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BBC Radio 4


The latest news about food, farming and the countryside


Farming Today

A traditional farmers' market in the run-up to Christmas where customers can learn tips on how to cook the food that is on offer from the stalls.

Using lasers and drones to help measure the impact of farming on the environment; and a prison teaching inmates the basics of agriculture to equip them for a career after custody.

Presented by Caz Graham

Produced by Alun Beach

13/12/2024: Farmers market; environmental impact of farming; prison farm

Farmer protests over the Government's proposed changes to inheritance tax have continued this week, with rallies around the country and around 600 tractors making their way into central London on Wednesday. They arrived just as MPs were discussing the issues at the House of Commons' Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee, which was looking at inheritance tax as part of a wider inquiry into the future of farming. 

Fruit and veg importers say a shortage of government inspectors at ports is reducing the shelf life of products and the current system risks spreading plant disease. 

Nearly 6% of dairy producers across the UK left the industry in the last year, according to Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board figures. In Wales the figure is even higher at 17%, according to NFU Cymru. The amount of milk produced has stayed about the same, but the number of individual dairy farms has fallen.

'Tis the season when Christmas turkey farmers are at full stretch across the country, as they get their birds ready for sale. Two years ago it was a very different picture: there were warnings that there could be a turkey shortage after millions of birds died or were destroyed because of avian flu. We visit a producer in Norfolk who lost thousands of birds to the disease. This year, he's back on his own farm, rearing thousands of free-range birds once more.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

14/12/24 Farming Today This Week: Farmer protests, tomato import checks, dairy farmers leaving, Christmas turkeys

Scientists at Cardiff and Aberystwyth Universities have won more than a million pounds worth of funding for a trial which they hope will create a real-time test for bovine TB. The project will use hand-held microwave technology to remove DNA from cattle and badger pooh samples, which will then be tested for bovine TB on the spot. If it works, it'll be a massive boost for farmers across the country, where the disease costs the government alone £150m a year.

All week we're looking at rural pubs, it's not been an easy few years for the sector. CAMRA, The Campaign for Real Ale, estimates that 2024 will have seen the closure of around 1,200 continuing a longstanding trend within the hospitality sector. We discuss the challenges facing them, and hear from a community in mid Wales which has clubbed together to buy the village pub and keep it alive.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

16/12/24 TB testing device, rural pubs and community buy-outs.

As many as 7.5 million poinsettias are sold in the UK every year, and 4.5 million of them are grown here. But UK poinsettia growers say next year's crop could be under threat from what they call "disproportionate" plant hygiene rules, which mean crops are being destroyed unnecessarily. They want Government action.

We visit a pop-up-pub based on a hop farm, which sells beer made from the hops grown there.

And a new Government white paper proposes fundamental changes, with every region of England to get a mayor, and many rural areas which currently have a two tier system of County and District Councils, could see these merged to streamline services.

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced by Heather Simons

17/12/24 - Poinsettia troubles, hop farm pub, local government reform

The figures being used by the Treasury to estimate how many farmers will be impacted by changes to inheritance tax could be inaccurate, because of historical advice given by HMRC. That's according to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers. The Government has introduced 20% inheritance tax on farm assets worth more than a million pounds. Farmers say the change will affect as many as three quarters of them, but the Treasury says data from previous claims for inheritance tax relief suggest just 500 estates a year across the UK will be impacted.

We visit a pub in Perthshire which has an intimate relationship with the fortunes of the river it sits alongside.

New Government legislation's being proposed to widen the public's access to National Parks in England, and to restore more protected landscapes. The Government says the changes will cut through bureaucracy to achieve more for people and nature.

And if you've bought your festive holly and it's got a lot of berries - you may be one of the lucky ones. We hear from one farmer who say berries are few and far between this year.

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced by Heather Simons

18/12/24 - Inheritance tax figures, anglers' pub, National Park changes and holly berries

Carrot and sprout discount wars are in full swing as the supermarkets vie to be the best value for Christmas. While growers acknowledge what's becoming an annual pricing competition can be helpful for hard-up shoppers, they're worried that this sends the wrong messages to consumers.

At this time of year knitters and crocheters are making gifts and natural wool from local sheep is in demand.

All this week we are looking at the challenges facing rural pubs and their importance to local communities. Two entrepreneurs from Oxfordshire think more pubs could grow at least some of their own produce.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

19/12/24 Christmas veg price wars, woolly crafts, pubs growing food

Rural councils are warning that council tax will have to rise and there will be cuts in services, because they say the Government has prioritised urban communities in the recent funding agreement. The County Councils' Network which represents 23 county councils and 13 county unitary authorities says ministers are 'cherry picking' by using a formula based on deprivation, which is targeted towards city and town councils. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told us the overall funding agreement is a real terms increase which will support places with a significant rural population. 

