm.

If you look at our genetic improvements, if you look actually how we use our landscape as well in terms of delivering multiple goods from the same land, but also how we can perhaps learn from other nations, there are innovations and technologies that have been used by other global countries that actually we can learn from too. And actually cop's a really good place for sharing learnings, sharing policy.

So I think it gives us a number of benefits in terms of looking perhaps what's on the horizon, also looking at what we can utilise as well.

I think I've heard you say this before.

It's like if you're not at the table, if you're not at that discussion, then you're not going to be able to influence it or you're then going to be talked about. So rather than being able to sort of shape things, it's then very much that people are making decisions for you. So what did you find there?

Was there anything that you felt was particularly relevant or that you thought could be fed into sort of what was being discussed there?

Yeah, so the way copies. So I spent a lot of time following the negotiations that are relevant to agriculture. There's quite a few.

It's really big, complicated beast in terms of the un, so I follow the relevant aspects of agriculture, but also then there's also opportunities to talk and influence as well, and demonstrate.

And I think that's where it's really key in terms of getting our story right, because the same individuals that are then going in to negotiate and, you know, we've got our own negotiating team as the uk, you know, they are listening to both those parts of the conversation. So for me, it's about. And I was really lucky to be invited on a number of panels where I was talking actually about just about how we do it here.

It's as simple as that. And actually, for me, if we're not telling our own story, then someone else is. And I think that's really powerful. They like authentic voices.

It's helpful that I farm as well as work in HDB so actually just being able to demonstrate firsthand the fact that we're producing sustainable, nutritious food alongside delivering multiple environmental products and services is really powerful. And I think ultimately it helps get those points across during negotiations too.

It sounds like it will have been an incredible thing to go to, but also incredibly hard work because it is just. It's not there for a jolly, is it? You are there and helping sort of influence what might be going going forward.

But what were some of your top takeaways from the event and the sessions that you went to?

I think my top takeaway is that, well, first of all, it really reconfirmed why I think it's really important that we have a seat round that table, why we're there.

And again, I think going forward and if I was had my crystal ball out looking at the horizon, it's going to be more important that we are telling our own story here, that we're telling the facts in an evidence sort of base way. So I think for me it reaffirmed that. I think secondly, like we've already touched upon, it's a great opportunity to broaden our network even more.

You know, it's a global network and actually it makes the world feel really quite small. It's bizarre.

And actually you realize that, you know, I was talking to Brazilian farmers who are, you know, doing agroforestry the same as we're doing, but you know, with obviously different species.

You know, they're growing sort of black pepper up trees and also utilizing livestock around and they're looking at other sort of how they might integrate, I suppose, multi species lay. But you know, they're using peanuts. So there's all sorts of things like that. It's really interesting actually how you can then see that correlation.

And then third, and finally for me again I overuse this phrase. Probably other people do as well.

But it's that whole thing about remembering that we really need to start to think globally and act locally and actually how we can bring those two together and how we can really start to deliver and implement practices that ultimately help us mitigate climate change and make our businesses and our sector more resilient.

It sounds like it was an incredible event. It sounds like you were able to take so much from it as well. Obviously this is something that happens every year.

Does it happen at the same time every year?

It does. So cops always happen sort of November time, they move around globally.

It's again, it's quite a political sort of process in terms of who has it, who doesn't so it's going to be in Turkey next year. There's a bit of a relationship with the Australians, so they're involved as well.

But it is, it's really important and I think it's, you know, we're really fortunate that we managed to get an observer ticket, because you can't just buy a ticket, it's not like a normal conference. So we managed to get a ticket by the NFU and it was really good being part of the actual farmers constituency.

There's nine constituencies that observe the UNFCCC and farmers are one of them and that's quite powerful. There aren't other sectors that are represented like farmers are, but it's important that the UK voice is heard.

Welcome back, guys, to the Ag Show. We are here at our staff conference.

So that's why we're looking a little bit different and quite festive, actually, in front of our little Christmas tree. We have a lot still to come.

On our episode this week, we are going to be diving into some virtual reality in pig abattoirs, carrying on the pig theme. Charlotte, I understand you've been catching up with someone in our pork engagement team.

