Russ and Ian talk about their Brilliant Moments

Before Christmas PFLA exec-secretary Russ Carrington and Cotswold ‘Pasture for Life’ farmer Ian Boyd, made their way to the Media Trust TV studios in West London to film their ‘Brilliant Moments’.

These were broadcast on 9 March on the Community Channel (Sky 539) and other channels and are now also available here.

Russ and Ian are just two of many hundreds of people who have opened their souls to tell about a time when something happened to totally change their lives forever.

Russ’ moment

My Brilliant Moments - Russ

Russ tells us about when he viewed BBC documentary ‘Farm for the future’, produced and presented by Devon farmer Rebecca Hosking. The film questioned agriculture’s dependency on fossil fuels and wondered who, if and how the system could be changed.

This inspired Russ to give up a good career in engineering, and to go and travel across 23 countries to fully appreciate man’s impact on the planet. Back at home he met and joined with like-minded farmers and set up The Pasture-Fed Livestock Association.

He talks about the achievements and the challenges so far. He is also extremely pleased that Rebecca is now a PFLA member and he is helping her find a market for her grass-fed, sustainable meat.

Ian’s moment

My Brilliant Moments - Ian

Ian was trained as a full-scale production farmer on his 700 acres in the Cotswolds – but he couldn’t make any money. It was only when he was following government-sponsored schemes to sow and maintain wildflower meadows on some of his land, that he realised there was a different way to farm.

Ian’s light-bulb moment came when he found the meat-trade did not like the beef from his Traditional Herefords, who had been brought in to eat the bio-diverse pastures. So, he and his family had to sell the meat to customers themselves.

The delicious taste and the ‘Pasture for Life’ story behind it, means the meat proved easy to sell. In fact they now regularly run out. Ian said he’d wished he changed to this way of farming 30 years ago.

Well done to Ian and Russ for telling their ‘Pasture for Life’ stories so well. Inspirational.

PS: This filming came about via The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, one of the leading independent grant-making foundations in the UK. The Community Channel has included many Esmée Fairbairn recipients, such as the Pasture-Fed Livestock Association, in its recent programming.

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