Championing British wool

The regenagri podcast explores the future of farming and the hot topics surrounding the global movement of regenerative agriculture, with industry experts. In episode six, Harry Farnsworth, sustainable agriculture projects lead at Control Union UK, focuses on regenerative textiles, primarily the production of British wool. Joining Harry is Ruth Rands, founder and CEO of HERD, which creates sustainable knitwear from Bluefaced Leicester wool, sourced in the North West of England. Ruth is passionate about turning the tide on synthetic mass-made woollen clothing and instead using high-quality English heritage wool produced locally with non-toxic dyes, thus reducing the carbon footprint associated with garment manufacture. Alongside Harry and Ruth is Soil Association and Pasture for Life certified organic farmer, Leigh Weston, otherwise known as social media sensation ‘Hill Top Farm Girl’. With her partner, Neil Heseltine, she manages a flock of Bluefaced Leicester, Wensleydale and Swaledale sheep as well as a herd of breeding pedigree Belted Galloway cattle on their upland farm in the Yorkshire Dales. Leigh explains how downsizing livestock numbers has benefited the business and farmland over time, economically and ecologically. Plus, she describes how versatile the sheep breeds they rear are for breeding stock and producing meat and wool.