Yeah, I recently caught up with Zenita Markham and was asking her about actually what her role is as a sustainability and engagement manager for the pork sector and what it's all about.

I have a history at HDB of working in the pork sector, which is a mixture of the environment and when I say that, I mean the environment that the pig lives in and also the natural environment. So I look after a lot of research trials all to do with sustainability and the environment.

So it's like a really varied role, basically, as I was saying. So anything to do with a pig, how we're sort of rearing them, producing and the impact that that is then potentially also having on the environment. So it's kind of like a two way thing.

So I've got a pretty unique role at AHDB.

I engage with a lot of industry, so that includes our government agencies, our other industry representatives, our farmers, of course, but also our internal teams to make sure that we've got that engagement and knowledge exchange, funneling through all of our work and making sure that we always deliver for our farm.

So incredibly varied.

And I would kind of think that it would almost be like no two days are the same, then you're going to be talking to a farmer one day, potentially talking to someone in government the next, and then coming and talking to me on another day. So really varied.

I love days when out about on the farm, learning for myself, having that support of the farmers and collecting data.

I also spend a large portion of my time in meetings and writing reports and making sure that we have got that communication flow with all of our stakeholders. Very lucky it is so varied. But having said that, a lot of the projects I'm involved in are very long term projects.

Recently completed, a six, seven year project.

So although we've got a huge variety of tasks, what underpins all of that is our real lengthy, important, integral projects that look after the industry.

And I think you're alluding to a project which you've worked on, which was estimated to have saved £15.3 million in environmental mitigation costs and that was that multi year ammonia monitoring trial.

It's an incredible win for the industry. But I will caveat that with it is an evidence based project. HDB facilitated their collection of data, but it's all credit to the industry.

The project was looking at real time ammonia emissions from different types of pig housing and we were able to demonstrate across a lot of the systems we had a 50% reduction of ammonia that was listed in legislation at the time due to the efforts of industry organically over the last couple of decades, with improved housing, feeding ingredients, management techniques, health and welfare of the pigs, slurry management, all of these things that the industry does day to day, we were able to collect that evidence over a number of years and it has gone and to update some really important environmental legislation. And what that meant in monetary terms is that the industry has become compliant with our targets.

Meaning at this point in time there isn't any need to rush in with any mitigation strategies. But of course we're always encouraging the industry to do more and more and.

I think I'd probably be safe to say that it's really that time and patience being really key to making any changes within industry and then taking a lot of the research that we're doing to try and underpin any of the recommendations with that insight, with that evidence and how we can go to make these improvements and make sure that there's that industry longevity there. What's next? What's next to look at?

We've got quite a number of environmental projects going on at the moment and so it's non stop.

So aside from the activities and the offers from the commercial companies in the pig industry, which are all driving to either environmental improvement or mitigation, HDB have got a number of projects which is going to help the pig industry long term. So the first one is looking at our carbon emissions from the pig industry. So it is a pilot trial.

We've got quite a number of farms within England that are part of this pilot and we are looking to work with them to see what their carbon emissions look like.

Currently have a bit of an action plan with them and work with them over the next few years to see what action on farm can do in regards to carbon emissions.

But most importantly, and the uniqueness of this project is we're looking at the sequestration of the carbon, so also the benefits of having land management within the system as well. And we're also conducting an industry environmental roadmap.

So that is a bit of a strategic document looking at all of the environmental effects and benefits of pig farming. So that will be a GB document and we will be looking at all parts of the production pre farm gates and looking at our environmental status.

It is a little bit too soon in the project to allude to what that roadmap might look like, but from the data I have seen, it's looking very positive and I think again, it's another way that the industry should be very proud of themselves with the strides they've made over the last few years.

Now, a little bit more about you, if you don't mind, Zenita. I mean you've been with HDB a number of years now, Am I correct in saying about 7?

Think a little bit more than that. Oh, my theory definitely over eight years, maybe ticking on to nine, yet feels like yesterday since I started.

Yeah.

So my time at HCB has been very much focused on the pig industry. I always say it's a bit of a happy accident really. I did the usual thing.

So I went to a local ag college and then a big shout out to Harper Adams where I really enjoyed my years studying their environmental management. But the pig industry kind of found me, I guess, you know, I always kind of put them up there.

