Farming Today

The first shipment of tariff-free UK beef has arrived on shop shelves in the United States. It's part of the UK-US trade deal which allows a reciprocal movement of 13,000 tonnes of US and UK beef across the Atlantic. For British farmers, the government claims the deal is worth £70 million a year, if the quota is fully used. We ask a trade expert how significant it will be.
All week we’re talking about the varied pressures on farm land, from energy production to growing food. Deepdale Farm on the North Norfolk coast has sandy loamy soil. For many years one of its fields produced a healthy crop of carrots, but continual production, combined with high rainfall, led to a catastrophic degradation of the soil and in 2020 the field slipped, and flooded the village below. It was a massive shock and led to a wholesale re-assessment of how the land is managed. The farm's since become organic and introduced cover crops and flood protection systems.
Farmers are being asked to join a project to investigate whether growing a variety of the common dandelion could solve a worldwide shortage of natural rubber. Natural rubber production has been falling in its native sites in South East Asia because of disease and climate change. Scientists are breeding a special variety of dandelion indoors, without soil, in hydroponic or aeroponic systems, and harvesting it to create high quality rubber.
Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

After a marathon run of torrential rain, floods, and grey skies to start 2026 , the drought warnings from last Autumn seem a world away. Back in October, the Environment Agency said that at least 100% of the average rainfall would be needed every month until the end of March for England to recover fully from the 2025 drought. Steve Turner from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology tells Charlotte that rivers and groundwater have returned to normal, or above normal, levels in most of the country.
We meet a grower search for an elusive and almost forgotten Derbyshire apple: Mrs Wilmot's Pippin.
Land is seen as the answer to some of the big questions faced by Society: cutting greenhouse gas emissions by generating renewable energy, building new homes to ease the housing crisis, making space for nature to halt the collapse of wildlife numbers...and farming to feed the nation. As land is a finite resource, the debate over which land should be used for what purpose is becoming increasingly charged. The Government is hoping to take some of the heat out of the discussion, and provide much needed clarity. It's already consulted on a Land Use Framework for England, and the final version is due to be published soon. Ahead of that, this week we're looking at those competing pressures on land.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling

Mackerel will soon be disappearing from the shelves of Waitrose as the supermarket says it's 'taking a stand against overfishing'. In September last year the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), recommended that North-east Atlantic Mackerel catches should be cut by 70% to help rebuild stocks to a sustainable level. But four countries which fish for Mackerel in the North East Atlantic cut their quota for 2026 by just 48% compared to the previous year. As a result, Waitrose has decided to suspend sourcing from the end of April. Fishing organisations in Scotland say they are disappointed and feel they have been unfairly penalised because - they say - the UK has led the way in trying to secure sustainable fishing for Mackerel.
Anna Hill reports from a Cromer seafood processor who's experiencing a drop in the availability of Crabs following fishing disruption due to wind farm construction.
It's been a worrying winter for poultry farmers, with cases of avian flu in England, Scotland and Wales. The Pirbright Institute's Head of Avian Virology updates us on what he describes as the 'third worst ever' epidemic of high pathogenicity bird flu in the UK, and reflects on what might lie ahead over the spring and summer.
Cambridge University's vet school will not be closing after all. The University's governing body has rejected proposals to cease taking new entrants.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling

The farming minister says changes announced this week will help make farms more resilient. Angela Eagle speaks to us about the government's biggest environmental scheme, England's Sustainable Farming Incentive, which is getting an overhaul. The other UK nations have different schemes. Reaction has been generally welcoming, with some buts...
Farmers and landowners are calling for a new arrangement which would allow them to take rubbish illegally fly tipped on their land to landfill sites free of charge. At the moment they have to foot the bill for any clean up. This comes as new government figures for England show a nine per cent increase year on year in the number of incidents local councils have to deal with. We hear an update on the illegal waste site cleanup at Hoad's Wood near Ashford in Kent.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

The Environment Secretary has revealed more details of the rebooted Sustainable Farming Incentive in England, at the National Farmers Union Conference. It'll include an annual cap of £100,000 and fewer options. Smaller farms of between 3 and 50 hectares will be able to apply in June, as will larger farms who haven't previously been signed up to one of the Environment Land Management schemes. Everyone else will be able to apply in September. The President of the NFU, Tom Bradshaw, told the conference that that a failure to build farming resilience would put food security, and national security at risk. Some of the delegates reflect on resilience and confidence in their own businesses: we hear from a pig farmer, wheat and potato grower, and a young dairy farmer.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling