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Josh and Naomi are joined by two guests to speak about the importance of PPE and the new RABI FarmersAid app.
In the Westminster section, the team in London discuss the Labour leadership race and the NFU’s 5-point plan to build a resilient food system.
Finally, Josh and Naomi talk to Ed Lanning, a 25-year-old second-generation poultry farmer from Devon who came home to the family business and turned a struggling unit into the top-performing farm across his processor.
Farm safety in focus
Farm Safety Week runs from 21–25 July, landing right in the middle of harvest when farms are at their busiest and the risk of accidents is at its highest.
Ben Smith lost an eye in his twenties when a tool splintered while he was fixing a combine – an accident he puts down to not wearing goggles. What followed was five years of operations trying to save his sight before the eye eventually had to be removed. Now in his thirties and running his own smallholding alongside his work as a mechanic, Ben insists every apprentice he works with wears the correct protective equipment on every job, and wants the same standard applied across the wider industry.
Also on the episode is Lucy Saker, Head of Business Development at RABI (Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution), who talks through FarmersAid – a new initiative launching in 2026 whose centrepiece is a free app giving step-by-step guidance for treating common life-threatening farm injuries, from crush incidents to severe bleeding, in what RABI calls the Platinum Ten Minutes.
Lucy explains why RABI built it, what it can walk a bystander through in a genuine emergency, and what else is planned as the initiative rolls out – including on-farm critical care kits and training pilots.
Hear from your Westminster team
NFU Head of External Affairs Scott Pepe and NFU External Affairs Adviser Joe Osborne discuss the latest developments in the Labour leadership race and what they could mean for agricultural policy.
They talk through the NFU’s 5-point food system plan, make the case for why the weeks before summer recess are a critical window for industry advocacy, and explain why bringing MPs onto farms is one of the most effective tools for shaping the decisions that matter.
They also discuss how NFU members can play a direct role in influencing the future of British farming.
Coming home
Finally, Ed Lanning shares the story of making a mark on his father’s business.
His father Robert built Devonshire Poultry from scratch, starting out selling eggs from ten hens on his bicycle, and it has grown into a business spanning eight farms across the South West, producing 1.3 million broiler chickens per cycle.
Ed grew up riding round the farms as a child, got his tractor licence at 16, and went on to study Agriculture at Harper Adams. When he graduated in 2024, he came home and took on Oakstone Farm.
Ed talks about the pressure of taking on something with your family’s name attached to it, the value of a parent who steps back and lets you get on with it, and what he’d say to other young farmers weighing up whether to go home.
Hungry for more? Delve into some of the topics covered in the latest Shed Talks
New FarmersAid app – real time guidance for serious on-farm accidents
Get the Labour leadership explainer from your NFU Westminster team
A 5-point plan for a resilient, affordable food system
Farming and food leaders unite to urge next PM to back food resilience plan
Fellowship highlights how farming and environment work together
Meet the speakers:
Josh Redford
East Sussex and West Sussex County Adviser and Surrey County Adviser
He is originally from Sussex and caught the farming bug as a teenager, when he helped on a local dairy farm.
After undertaking an Agriculture BSc at Cirencester he worked on an arable farm in Cambridgeshire, and with Farmcare as a trainee agronomist before he joined Greens of Soham.
Away from work, he is a qualified water sports instructor and an infantry reservist.
Visit Josh's East Sussex county page
Visit Josh's West Sussex county page
Visit Josh's Surrey county page
Naomi Williams-Roberts
NFU Student & Young Farmer Alumni | NFU Cymru
Hailing from South East Wales, a self-proclaimed late comer, it wasn’t obvious she was ‘allowed’ to join the industry, however after joining YFC her feet are firmly under the table. Establishing her farm in 2018 with her husband, Josh, Naomi hopes to help others realise their farming dreams can come true!
Scott Pepe
NFU Head of External Affairs
He is also responsible for raising the NFU’s campaigning and lobbying profile in Westminster and is the NFU’s speechwriter.
Scott first joined the NFU in 2017. Before that, he worked in Parliament. He worked for the Deputy Chief Whip before going on to run an MP’s office. He has also been an adviser to Treasury Ministers and HMRC.
Joe Osborne
NFU External Affairs Adviser
This includes political monitoring, writing briefings and letters, and event planning. Within the team, he leads on international trade, the UK-EU SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) agreement, ELMs (Environmental Land Management schemes), and the Middle East conflict.