Farming Today

We hear calls for more ‘cooperative working’, to give farmers a louder voice in the food supply chain.
When is a Hereford cow not a Hereford cow? How a dispute about breed purity has ended up in the High Court.
And cultivating hemp and flax for building materials is now the focus of a trial project on a number of farms in Dorset.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

The number of bluetongue cases since the first of July in the UK has now topped a thousand. That’s nearly three times the number of positive cases for the whole of the previous year to that date. How are farmers feeling about the UK’s largest ever outbreak of this livestock disease?
There have been fears that livestock movement restrictions imposed to try to halt the spread of the outbreak could disrupt this autumn’s big sheep sales, which play a critical role in the shepherding year. One of UK’s biggest is Kelso Ram Sales took place this week in the Scottish Borders.
The National Sheep Association estimates that every year around 200 farmers are affected by sheep rustling. We hear from a couple in Cumbria who realised they’d become victims of sheep rustlers with both rams and ewes missing from one of the fields they rent next to the busy A66.
As farmers decide how they're going to manage next year's crops, the cost of fertiliser and fuel will be in the mix, but what if you could farm without fertiliser or diesel? We speak to a Cornish farmer who's putting this into practice on his farm and we visit a farmer who's set up a biomethane plant and is growing maize to produce energy.
Farming without fossil fuels was on the agenda at a gathering of environmentalists this week. The Wild Summit in Bristol brought together more than 1000 people - campaigners, policy makers, scientists and farmers.
Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

The number of bluetongue cases since the first of July in the UK has now topped a thousand. That’s nearly three times the number of positive cases for the whole of the previous year to that date. How are farmers feeling about the UK’s largest-ever outbreak of this livestock disease?
There have been fears that livestock movement restrictions imposed to try to halt the spread of the outbreak could disrupt this autumn’s big sheep sales, which play a critical role in the shepherding year. One of UK’s biggest is Kelso Ram Sales, taking place later today in the Scottish Borders.
The National Sheep Association estimates that every year around 200 farmers are affected by sheep rustling. We hear from Laura and Sean Robinson in Cumbria, who realised they’d become victims of sheep rustlers with both rams and ewes missing from one of the fields they rent next to the busy A66.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

UK dairy cows produce around 15 billion litres of milk every year and each litre comes with an environmental cost: methane and greenhouse gas emissions; energy and water use; and potential pollution. Scotland’s Rural College, SRUC, has completed a study looking at what the dairy sector needs to do to improve sustainbility and reduce its impact on the environment, while staying resilient and profitable. The report was commissioned by The Dairy Roadmap, an industry-wide initiative to improve the environmental footprint of the whole dairy supply chain by 2030.
The farming of salmon divides opinion - supporters in Scotland say it’s worth more a billion pounds to the economy but others argue it’s responsible for environmental damage, pollution and disease that spreads into wild salmon. Those same arguments are now playing out on the other side of the Atlantic in the Falkland Islands. Salmon aren’t native to the waters around the islands, but plenty of other fish are, and concerned locals are demanding a referendum over plans to introduce the commercial farming of this non-native fish.
Lots of farmers are using renewable energy like solar, wind and biomass for powering some aspect of their farming practice, but one of the most stubborn challenges is how to power tractors. An electric tractor trying to do heavy work like ploughing would simply run out of battery after a few hours and take hours to charge but new advances in gasifying biomass means a low emission alternative to diesel has become an option. We visit a farm in Nottinghamshire which is trialling production.
Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Britain is producing less food now than 30 years ago, with lower levels of self sufficiency in 10 out of 11 key food stuffs grown by UK farmers. That’s according to a new report from the National Farmers Union which argues that food production been overlooked as a national priority by successive governments.
The UK's biomethane network says producing green energy could offer an "incredible opportunity" for farmers. The National Energy System Operator - or NESO - is responsible for planning and operating the country's energy network. It says biomethane could form a crucial part of the UK's energy mix, strengthening energy security and reducing greenhouse gasses.
Could you survive a month without going to the supermarket to buy food? That's the challenge being taken up by one islander on Shetland. He's living off nothing but local produce for a month.
Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney