03/12/25: Sugar cane, Battery storage, Vintage wagons

There are warnings that an increase in the amount of sugar cane that can be imported into the UK tariff-free will impact British sugar beet farmers, who are already getting a lower price for their produce because of an oversupply of sugar. The government has announced that 325 thousand tonnes of raw cane sugar, sourced from anywhere in the world, will be tariff-free from 1st January 2026. That's a 25% increase by volume on previous years. Campaigners have warned a huge oversupply of battery storage sites for renewable energy is threatening to blight Scotland’s countryside. The charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland, or APRS, says a study it’s publishing today shows there is four times as much battery storage planned as we are likely to need for the transition to green energy. That, it says, means unnecessary damage, planning blight and lost farmland across the country.And we attend the sale of an unrivalled collection of vintage farm wagons and horse drawn carts - amassed over 40 years - which went under the hammer at an auction in Dorset. Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sally Challoner.

The UK has temporarily banned all imports of pig products from Spain afrer an outbreak of African Swine Fever in wild boars there. It's their first case since 1994. The disease is spread by ticks and can be devastating to commercial herds. The National Pig Association here says it's vital our government puts adequate controls at borders to keep the disease out. Northern Ireland has had its first case of bluetongue, in County Down. The government has introduced a 20km restriction zone to control the spread. There have been around 200 cases in England and Wales this year, though none in Scotland. A farmer is calling on the Scottish Government to fund a multi-million pound dairy development programme, which would encourage farmers to keep cows with their newborn calves for longer. David Finlay has been pioneering the unconventional system on his farm near Kirkcudbright - which is now the largest commercial 'cow-with-calf' dairy in Europe. And all this week we're looking at the jobs farmers need to do over winter - today, cleaning up ready for next season. Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Sally Challoner.

The government's new environmental improvement plan for England is launched today. The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs has set out what it calls 'an ambitious roadmap' with a 'clear plan to restore the environment.' That encompasses a new plan to stop pollution from forever chemicals, tougher measures on waste crime and more tree planting. They also highlight £500 million worth of funding for the landscape recovery schemes, long term, big scale projects where landowners work together to improve nature. We ask Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of 94 environmental and wildlife groups, what they make of the plan. Storm Desmond hit the North West of England 10 years ago and brought record breaking amounts of heavy rain: a month's worth fell in just 24 hours. That led to flooding, bridges, roads and livestock were washed away, farmland ruined and thousands of homes inundated. The eventual bill for the damage was put at more than a billion pounds. In Glenridding in Cumbria the flooding led to a project working with farmers, nature and the landscape. Its aim: to try and reduce the vulnerability of the area to future flooding. All week we're going to look at the jobs left for winter when things on the farm are a bit quieter. We're starting with hedge laying: winter is the traditional time to tackle this - the birds have long finished nesting, and by partly cutting through the trees and shrubs that you lay over to form the hedge, you allow it to rejuvenate in time for next spring. Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Farmers were in London again to protest about the re-imposition of inheritance tax on farming and business assets of more than £1 million, something announced last year. In her budget, the Chancellor made a change to transferring inheritance tax allowances between spouses, but farmers said it wasn't enough.Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

36 per cent of people who live in rural areas or on islands in Scotland are considering leaving, blaming a range of things from healthcare and ferries to housing shortages. The majority who plan to stay praise the strong community spirit and quality of life. These are the findings of a new study from Scotland's Rural College. Researchers say rural and island areas of Scotland continue to face population decline and have looked at what happens in other countries - Canada, Sweden and Croatia - to see what might change the situation. Scientists are working on a project to use potato shaws, the green leaves from the top of the seed potato plant, which are currently discarded or ploughed back in. The University of Aberdeen believe they could be put to a more lucrative use: skin creams. All this week, we've been looking at dairy farming. Farmers are currently dealing with falling prices for milk as the world commodity price slumps. There is an exception to that. The prices organic farmers are getting have remained stable and and sales of organic milk products have increased slightly in the last 12 months.We visit a Lincolnshire farm with an uncertain future. Hannah Thorogood has spent 15 years building up an organic farm business with cattle, sheep and hens. She now runs the farm and farm shop with her twin daughters. However, Inkpot Farm, along with thousands of acres around it, is in the middle of a proposed site for a giant reservoir.Presenter: Charlotte Smith Producer: Rebecca Rooney

Farmers were in London again to protest about the re-imposition of inheritance tax on farming and business assets of more than a million pounds - something announced last year. In her budget, the Chancellor made a change to transferring inheritance tax allowances between spouses, but farmers said it wasn't enough. Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Conservationists have accused the government of turning its back on nature in the new planning bill which is making its way through parliament. The RSPB says the legislation is creating a new tried and untested process which will put nature and nature markets at risk.We often talk about exports of produce like beef and dairy but exporting farm animal genetics is also big business. The industry estimates that around 70 per cent of the world's farmed poultry orginates from UK breeding stock, while UK cattle genetics are now exported to 100 countries around the world. A new agreement with Kenya will see sheep and goat genetics exported there. The UK Export Certification Partnership is a public-private grouping which promotes the export of livestock products, breeding stock and genetics. All this week, we’re checking in with the dairy industry. Over the last 30 years, the size of the UK dairy herd has been gradually falling, while average milk yields, that's the number of litres a cow produces, has been steadily increasing. That increase is partly down to using new technology like on-demand robotic milking machines. We visit a herd of indoor cows in Wiltshire.Presenter = Anna Hill Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Despite a rise in the number of students taking up agriculture degrees over the last couple of years, not all courses are growing. The University of Nottingham is deciding whether to close its agriculture and business course at its Sutton Bonington campus. The University says applications for its farming courses have dropped, making them “less financially viable”. Students have started a petition to save the degree course.Cases of bird flu are still on the rise across the country, with outbreaks in all four nations of the UK and housing orders for England, Wales and Northern Ireland are in place, meaning all poultry has to now be housed if the flock totals more than fifty birds. We hear from farmers at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair in Builth Wells.All week we're looking at dairy farming. One family farm which has invested heavily in technology for the future is run by Rob Davies and his son Harry. Instead of selling the livestock, the farm in Herefordshire has built an aerobic digester to reduce energy costs, bought robots to milk the cows and grows all its own feed.Presenter = Anna Hill Producer = Rebecca Rooney

The latest Farm Business Income Survey from DEFRA shows average dairy farm incomes for 2024/25 had doubled year on year. The reality at this moment may feel very different on farms as the milk price rollercoaster is starting to rattle downwards, with some global dairy commodities tumbling. The Chairman of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, Robert Craig, tells Charlotte Smith that the industry is becoming used to a cycle of rise and fall in milk prices but that ultimately there will be fewer people left in the industry at the end of this downturn.We also dig deeper into what that Farm Business Income survey shows for other types of farming in England. Below the encouraging signs on the surface, for most sectors, incomes were buoyed up by diversification and agri-environment schemes in the last financial year.And farmers on the Isle of Man are anxious about the future of veterinary care, as a major provider prepares to withdraw from farm animal practice on the Island. Presenter: Charlotte Smith Producer: Sarah Swadling

Details on the relaunch of England's biggest agri-environment scheme will come in the first half of next year - so says the Secretary of State for the Environment, Emma Reynolds, who was speaking at the Country Land and Business Association's annual conference. The sustainable farming incentive or SFI, pays farmers for things like planting hedges and improving soils. It was suddenly closed to new applicants in March as it had run out of money. Details on what happens next were supposed to be announced in the summer. Some farmers say they've lost confidence in the system but Emma Reynolds told the conference that it is complicated and they want to get it rightEngland's farm business income figures for the last financial year have been released. All types of farms, with the exception of horticulture and pig farming, saw a year on year increase, though in 2023/4 farm incomes dropped considerably. Government payments to farmers in agri-environment schemes now make up an average of 30% of farm income, and many farms continue to lose money on the farming sides of their business. All week we've been talking about farming around the world because of the climate talks - COP 30 - in Brazil. They dedicated two days to agriculture, which is seen as offering both problems and solutions as we try to mitigate the changing climate. So what's been decided? The inmates who look after pigs at a prison farm in Kent.Presenter = Charlotte Smith Producer = Rebecca Rooney