Farming Today

Farmer Roger Corrigan is a born storyteller. Now in his 80s, he has spent all his life farming in Fermanagh and is full of tales about the changes he's seen and the characters, history and folklore of the area.
Roger keeps cattle and sheep on his 460 acre farm in west Fermanagh and is a keen supporter of environmentally friendly farming. So, when he was invited to take part in a project which paired artists and farmers together to highlight farming and environmental issues, he was happy to work with one of his neighbours, potter Anna McGurn.
Anna McGurn is a self taught potter who is passionate about working with local clay, so much so that she calls herself, 'Muddy Fingers McGurn'. "It's wonderful stuff, pliable and easy to work with and I love the fact that I'm shaping pieces about this land, from the very land itself," she says.
Roger is not so keen on the clay. He says the plentiful, dark seams which run through County Fermangh's lakeland are the bane of every farmers life; thick and almost impossible to do anything with, particularly in wet weather.
Anna and Roger's work is nearing completion and will be displayed in an exhibition alongside other farming/art collaborations later this year.
Five farms in Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and County Leitrim in the Irish Republic are taking part in the scheme which is funded by the Creative Ireland Shared Island Programme and sponsored by the Ulster Wildlife Trust and the Leitrim Sustainable Agriculture Council.
Produced and presented by Kathleen Carragher.

There’s concern that animal welfare may be at risk on some Scottish islands because of widespread disruption to ferry services. Eight ferries serving islands on the west coast of Scotland were out of service earlier this week. Calmac, Caledonian MacBrayne, the government owned company that runs them, describes the situation as critical with almost every island affected. NFU Scotland says there’s a risk vital supplies like feed and fertiliser won’t arrive on crofts and farms when they are needed most. We take a closer look at how all this is affecting businesses on the Isle of Barra, speaking to a haulier and the managing director of a shellfish company.
There are 60 native breeds of sheep in the UK and DEFRA says 40 of those breeds are officially at risk, with fewer than 6000 breeding ewes according to their newly published ‘UK native breeds support’ list. Farmers who keep rare breed sheep often sell their meat for a premium at farmers markets or in box schemes, but the decline in the number of small abattoirs able to process small batches of carcasses means the numbers just don’t add up for some of those farmers now.
Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Fuel prices continue to dominate the headlines, the war in the Middle East has led to them shooting up in recent weeks, causing real concern to those in rural areas who aren’t connected to the gas mains and rely on oil for heating. The £50 million pounds-worth of emergency funds announced last month by the government to help vulnerable rural households are now being distributed by rural local authorities in England and through other mechanisms in the devolved nations. It’s all put a sharp focus on fuel poverty in rural areas. The Westminster Government has just published a new Statistical Digest of Rural England, which shows that the depth of fuel poverty in rural areas is almost twice that of in towns and cities.
We know livestock produce greenhouse gas emissions - but we also know that the volume, or amount, of gas is affected by what those cattle or sheep eat. A new DEFRA-funded study has investigated upland sheep grazing systems to see if some forages produce lower emissions. The project compared 120 ewes, some pure Swaledales and some crossbred with Texels, on three different grazing systems in Wensleydale.
1.3 million tonnes of fish were caught in the UK’s ‘Marine Protected Areas’, or MPAs, between 2020 and 2024. Greenpeace, who’ve calculated that figure from official sources, say it makes what should be havens of safety for marine life, little more than meaningless lines on a map. They argue that marine eco-systems are protected on “paper only” while industrial-scale fishing and boats with bottom trawling gear, that drags across the seabed, are still allowed in MPAs.
Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Livestock markets in England and Wales have reported record breaking figures for 2025. The latest numbers from the Livestock Auctioneers Association show that turnover was up almost half a billion pounds, to just under 3 billion in total, a twenty percent rise, year on year. That’s despite a reduction in the number of both sheep and cattle in the UK. We ask the Livestock Auctioneers Association why turnover has risen so much.
All week we're looking at the sheep sector. Across the UK lambing is well underway, though some will have finished by now. With nearly 15 million breeding ewes, most having twins and some giving birth to triplets, it's an enormous task to get the lambs delivered safely. Many sheep farmers will recruit help in the form of family, vet students, and often those who just have an interest and want to learn. They'll often be matched up through the Lambing List - an online site set up by the National Sheep Association.
As the Easter holidays begin, many of us will be taking the chance to get out into the countryside. The charity The Ramblers, which campaigns for walkers and countryside access, says that may be easier said than done. They’ve just launched a new campaign called "access denied". They want an end, they say, to what they describe as years of neglect to Britain’s footpath network, resulting in thousands of miles of paths missing, blocked or un-usable.
Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations is asking the Government for help with rising costs because of the conflict in the Middle East. The NFFO says it's difficult to pass on the hike in diesel prices to customers, because fish are sold at auction. It has written to the Minister for Food Security, Angela Eagle, pointing out that some European countries have already announced support packages to help with rising prices. By the end of last week, the average UK price of diesel for fishing boats had gone up by 75% since the beginning of March.
Every spring around the villages of Kempley and Dymock carpets of wild daffodils can still be seen in the fields and woodlands, thanks to carefully managed agricultural and forestry practices. Our reporter Bob Hockenhull has been to take a look.
Charlotte Smith finds out why this is a pretty good time to be a sheep farmer, according to the Chief Executive of the National Sheep Association.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling