Farming Today

Six months today voters in Cumbria will go to the polls to vote for the county's first elected mayor. Mayoral Strategic Authorities are central to the Government's policy of devolving more power and funding out of Westminster and into the hands of people who live and work in the English regions. Cumbria will be the first predominantly rural strategic authority with others to follow, including Norfolk and Suffolk who'll be voting for their regional mayor in 2028. What will the 'metro mayor' system of devolved power mean for farming and the countryside?
The James Hutton Institute, which researches crop sustainability and resilience, says its farm near Dundee has had the sunniest October since they started keeping records more than 70 years ago. It means winter crops like barley and winter cover crops that slow erosion and improve soil health will have their roots established in the ground early, which could improve yield next year.
In North Norfolk where stony, sandy soil lies on top of chalk, farmers are discovering ways to recharge, or refill, their chalk aquifers which act as underground reserves of water. Slowing down the run-off of winter rainfall allows water to percolate gradually into the underlying chalk, instead of ending up on roads and arable fields.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

England has a new bovine TB policy: today the Government formally adopts plans it set out in the summer which aim to eradicate the disease from the country by 2038.
All this week we are looking at the way we manage water, and farmers are increasingly keen to save water on farm in the winter to use in the summer. While building small reservoirs is one option, another is to create networks of so-called 'smart ponds', with digital monitoring used to track water levels.
And seeing financial opportunities in agricultural tech and carbon markets.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Food producers and farmers have been giving their reaction to a draft deal on EU trade re-alignment. The document outlines the details for sanitary and phytosanitary, or SPS regulations, and is expected to be discussed at the EU Summit planned for November 20th. When Brexit came into force six years ago, the SPS agreement was pivotal to many UK food export businesses. Shellfish producers, seed potato growers, cheesemakers and meat processors found they had to complete extra paperwork to export to the EU as a 'third country', often leaving their businesses less competitive. Some shut down completely, others found new markets. We speak to industry experts and producers to find out what the changes will mean.
All week we're discussing how farmers can improve their water management - saving winter water and using it more carefully during the dry months. After the experience of this summer when three of its four reservoirs ran dry, Riverford Organic Farmers in Devon has been exploring how measuring data can help them manage water in the future.
Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Too much water, too little water: UK farmers have experienced both extremes in the last few years. All week we're hearing about on-farm water management. Heavy rain in the North West of England means that the region is no longer classified as being in drought, but 82% of the country remains in drought. England still needs at least 120% of average rainfall for the next six months, to be considered out of drought by the spring.
We hear from a group of Cumbrian farmers who are working together to harvest rain water. Also we speak to a big veg producer who created a reservoir on their farm and used it for the first time this summer to water crops like potatoes, carrots and parsnips.
If you’re a farmer looking for a new crop to grow - particularly as we get hotter summers - then you might want to consider the South American health food quinoa. We speak to a farmer in Shropshire who first tried growing it nearly 20 years ago. Now he oversees the production of around 1200 acres in the UK and is looking for additional farmers to grow more.

Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

After the UK's hottest summer on record and widespread drought, the Met Office is now warning of a heightened risk of wet and stormy weather this autumn. From drought to flooding, these extremes are raising urgent questions about how we manage water for food production. That's what we're looking at this week.
We visit a group of graziers in Powys, hoping to tackle the issue by creating wetlands on Painscastle Commons, and hear from Jerry Knox, Professor of agricultural water managment at Cranfield University.
Dairy farmers are facing another period of uncertainty, as fluctuating milk prices reflect the impact of that extreme weather, along with high input costs and turbulence in European markets. The dairy company Freshways is making a big cut to the basic price it pays; from December its farmers will get 7 pence a litre less. Dairy analyst Chris Walkland says this will mean farmers losing money.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.