Farming Today

BBC Radio 4

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

  1. 1d ago

    14/11/26 Farming Today This Week: organic salmon; bluetongue and midges; COP31 and food waste; root veg; school milk.

    The organic certification body, the Soil Association, is withdrawing from the farmed salmon sector. They cite high fish mortality and welfare and environmental standards. The farms can still be certified, but not to the higher standards The Soil Association says it represents. Great Britain has seen its worst ever outbreak of the livestock disease bluetongue this year. It can kill sheep and cattle and lead to birth defects and infertility, though it's not harmful to humans. It's spread by midges, we speak to a scientist who's trapping and monitoring midges to study how the disease is spread. Tens of thousands of delegates are discussing ways to reduce the impact of waste agree new targets at COP31 in Turkey. The Waste and Resources Action Programme, or WRAP, is calling on the COP to commit to global policies to tackle it. All this week we are looking at root crops. It's been another difficult and expensive year for carrot growers. The trade body estimating yields are likely to be 15-30% below expectation. We speak to one of the country's biggest carrot producers. Traditionally carrots, celeriac and beetroot are grown in fertile soils, ploughed and tilled, to create a fine tilth or bed, for sowing seeds and producing consistent crops. One market garden in Gloucestershire is doing the complete opposite, growing 50 types of vegetables in an organic regenerative system. How do you produce root veg in the stony soils of the Cotswolds, without digging? School milk has been on the menu for generations of pupils, and free or subsidised milk depends on their age and where in the UK they go to school. Now children in Wales may be about to lose the option of their 'free morning milk'. Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney

  2. 2d ago

    13/11/26 Duchy farms sell-off, neeps, farming to help build resilience in young people

    We hear why the Duchy of Cornwall is selling off tenant farms. The Prince of Wales wants to raise money over the next decade to invest in affordable housing, environmental projects and local communities. It's selling nine farms on the Bradninch estate in Devon, as well as others in Devon, Cornwall, Hertfordshire and the Midlands, and has been criticised for the way its gone about it. Neeps are synonymous with Scotland, mashed together with potatoes they’re the classic accompaniment to haggis. But neeps, better known as swedes in most of Britain, have been declining in popularity, so a group of Scottish farmers launched a marketing blitz to get them back onto our plates. How a project is using farming to help build resilience and offer stability to young people. From just 6 students two decades ago, Future Roots at Rylands Farm in Dorset now welcomes 150 students every week. The young people are referred from their school, social worker, or local authority and they work alongside mentors who introduce them to caring for livestock and other aspects of running a farm. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

  3. 3d ago

    12/11/2026 Organic salmon, solar farm plans, bird flu, parsnips.

    The organic certification body, the Soil Association, is withdrawing from the farmed salmon sector. They cite high fish mortality and welfare and environmental standards. The farms can still be certified, but not to the higher standards The Soil Association says it represents. DEFRA has announced that it’s imposing a national housing order across England for all poultry and captive birds in flocks of more than 50. It’s also declared an England-wide Avian Influenza Prevention Zone taking effect immediately with mandatory biosecurity measures for all bird keepers, to help reduce the risk of the disease spreading. The government has vetoed plans for what would have Britain’s biggest solar farm. The Botley West solar farm was planned for three sites in Oxfordshire much of it on the Blenheim Estate. The £800 million pound project would have been capable of powering some 330,000 homes, according to the developers but there’s been strong and heated local opposition. The government decision follows several years of consultations and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero says the proposals were rejected because "substantial" harm would be caused to greenbelt and heritage assets, as well as negative impacts on the landscape. It’s peak season for root vegetables like swedes, beetroot, celariac and parsnips. We grow around 15 thousand tonnes of parsnips in the UK and after the summer's drought and multiple heat waves it's been a difficult year for producers. Presenter = Caz Graham Producer = Rebecca Rooney

  4. 4d ago

    11/11/26 Red Tractor standards; cattle cull inquiry; bird flu in Scotland; carrot harvest.

    Red Tractor, the label which sets standards for a lot of food you see in the supermarket, has been reviewing all its criteria for farmers. It's published the last raft of proposals for consultation. The beef, lamb and dairy sectors have already been considered. This final tranche covers four sectors; pigs, poultry, fresh produce, and sugar beet and other crops. A review of a cull of 51 cattle in fields in Northern Ireland has been published. The cull near Fivemiletown was controversial as some members of the public witnessed the animals being shot. The review has deemed the cull carried out by government officals was “lawful”, but there were “operational shortcomings” and “insufficient consideration” was given to the human and community impact. Scotland has announced a country-wide Avian Influenza Prevention Zone. That means all bird keepers in Scotland must take extra precautions including keeping free-range birds fenced off, cleansing and disinfecting footwear and concrete areas, and keeping domestic ducks and geese separate from other poultry. All this week we are looking at root crops. It's been another difficult and expensive year for carrot growers with their trade body estimating yields are likely to be 15-30% below expectation. We speak to one of the country's biggest carrot growers. Presenter = Anna Hill Producer = Rebecca Rooney

  5. 5d ago

    10/11/26 Food waste, regen root veg, school milk.