This year a charity that collects surplus food and distributes it to charities says that between November and the end of January, it's expecting to rescue enough food to create around 50 million meals. It says this is in part down to the ways it’s now working with growers to reduce waste.

And carols, in the pub; a tradition that sprung up in Yorkshire in the nineteenth century, where people would go to the village pub and sing carols to the old tunes. 
All week we've been looking at the fortunes of rural pubs and to celebrate Christmas, locals in the the small market town of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, are reviving village carols from Somerset, Wiltshire and Cornwall.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

20/12/24 - Rural councils warn of tax rises, surplus veg, pub Christmas carols.

Carrot and sprout discount wars are in full swing as the supermarkets vie to be the best value for Christmas. While growers acknowledge what's becoming an annual pricing competition can be helpful for hard-up shoppers, they're worried that this sends the wrong messages to consumers.

As many as 7.5 million poinsettias are sold in the UK every year, and 4.5 million of them are grown here. But UK poinsettia growers say next year's crop could be under threat from what they call "disproportionate" plant hygiene rules, which mean crops are being destroyed unnecessarily. They want Government action.

And carols - in the pub. It's a tradition that sprang up in Yorkshire in the nineteenth century, where people would go to the village pub and sing carols to the old tunes.

All week we've been looking at the fortunes of rural pubs. And to celebrate Christmas, locals in the small market town of Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire are reviving village carols from Somerset, Wiltshire and Cornwall.

Presented by Caz Graham
Produced by Heather Simons

21/12/24 - Inheritance tax row, poinsettia troubles and ancient carols

The Northern Ireland Executive has published its draft budget for 2025-26 and it’s now open for public consultation. Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is set to receive just over £715 million pounds, an increase of 3%. But no specific funding has been allocated to address serious pollution in Lough Neagh and Andrew Muir, the environment minister, says his department has only been awarded around a third of what he’d requested for day to day spending. He describes it as ‘a difficult budget’. 

Historic farm diaries provide a fascinating glimpse into agricultural, social and cultural life in years gone by. So curators at the Three Rivers Museum in Hertfordshire were excited to unearth a diary written in Victorian times by a farmer from Rickmansworth called John White. Masters students at the University of Hertfordshire have been scrutinising the diary entries to see if there’s anything that John’s observations from 150 years ago might teach farmers today. 

Rearing and selling turkeys for Christmas has become a major source of income for some family farms, including Cuckoo Mill Farm at Pelcomb Bridge, in Pembrokeshire. And at this time of year, it’s a real family affair, with all hands on deck. 

Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

23/12/24 - 'Difficult' Stormont budget for environment minister, Victorian farm diaries, Turkey farmers

For 50 years the people living in the Upper Coquet Valley in Northumberland have campaigned to get mains electricity.

Living off-grid in one of the most remote areas of England means relying on expensive, dirty diesel generators which often break down and are easily overloaded. But now, a stroke of good fortune means it is finally happening.

A cable is being laid up the valley to connect three emergency phone masts to the national grid which means 16 properties, most of them farms, can be connected at the same time in a project jointly funded by the Home Office and the landowner, the MOD. 

We hear from the farming families about how their lives are about to be transformed, about why the Northumberland National Park Authority allowed the scheme to go ahead even though not all the cable could be buried, and from the engineers who are tasked with doing the job with as little impact on a precious landscape as possible. 

Produced and presented by Jo Lonsdale.

24/12/24 - Powerless: the rural community getting connected to the national grid

With tractors protesting outside the Oxford Farming Conference, what will the Defra Secretary say to farmers? 
Inheritance tax wasn't the focus of Steve Reed's speech, instead he promised a Plan for Change. He told delegates this must have three things: food production at its core, diversification of income, and restoration of nature as part of farming. He also announced speeding up the planning process for farm buildings. 

In contrast to the more established OFC which has been representing the industry since 1936, the Real Farming Conference, which started 15 years ago, attracts a huge range of farming enterprises. Its conference has 2000 delegates meeting across 19 venues, and has wider scope with more smaller farms, organic and artisan food producers. 
 But the farmers there have similar concerns about the future of their businesses. 

Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

10/01/25 The Defra Secretary at the Oxford Farming Conference

10/01/25 The Defra Secretary at the Oxford Farming Conference

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