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Farming Today

BBC Radio 4

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

science

All Episodes

24:44

13/09/25: Farmland Birds, Wild Summit, Illegal Meat

Farming Today ·

2025/09/13

Populations of birds which live on farmland have declined sharply since the 1970s, although there are signs the rate of decline is now slowing. We visit projects to improve habitats for Nightjars in Staffordshire and Corncrakes on the Isle of Lewis. This week a Wild Summit bought together voices from all sides of the debate to discuss how to reverse the biodiversity crisis. Farming Today hears from conservationists and farmers, agreeing that current policies are 'fractured'.The Commons' Environment,

13:59

12/09/2025

Farming Today ·

2025/09/12

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.

14:08

11/09/2025 Corn belt farmers, seeds for future...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/11

We've discussed the impact of President Trump's trade policy on producers here in the UK, we now turn our attention to American farmers, who are being hit by retaliatory tariffs imposed on American products by countries around the world. The American Soybean Association says that exports to China have practically halted after China imposed an extra 20% tariff in response to American tariffs on Chinese goods. China is instead importing soya from South America because it's cheaper, just as it did

13:52

10/09/25: A reset for farming and government?...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/10

Could the reshuffle be an opportunity to reset the relationship between farmers and the government? The National Farmers Union President is optimistic, on the Union's Back British Farming day. Unlicensed burning of vegetation on moorland in England where there's a deep layer of peat will be banned, DEFRA has confirmed. Land managers will have to apply for burning licences for land where 30cm of peat lies beneath the surface, previously licensing only applied to 40cm of deep peat. Environmentalists

13:58

09/09/25: More school meals using more British...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/09

Free school meals are set to be extended to families on Universal Credit from September next year. A new report says serving more free school meals could create a great opportunity for British farmers, to supply the extra fruit and vegetables needed. The report commissioned by Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, warns that the opportunity could be missed unless action is taken to improve procurement of British produce in school catering. We discuss why successive government promises

11:59

08/09/25: Biosecurity at the borders, Forage Aid...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/08

MPs deliver their verdict on measures to prevent meat and dairy products being imported illegally into the UK. The report published today by the Commons' Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs Committee is unlikely to make comfortable reading for DEFRA. The Addington Fund countryside charity is opening its Forage Aid grant scheme in response to feed shortages caused by the drought conditions experienced in some parts of the country. And, there are signs that declines in some farmland bird species are

25:08

06/09/25 Farming Today This Week: Bovine TB strategy...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/07

There should be more urgency and a bigger budget to tackle TB in cattle in England while farmers should be empowered to do more to eradicate the disease. Those are headlines from a new report published today. It also calls for a bovine TB tzar to co-ordinate government policy along with investment in IT systems, vaccination and testing. We hear from the report's author, Professor Sir Charles Godfray, the Badger Trust and the National Farmers' Union.The blue green algae on Lough Neagh has had a big

13:59

05/09/2025: Short straw, party conference season,...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/05

A wet winter and dry spring means cereal crops were hard to sow and grew slowly. The result: straw short in stature and in short supply, so greater costs for livestock farmers as they prepare for housing their animals this winter. We hear from a Hay and Straw Merchant about the difficulty of sourcing their product after a difficult year for cereal growers. Party conference season gets underway today, with Reform UK gathering in Birmingham. We discuss whether they sense electoral opportunity in

13:47

04/09/2025 New bovine TB strategy review, Welsh meat...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/04

11:36

01/09/2025 Concerns about winter animal feed, working...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/03

Concern is growing about a shortage of fodder this winter. Drought in some parts of the UK has meant that the grass just hasn't grown, so farmers have had to feed their animals with the food they planned to save.A new study suggests people working with pesticides can be at higher risk of problems with their lungs. The study from the Health and Safety Executive published in the Occupational Medicine Journal says chest tightness and nasal allergies were common in those they surveyed.A team of

13:50

03/09/25 Lough Neagh blue green algae, feed mill,...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/03

People living and working around Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland say pollution in the lake has become worse over the hot summer this year. The Lough supplies about forty per cent of Northern Ireland's drinking water and for the past couple of years it's been covered with a toxic blue green algae, which has grown due to pollution from agriculture, broken water treatment facilities and industrial waste. The algae's also had a big impact on the fishing industry.All this week we’re looking at animal

14:11

02/09/25 Rural racism, dairy prices, pulses for...

Farming Today ·

2025/09/02

A new report says racist abuse is too often "tolerated or even normalised" in the English countryside, with many incidents going unreported by victims. Researchers from the University of Leicester spoke to 115 people and 20 community groups over two years, for their Rural Racism Project. They found that it wasn't just visitors to the countryside who suffered abuse, but those who are living within rural communities as well. The UK dairy sector has had a pretty successful year. The Agriculture and

25:01

Farming Today This Week: EU border checks; impact of...

Farming Today ·

2025/08/30

Changes to the costs, paperwork and bureaucracy that are hampering agri-food exports from Great Britain to the European Union won’t be in place until 2027. Nick Thomas–Symonds, the Minister for EU Relations, has been setting out his priorities for the future of the UK-EU relationship in a speech in front of industry representatives and journalists. We speak to trade expert David Henig and hear how food exporters are 'disappointed' that barriers to trade won't be removed sooner.The pig and poultry

13:52

29/08/2025 Pig and poultry pollution, Highland sheep...

Farming Today ·

2025/08/29

A new report from the Wildlife Trusts outlines the environmental damage caused by pig and poultry pollution. Caz Graham talks to the report authors and to the National Pig Association.Moths and hoverflies are the unloved pollinators that keep our farms and gardens healthy. We hear about their brilliant undercover work.Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton

14:08

28/08/25 'Disappointment' from food industry as...

Farming Today ·

2025/08/28

Changes to the costs, paperwork and bureaucracy that are hampering agri-food exports from Great Britain to the European Union won’t be in place until 2027. Nick Thomas–Symonds, the minister for EU relations, has been setting out his priorities for the future of the UK-EU relationship in a speech in front of industry representatives and journalists. We speak to trade expert David Henig and hear how food exporters are 'disappointed' that barriers to trade won't be removed sooner.As part of our

14:14

27/08/25 Water scarcity, Scottish harvest, grazing...

Farming Today ·

2025/08/27

Three river catchments in the East of Scotland are now in a state of significant scarcity - that’s the most extreme level of water shortage issued by SEPA, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. It says the river Deveron in Aberdeenshire is at its lowest level since the 1970s and that unless there’s significant rainfall, other rivers including the Lower Tweed and the Don could also fall into that highest drought-alert category. Farmers in Scotland have been harvesting cereals earlier than

14:00

26/08/25 Countryside Code, pollinators, fruit farm bees.

Farming Today ·

2025/08/26

A new stakeholder survey has been launched by Natural England and Natural Resources Wales to find out how the Countryside Code is working in England and Wales. The code in Northern Ireland is similar but runs separately, and in Scotland, where they have the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, access, rules are different. We speak to two farmers about whether they feel the code's working for them and what they'd like to see. Pollinators play an essential part in crop production and we're looking at them

24:41

23/08/25 Farming Today This Week: early apples,...

Farming Today ·

2025/08/23

The cider apple harvest has started already. Most apples are picked in the autumn and even varieties which ripen early aren’t usually ready yet, and the apple harvest looks likely to buck this year's trend and be good.The Government's decision last week not to offer a rescue package to two plants producing bioethanol is a cause for worry for farmers. This week the Vivergo bioethanol plant on the Humber near Hull stopped production and started laying off staff. It had been buying around a million

14:08

22/08/25 Bird flu, high-tech lettuce growing, early...

Farming Today ·

2025/08/22

Avian flu is on the rise again and this summer increase in cases is being linked with seabirds. New stricter biosecurity rules have been introduced for shoots in England after a number of outbreaks in game birds, and there are also more coastal cases of the disease. Bird flu is usually associated with the winter and migratory birds, but seabirds were very badly hit in 2022 and researchers say the H5N1 virus is again affecting them. A consortium of UK scientific organisations form FluMap which is

14:06

21/08/25 Bird flu and game birds, bluetongue,...

Farming Today ·

2025/08/21

New rules on game birds are being introduced in England after warnings of a 'heightened risk' of avian flu. The Government says there have been more new cases, particularly in coastal areas and places with a significant number of shoots. English shoots will now have to introduce stricter biosecurity, for instance cleaning and covering feed and water to protect them from wild bird droppings, which can spread the infection, disinfecting vehicles and keeping records of any visits. Rules on moving

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