    Waste, whether that's in food, farming or other industries, is the focus for COP31, the climate change talks being held in Turkey. Tens of thousands of delegates will meet over the next 10 days, and they'll be discussing ways to reduce the impact of waste on the planet and trying to agree new targets. The Waste and Resources Action Programme, or WRAP, is calling on the COP to formally recognise the damage caused by food waste and to commit to global policies to tackle it. It's peak season for British-grown root veg - and that's what we're looking at all week. Traditionally crops like carrots, celeriac and beetroot are grown in fertile soils, ploughed and tilled, to create a fine tilth or bed, for sowing seeds and producing consistent crops. One market garden in Gloucestershire is doing the complete opposite, growing 50 types of vegetables in an organic regenerative system. How do you produce root veg in the stony soils of the Cotswolds, without digging? School milk has been on the menu for generations of pupils, and free or subsidised milk depends on their age and where in the UK they go to school. Now children in Wales may be about to lose the option of their 'free morning milk'. The UK Government's Rural Payments Agency which currently covers the cost says from April 2027 that will be withdrawn. It means the Welsh Government will now have to take over or ditch the provision entirely. Presenter = Anna Hill Producer = Rebecca Rooney

  6. 6d ago

    09/11/26 Midges and bluetongue; COP31 food & farming; root veg.

    Great Britain has seen its worst ever outbreak of the livestock disease bluetongue this year, described to MPs earlier this week at the Environment Food and Rural Affairs committee as “a major animal welfare crisis”. Across Great Britain there’ve been ten times more cases - that’s farms affected by the disease - in the 2026 ‘bluetongue season’ than there were last year, leading to a severe shortage of vaccine and long delays in getting test results. Bluetongue is a disease spread by midges which are far less active through the winter, so the disease tends to die down, (though just this week there’ve been new cases in Lancashire and Cumbria.) And there’s a question over whether infected midges could survive winter and continue to spread the disease come spring. Dr Marion England is a Research Fellow in Vector Ecology at the Pirbright Institute and she met our reporter Sarah Swadling on one of 6 farms where they're trapping and monitoring midges. The UN's annual climate conference, COP, this year COP31, begins in Turkey, with agriculture high on the agenda from the start. World leaders, ministers and negotiators will spend the next two weeks discussing how countries respond to climate change, with farming discussions focused on food security, water management, climate resilience and the role agriculture can play in cutting emissions. It's the season for British root vegetables, carrots, parsnips, celeriac and neeps. We're virtually self sufficient in some veg like carrots, but a summer of drought and heat waves means some produce, especially parsnips, have struggled.

  7. Nov 7

    07/11/26 Farming Today This Week: Bovine TB strategy; UK-EU Trade deal; regional mayors; farm reservoirs; bullrushes.

    England has formally adopted a new bovine TB policy which aims to eradicate the disease from the country by 2038. The UK and EU have agreed a draft deal on removing checks from food and agriculture products. A 200 page document outlines details for sanitary and phytosanitary, or SPS regulations. It's part of closer alignment between the UK and the EU and is due to be discussed at a summit later this month. When Brexit came into force six years ago, things like cheese and meat had to have extra checks, and shellfish producers were badly hit. Exports of seed potatoes stopped altogether. Eight new regional water councils will be created in England to give local communities more say in how water companies invest in their areas. The government says it's all part of the devolution drive, which will also see mayors given powers to hold water companies to account. In six months, voters in Cumbria will go to the polls to vote for the county's first elected mayor. What will the 'metro mayor' system of devolved power mean for farming and the countryside? Farmers are increasingly keen to save water on farm in the winter to use in the summer. Building small reservoirs is one option - that's what Riverford Organic Farmers in Devon has done. However, this summer three of its four reservoirs ran dry, so growers have been using data to help them better manage water in the future. Growing bullrushes for textiles in the Somerset Levels. Presenter = Caz Graham Producer = Rebecca Rooney

  8. Nov 6

    06/11/26 Mayors in rural areas, record October sunshine, recharging chalk aquifers

    Six months today voters in Cumbria will go to the polls to vote for the county's first elected mayor. Mayoral Strategic Authorities are central to the Government's policy of devolving more power and funding out of Westminster and into the hands of people who live and work in the English regions. Cumbria will be the first predominantly rural strategic authority with others to follow, including Norfolk and Suffolk who'll be voting for their regional mayor in 2028. What will the 'metro mayor' system of devolved power mean for farming and the countryside? The James Hutton Institute, which researches crop sustainability and resilience, says its farm near Dundee has had the sunniest October since they started keeping records more than 70 years ago. It means winter crops like barley and winter cover crops that slow erosion and improve soil health will have their roots established in the ground early, which could improve yield next year. In North Norfolk where stony, sandy soil lies on top of chalk, farmers are discovering ways to recharge, or refill, their chalk aquifers which act as underground reserves of water. Slowing down the run-off of winter rainfall allows water to percolate gradually into the underlying chalk, instead of ending up on roads and arable fields. Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

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The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

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  • Creator
    BBC Radio 4
  • Years Active
    2007 - 2026
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2026
  • Show Website
    Farming Today

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