Farming Today
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. This BBC Radio 4 podcast covers agricultural policy, rural affairs, and food production in the UK.
Episodes
04/07/26 Farming Today This Week: Groundswell regenerative agriculture, the Environment Secretary on the 25 year Farming Roadmap
Ten years of the regenerative farming festival Groundswell - we talk to farmers who were at the first event about how it's changed the way the farm.Chris van Tulleken says farmers and doctors want the same thing, for people to want to buy more real, unprocessed food.What will the Government's new 25 year Farming Roadmap mean for farmers? We ask the Secretary of State.Presented by Anna Hill and pro
02/07/26 Groundswell Regenerative Agriculture 2026
Ten years of the regenerative farming festival Groundswell - we talk to farmers who were at the first event about how it's changed the way the farm.Chris van Tulleken says farmers and doctors want the same thing, for people to want to buy more real, unprocessed food.Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
03/07/2026 Farming roadmap, food security, protecting soils
We speak to the Environment Secretary about the government's new farming roadmap for England. It's 25 year plan and ministers say it'll give farmers the long-term clarity they need and access to the tools, technology, skills and supply chains 'to innovate, invest and grow with confidence for generations to come.' We find out what farmers at the regenerative farming event Groundswell think of it,
01/07/2026 Muirburn, grain that's too dry, intercropping
A new code of practice for the controlled burning of moorland in Scotland, which was due to be published on 1st July is being delayed, amid protests from gamekeepers that it won't work. Muirburn, as the controlled burning is known, is used by many gamekeepers to manage sensitive moorland to enable habitat for grouse, for shooting on many estates. Gamekeepers say it also reduces the vegetative lo
30/06/26 Scottish organic farmed salmon, soil health, water management
The organic certification body, the Soil Association, is warning it may withdraw from the farmed salmon sector unless higher standards are met. The organisation says while current standards are being satisfied, that's not driving the improvments in the industry that they want to see. They cite high fish mortality, unacceptable levels of sea lice, and the use of harmful chemical treatments. The
29/06/26 Water resilience on farms, rural place names, soil
Calls for more government action to protect water supplies for farming.A series of workshops are taking place across Wales this year to collect hyper-local place names, particularly in rural areas.Later this week we'll be at Groundswell, the regenerative agriculture festival now in its 10th year. Regen ag puts an emphasis on soil, so this week here on Farming Today it's all about earth.Presented b
27/06/26: Farming in the heat, England's Farming Roadmap, global agritourism.
This week farmers have coped with heavy thundery rain and record breaking temperatures. We hear from a pig farmer keeping his stock cool, a livestock auctioneer who's had to cancel sales due to the heat, and a major potato and beetroot grower contemplating an irrigation bill of £3 million this year. But for winemakers the sunshine has come at just the right moment.The Government has invested in st
26/06/26 NI to miss its environmental targets, farming in the heatwave, farm campsite
Northern Ireland is 'largely' missing the targets in its own Environmental Improvement Plan. A report from the environment watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection, says of 38 targets, just two are likely to be met and that ministers must now move from 'planning and strategies into delivery'.
The heatwave isn't a problem for everyone - it's mostly welcome in vineyards. Some had a difficul
25/06/2026 The Farming Roadmap, emissions from agriculture, pigs in the heat
'The most significant moment for English agriculture since the Second World War'; that's the Government's claim for their Farming Roadmap which has just been released. We hear reaction to the long awaited 25 year vision for agriculture.The Climate Change Committee's annual report on the UK's greenhouse gas emissions says while agriculture is moving in the right direction, emissions aren't falling
24/06/2026 Agritourism - Aberdeen hosts the first global conference of its kind
Aberdeen is hosting the first global agritourism conference. It's the brainchild of Caroline Millar who runs an agritourism business from her family farm in Scotland. Delegates from around the world have been exploring how producers can make more money by opening up their farms to visitors.Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
23/06/2026: Fighting wildfires, training sheep shearers, from hill farm to heritage events
The Met Office has issued a rare red 'extreme heat’ warning for parts of southern England, the Midlands and southern Wales for tomorrow and Thursday with amber warnings already in place more widely in England and Wales. Some fire services are warning of a increased risk of wildfires as temperatures are set to reach the high 30s.
It comes just as the government’s announced a one hundred million
22/06/26 Agri-tourism, Scottish abattoir costs, seaweed cattle feed to reduce methane
Why more farmers are opening their gates to the public - all week we're looking at agri-tourism.Scientists across the world are investigating ways to reduce the climate change gas methane produced by livestock, using feed supplements made of synthetic chemicals, tannins, fats and even seaweed. Asparagopsis is a red seaweed that reacts with enzymes in the final stages of digestion and stops methan
20/06/26 - Royal Highland Show, Scottish farming policy and South West octopus bloom
The Royal Highland Show hopes to welcome 200,000 visitors across four days. In this programme we report from the show, hearing farmers' views on the Scottish Government's plan for a supermarket price cap on essential food items, speaking to the new Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs and hearing about the hardest job on the showground... ice cream tasting!Meanwhile in the south
15/06/26 Octopus bloom, Scottish organic farming
An emergency by-law has been passed in Cornwall, to restrict the number of boats coming in to take advantage of the ongoing bloom of octopus on the south coast.
