Farming Today

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) says three rare heathland birds are starting to recover. Its heathland bird survey - the first for 20 years - shows populations and spread of the nightjar, the Dartford warbler and the woodlark are improving. They looked into whether active management within specially protected areas was helping.
Beetles can be both welcome and unwelcome visitors to farmland. We recently reported that scientists at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire had created an app to help identify and then combat the troublesome cabbage stem flea beetle. Now a second team at the institute have launched an app to help identify one of the good guys: the carabid beetle, also known as the ground beetle. The focus is very much on accurate and fast identification so farmers know for certain if they have a healthy population in their fields.
And all this week we're taking a closer look at Scottish agricultural policy, ahead of the Royal Highland Show. Today we hear how far the government has come in developing its own policies after Brexit.
Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sally Challoner.

An emergency by-law has been passed in Cornwall, to restrict the number of boats coming in to take advantage of the ongoing bloom of octopus on the south coast.
It's been described as a 'gold rush' as huge sums are being made - Brixham fish market recently experienced a record catch of 103 tonnes - worth £400,000.
But the octopus are also causing problems - eating crab and lobster and devastating that industry locally. It's hoped the new by-law will help those stocks recover.
The Royal Highland Show is taking place this week, so we're taking a closer look at Scottish agricultural policy. It's devolved, so the Scottish government has developed new post Brexit farming and environment schemes which we'll talk more about later in the week - but one aspect is it's support for organic farming. The latest figures, from the UK government show a 115% rise in Scottish land farmed organically in 2025, accross the UK there was a 7.3% rise. The organic certifiying and campaigning group The Soil Association says political backing and the scrapping of an upper limit on farm size for organic grants has helped.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Sally Challoner.

The budget for the scheme which pays England's farmers for environmental work is revealed - but is it enough?
With production costs rising following the war in the Middle East, the National Farmers' Union is calling for government support with the price of fertiliser.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

The Department for Envrionment Food and Rural Affairs has announced how much money it’s making available to farmers in England through the Sustainable Farming Incentive - or SFI - for 2026. It’s something farmers and environmental organisations have been keenly anticipating. There’s a total budget of £240 million pounds., with the first application opening later this month.
The SFI is the DEFRA ‘public money for public goods’ scheme that pays for farming in ways that protect and benefit the environment, support food production and improve productivity. Some farming and conservation groups say the budget isn't big enough.
And all this week we’re talking about growing cereals, things like grain and oats. The latest figures just out from the industry body the AHDB, that’s the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, show that UK farmers are growing less barley than they have for the last 16 years, while oilseed rape and wheat have climbed back from last year’s lows.
The Eden Valley in Cumbria is possibly better known for its livestock than its crops. But over the past couple of years, father and son Thomas and Harry Ewbank have been bucking that trend. Guided by local agronomist, Steven Gate, they've abandoned ploughing in favour of what’s called ‘one-pass drilling’, and they’ve expanded their range of crops to maximise yields and increase sustainability.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Challoner.

A cattle vaccine to protect livestock from bovine TB could be in use on farms in England by 2030. That's one of the aims outlined in a new strategy for the eradication of bovine TB. The government commissioned it and has just released the details. We hear from the farmer who chairs the Steering Group behind the strategy which aims to get rid of the disease on farm by 2038.
This week we are looking at cereals, with the current pressures on cereal farming such as high fertiliser and fuel costs, and an unusually hot and dry spring, finding more hardy and efficient varieties of cereals has become vital. The agricultural research organisation, NIAB, has been running a trial in Norfolk to do exactly this.
Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney