Farming Today
Channel Details
Farming Today
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside
Recent Episodes
87 episodes
28/10/2025 Waste crime inquiry, beaver release, zebra mussels
Multiple failures from the Environment Agency, a lack interest from police and a ‘woeful lack of successful convictions’. That’s what a House of Lords...
27/10/25 Energy costs for salad growers, carrots, invasive species.
Salad growers are warning that price increases for electricity will drive people out of the sector. Growers in the Lea Valley on the edge of London sa...
25/10/25: Beer and cider from land to glass
The raw ingredients to make a pint all begin life on British farms whether malting barley, or cider apples and perry pears, or hops. For barley and ho...
24/10/2025 Fishing fund and Scottish fishers. DNA of cider apples. Cornish centenarian farmer.
"Anger, dismay and sense of betrayal”. That’s how the SNP described the response of Scottish coastal communities to the allocation of money to Scotla...
23/10/25 Environmental regulation in Northern Ireland. Malting barley for beer. Food system report
Northern Ireland needs a new independent environmental regulator, properly staffed and financially resourced to tackle the many challenges it will fac...
22/10/25 Water Grid, Perry Pears, Sugar Beet Prices
It's a familiar idea that batteries store electricity and now a new European project, called Water Grid, is encouraging farmers to create ponds as 'wa...
21/10/25 Welfare report on CO2 and the slaughter of pigs; producing cider
An independent review of the way pigs are slaughtered has called for the use of carbon dioxide gassing to be prohibited, because it causes too much di...
20/10/25 Planning reform, beer and growing hops.
The Government’s bill to ‘get Britain building’ returns to the House of Lords for its report stage. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill gained more t...
18/10/25 Farming Today This Week: No U-turn on farm inheritance tax, environmental scheme extension "too late", farming in Gaza
There will be no U-turn on the Government’s plans for inheritance tax for farmers, according to the Farming Minister. Dame Angela Eagle says planned c...
17/10/25 Farming minister on sustainable farming scheme and inheritance tax. Council farms in Cornwall
There will be no U-turn on the government’s plans for inheritance tax for farmers, according to the Farming Minister. Dame Angela Eagle says planned...
16/10/25 Environmental scheme extension 'too late', The Windsor Framework 'overwhelmingly complex', county council farm incomes
"Too little too late", that’s what we’re hearing from some farmers who’ve already ploughed up and planted fields that were being farmed for nature. T...
15/10/25: Milk prices, what it takes to get a Council Farm
Some milk processors have made dramatic cuts to the price they pay farmers, citing a global oversupply. Some of you emailed us to ask why prices for d...
14/10/25 Microplastics and seafood, council farms, trade tariffs and farm machinery.
A new report says that the presence of microplastics in seafood has been overstated by the media. The paper, by researchers at Heriot-Watt University,...
13/10/25 Flood resilience, SNP Conference, county council farms
England's current approach to planning for floods is "underpowered and fragmented". That's according to a report from MPs which is published today.
10/10/25: Illegal waste dumping in the countryside, Plaid Cymru, HS2 compulsory purchases
We report on the increasing amounts of waste dumped in the countryside and how to tackle it.
As party conference season continues, we're hearing...
09/10/25 Trump's aid package for soyabean farmers, welfare for farmed insects, hare coursing
As President Trump plans to bail out soyabean farmers and China goes to South America for supplies, how will UK animal feed be affected by the turmoil...
08/10/25: Rive Wye, rural crime, new nature reserve
What has been described as the biggest legal claim ever brought in the UK over environmental pollution has been filed at the High Court. Almost 4000...
07/10/25: Skilled workers visas, Neigh-bourhood Watch, British Wool anniversary.
More than twenty five dairy farms in Scotland say their businesses could be at risk after the UK Government removed farm workers from the visa system...
06/10/25: Rural policing, grape harvest, Conservative Party conference
A rural crime expert tells us there's been an 'ideological and material' shift away from the problem in some police force areas. Dr Kate Tudor from Du...
Farming Today This Week: illegal meat, rural poverty, bluetongue, livestock marts, acorns and pigs
Twenty tonnes of illegal meat and animal products have been intercepted at Dover in September alone according to Dover's Head of Port Health and Publi...
02/10/2025 Cuts to milk price, bluetongue virus and food security
The price farmers are paid for milk is falling. This comes at a bad time for many farmers who are having to buy in forage for their cows after the lo...
01/10/25: Illegal meat at Dover, farm wages, economic impact of Wales' environment scheme
20 tonnes of illegal meat and animal products have been intercepted at Dover in September alone. Dover's Head of Port Health and Public Protection tel...
30/09/25: Who let the pigs out? Heat pump 'fixation'? Mart socialising
Every autumn pigs are released into the New Forest - the tradition of Pannage. The pigs gobble up the acorns from the thousands of oak trees in the Fo...
29/09/25: Prime Minister's farming priority, Armagh Bramleys, livestock markets
As the Labour Party Conference continues, the Prime Minister says improving profitability is his priority for farming. There's no sign of change on th...
27/09/25 Farming Today This Week: Bumper harvest of autumn fruits, cybersecurity, eating seasonally
As the fallout continues from cyber attacks on Jaguar Land Rover and nursery chain Kido in recent days, so too does scrutiny of the food supply chain...
26/09/25: Cybersecurity, historic plums, tenant farming commissioner, Autumn arable progress
As the fallout from a cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover continues, how vulnerable are the major retailers' food supply chains to hackers? The Grocer's...
25/09/25 Bumper crop of damsons, dahlias, water management workshop
This year's baking heat has had a beneficial impact on damsons and dahlias.
The Lyth Valley in south Cumbria is known for its damson orchards, a...
24/09/25: New farmland bird stats, Corn Buntings, precision Plum growing.
Farmland bird populations in England have seen a 'rapid nosedive' says the RSPB. It's worried by new Government figures showing an 11% decrease in far...
23/09/22: Bluetongue warning, apple harvest, farming for food and nature in Norfolk
Bluetongue affects ruminant animals, like Sheep and Cattle, and it's spread between animals by biting midges. The disease tends to subside as temperat...
22/09/2025 Apples and pears, Lib Dem conference, planting trees by drone
It's a good year for British apples, a lack of frost and an abundance of warm weather should mean a bumper crop. Harvest is underway and hopes are hi...
20/09/25 Farming Today This Week: Rivers in National Parks, Rural Services, Downpour or drought?
A new report into the health of waterways in National Parks in England and Wales claims that they aren't being properly protected from agricultural an...
19/09/25 Rural Housing Solutions, NI Rural Politics, Transforming Food Systems
The lack of affordable housing has long been a barrier to people living and working in rural areas. The Rural Services Network described it this year...
18/09/25: Drought/downpour, rural crime gang jailed, bus services
The Environment Agency announced this week that drought is likely to extend into the autumn for some areas. But September is making up for August's la...
17/09/25: Rivers in National Parks, Rural Post Offices, Economics of Fishing.
A new report claims rivers in England and Wales' National Parks aren't protected adequately against sewage discharges and agricultural runoff. 'Rivers...
16/09/25: US-UK dairy trade? Health services in rural areas.
As President Trump arrives for his State Visit, farmers and milk processors are warning that allowing US dairy producers access to our markets could p...
15/09/25 Cheesemakers unhappy with US trade deal, less money for rural services, fishing industry fears ban on bottom trawling
British cheesemakers say they’ve got a raw deal on export tariffs to the US compared to their EU competitors.
The Government is consulting on ex...
13/09/25: Farmland Birds, Wild Summit, Illegal Meat
Populations of birds which live on farmland have declined sharply since the 1970s, although there are signs the rate of decline is now slowing. We vis...
11/09/2025 Corn belt farmers, seeds for future forests, bioacoustics
We've discussed the impact of President Trump's trade policy on producers here in the UK, we now turn our attention to American farmers, who are being...
10/09/25: A reset for farming and government? Licences to burn peatland, Corncrakes on Lewis
Could the reshuffle be an opportunity to reset the relationship between farmers and the government? The National Farmers Union President is optimistic...