I'm a little bit biased perhaps with the agricultural sectors, that they are a real group of professionals, they are business owners and they are always trying to push themselves to be better. Very much data driven and I think kind of my. My passion for animals, wanting to work in sustainability in the.

And my love of agriculture just all combined into a nice role. So yeah, I joined htv, I can.

Probably say, and I'm not in the pig sector, but I think they're exceptionally lucky to have you. So you recently won the Chris Brandt Award at the National Pig Awards.

But how did it make you feel, you know, getting that award?

Oh, it was, it was a real surprise, yeah, for a few reasons. You know, you do your day to day role, you try your best. You know, helping farmers is, is always a great motivation.

But yeah, to get an industry recognized award for me is probably the best part of it. I have been told that I think I'm the youngest winner of this award. So yeah, very surprised, absolutely thrilled to receive it.

And I always say that our jobs are here to support and serve the industry, but I very much feel like I get that back from industry. So the farmers and the industry representatives that I work with support me tremendously.

And yeah, I think the award was mostly to do with the erroneous project. But you know, one person cannot do that piece of work alone.

I had great support from internal colleagues, industry experts who gave their time and talent to the work.

And of course the farmers themselves, you know, they let us on their farm, you know, almost a full time job collecting this data, sharing their farm data with us. You know, their teams on farm helped us. You know, I was phoning them saying, I think the machine's slowing down, can you make sure everything's okay?

And the lights on.

So yeah, it was a real industry team effort.

So I think it's, yeah, huge congratulations on that win.

And like you say, the industry has obviously supported you in getting that, but they'll only support you because of the fabulous work that you've been doing. So huge congratulations. But I think really importantly, where's the award now? Is it in the kitchen?

As luck would have it, I got it right here for you. So this is the award. Yeah, really lovely award and I will treasure it.

Wasn't sure if you were going to be like, oh no, it's my bathroom.

Well, I reserved that for the Oscar.

And we're back.

It's The AG Show.

And for those that are watching us, perhaps on video format rather than listening as a podcast, Hannah and I were going to be looking a little bit peculiar because we are wearing a piece of tech which HDB has recently invested in, which is VR headsets, and it's allowing us the opportunity and it's completely bizarre trying to talk to you while watching this to look around an abattoir. So currently I can see larid and pigs and they're moving through this, Hannah, I don't know what you can see.

Yeah, I can see some pigs hanging in an abattoir. Basically.

This is fantastic technology that is bringing the abattoir to the people, because it's quite difficult even as a producer, to get into an abattoir and actually see what happens and see the process. So this technology is a brilliant way of bringing the abattoir to people that might not otherwise see it.

And we are lucky enough to be here with the creators of this technology, wherever they are. I can't see them right now, but I'm sure they're here with us. Josh and Harps, wherever you are, welcome to the Ag Show.

I think I'm taking my headset off now. I definitely can't talk and. And look.

That's a good idea.

Is my hair looking all right now? Fab. So, yeah, welcome to the egg show, Harps. So tell us, what. What sort of process did you play in. In making these happen?

Yeah, thanks. So. So my name's Harps. I'm part of the HDB CRE team.

And a lot of the work we do is to help farmers, growers, processors, understand a bit more about what we do in UK agriculture, UK farming, and understanding some of the processes involved in developing food.

One of the big things is education, and we've been really exploring ways we can bring education into the 21st century using new technology to develop that. And VR has become an integral part of that now.

So over the last few years, we've looked at ways we can use VR across dairy sectors, across beer sectors, and now, very excitingly, into the pork sector, looking at abattoirs which have historically had some real, real difficult access issues around.

Biosecurity, as you say. Hannah and I, we've both been fortunate to go around abattoirs before, but it has been very much on a beef and lap front.

So, Joshni, do you mind talking us through some of the process for making this happen?

Yep. The idea was to let people know what is happening inside a picabetta.

And, you know, sometime visiting an abattoy in person could be intimidating for some people. The smell, the color, I mean, the process.

So the plan was to film an entire abattoir and while walking, I mean, walking people through the processes, explaining them and explaining the biosecurity, everything involved in there, and then corona hit us and the pandemic became. I mean, it. It was not possible for us to film in Nanabataya, so we had to get this filmed package of this video from a business called Denova solve.