It's been described as a 'gold rush' as huge sums are being made - Brixham fish market recently experienced a record catch of 103 tonnes - worth £400,000. But the octopus are also causing problems - eating crab and lobster and devastatin
19/06/26 The Royal Highland Show and Scottish Government plans to cap prices on some essential foods.
Around 200,000 visitors will be visiting The Royal Highland Show this week. Farmers and growers will be showcasing their produce at the Royal Highland Centre on the edge of Edinburgh. There are around 6000 entries, with trophies for everything from cattle, sheep and pigs to horses, honey and gelato. The Scottish Government made some announcements at the show too: they've brought forward plans for
18/06/26 Change of Defra Farming Minister, Scottish greening policy, connected agri-tech
After Farming Minister Angela Eagle’s reshuffling out of DEFRA, we hear why the farming industry really doesn’t like ministerial churn.We're looking at Scottish agricultural policy all week. There’s a debate around whether land that’s used for grazing, rather than growing other crops, should be targeted to produce more environmental benefits.Precision farming techniques and automation are getting
17/06/26 Abattoir charges, pheasants and insects, Scottish farming with nature.
The owner of one of the last remaining abattoirs in the south east of England has said he's furious after a court ruled that the food regulator has been over charging for its hygiene and animal welfare checks. A number of abattoirs have been forced to close recently due to rising financial pressures. Earlier this month, a High Court judge said some of these costs, enforced by the Food Standards Ag
16/06/26 Heathland birds, carabid beetles, Scottish agriculture policy
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) says three rare heathland birds are starting to recover. Its heathland bird survey - the first for 20 years - shows populations and spread of the nightjar, the Dartford warbler and the woodlark are improving. They looked into whether active management within specially protected areas was helping.Beetles can be both welcome and unwelcome visitors to farmland
13/06/26 Farming Today This Week
The budget for the scheme which pays England's farmers for environmental work is revealed - but is it enough?With production costs rising following the war in the Middle East, the National Farmers' Union is calling for government support with the price of fertiliser.Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
12/06/26 Sustainable Farming Incentive, Cereal farming in Cumbria
The Department for Envrionment Food and Rural Affairs has announced how much money it’s making available to farmers in England through the Sustainable Farming Incentive - or SFI - for 2026. It’s something farmers and environmental organisations have been keenly anticipating. There’s a total budget of £240 million pounds., with the first application opening later this month.
The SFI is the DEFRA
10/06/26 New bovine TB strategy for England, cereals
A cattle vaccine to protect livestock from bovine TB could be in use on farms in England by 2030. That's one of the aims outlined in a new strategy for the eradication of bovine TB. The government commissioned it and has just released the details. We hear from the farmer who chairs the Steering Group behind the strategy which aims to get rid of the disease on farm by 2038.This week we are looking
09/06/26 Flood funding, cattle cull, cereals
Somerset's to get an extra £50m investment to help the county deal with flooding. The government is giving the money to the county council who will work in partnership with local drainage boards, communities, the Environment Agency and the Somerset Rivers Authority. Farming Minister Angela Eagle says it will enable farmers to better withstand the growing threat of floods.Nearly 300 cattle in Scotl
08/06/26 Brown or white eggs? The outlook for cereal farmers
How do you like your eggs? Brown or white? Sainsbury's has announced it's switching to white eggs for environmental reasons.With high prices for energy and fertiliser but not for their crops, and after another dry spring, we ask how arable farmers in the UK are doing.Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
06/06/26 - Farming Today This Week: Dartmoor ponies, water voles and land-based jobs
Dartmoor is famous for its semi-wild hill ponies that roam across the moorland. But concerns have been raised by the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association that new agri-environment schemes will require such a steep drop in the numbers of grazing livestock in the area that up to 93 percent of the ponies will be lost. We hear from the association's Secretary, Joss Hibbs.Next year will be the last that farm
05/06/26 Dartmoor ponies, upland economics, Open Farm Sunday
Concerns have been raised that new agri-environment schemes will require such a steep drop in the numbers of grazing livestock that 90% of Dartmoor ponies will be lost. We’re talking about upland farming all this week, and this morning we hear how the phasing out of the old EU farm payments are affecting English hill farmers, with two generations of a Lake District farming family.It’s twenty years