So now we have this approximately 30 minutes video with the.

From the layerage where the pics are getting unloaded and first stage of processing, so the layer two, last stage processing and package packaging stage, we have the entire video and then we had some more fun and so we. I mean, then we got the VR headsets and Harpal is the technical guy. I don't know anything about the headsets.

I mean, I only have the information he gave to me, so. But it like kind of. It's the highlight of the project now because everybody is interested in the virtual avatar and the experience and it's.

Yeah, it's the highlight of the project.

Now I understand you've taken this out on the road already. What's kind of the reaction been from people that have watched these videos?

Yep, they all loved it. I mean, it was my first time. Well, I was using the headsets. It was my first time. I don't. It was amazing. So, yeah, it was the same film for everyone.

Everybody. But I think especially those who are visiting the abattoy for the first time. Yeah, that's their reaction was priceless. I mean, wow.

Just adding to that, I think the way we've invested now in some equipment and we're dead keen to make the most of it.

So the abattoir people piece that we've done now with the pig sector is probably just at the start of this whole experience and journey we're now going to go on around VR and how we use that technology going forward.

The more immersive experiences really give you a different sense of where you are spatially, but then also from an experience point of view, from someone who's not been in an abattoir before or seen how farming works, it's such an eye opener. It kind of creates much visibility to such a taboo topic sometimes. And when you can walk through the abattoir and recognize.

I think we broke this down into six different videos.

So it's short experiences, but the creative element around that is just so that we've got experiences we can share without being, you know, dipping your toe into it.

You know, I was gonna say from my very short time just having a play with that and I'm sure, sure it's the same for you, Hannah. I wasn't expecting. I was thinking, I'm just going to have it on. I'll be looking straight ahead and I'll just see what's in front of me.

But actually you turn your head, oh, there's something else over there. Oh, you look up oh, there's something else up there.

It was literally like an immersive experience and I suppose we talk quite a lot, particularly in our day to day jobs, about the different innovation and technologies that's coming into agriculture. It's really interesting to see how it.

Can be implemented in a different way that can really help with that education piece.

And I suppose now we've got this.

Kit, actually the opportunities are endless for future opportunities with like, do you know if there's anything else in the pipeline.

For what else we might be doing?

Yeah, and I know Justine will probably talk about this in a few minutes as well. I think, you know, we have just dipped our toe into this and we've done a few pieces before with other sectors.

So our exports team are massively invested into a dairy experience. When you go on a dairy farm, see what, what the cows are like, really selling the. Outdoor grazing message to our international communities.

But now working with different sectors. Abattoir is one area of a whole pig sector which we could explore further.

And actually there's other experiences that we're looking to develop further, but we're working on that at the minute with virtual farms being one of them. Trying to work out where the benefits would be for farmers at the moment though.

And I think something that we see a lot in our day to day.

Job as well is around that, yeah, the education. How do you get people to be aware about where their food's coming from?

So at hdb we do quite a lot with the education, just broadly we've got an education team. So actually I could almost see like that would be brilliant.

Maybe not necessarily this particular one, but going into schools and showing them, you know, if they're in an environment where they haven't got access to go and.

Visit a farm, this would be a great way. I mean, everyone loves a bit of technology, don't they?

Joshni, what's next for this? Where are you planning to take this and how can people get involved?

Actually we already started the next project, which shell farm. I mean, we are going to film an entire pig farm and I think it happened only because of the headsets, because everybody received it really well.

So that was our motive to go for another virtual farm project. And also the marketing team, export team, they were all interested in the virtual abattoir and the farm because it's kind of.

We could show off our reputation like British meat, how is being produced or is processed or how the farms are being kept and how the animals are being in a farm. I mean, so that's part of our reputation. So I think it will be definitely great in future.

The opportunities are endless and fun. Well, guys, I think that's all we've got time for this episode of the Ag Show. It's been great fun, hasn't it, Charlotte?

To be somewhere different, to be doing it in real life. I think this is the first in person episode we've done done. How exciting, Tom. We're sad you missed it, but, you know, we've had fun.