Farming Today

The Welsh government has delivered its budget. Wales received an extra £1 billion from Westminster in the autumn budget which means that all departments have seen seen an increase in the money available to them. There's a 6.6% increase in revenue and a 31% increase in capital funding for climate change and rural affairs. The Welsh government says it's prioritising support for agriculture by maintaining the budget for the main farm subsidy, the Basic Payment Scheme, at £238m next year, with an uplift too in the funding available for wider rural investment schemes.DEFRA has announced a new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme is to open next year, with quarterly payments and a rolling application window. There are also new schemes for flood resilience, species abundance and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. However, some farmers are still angry about changes to inheritance tax announced in the budget and are staging a tractor rally in London. Donald Trump may not become President until next year but he's already indicated clearly his approach to trade: he's talked about increasing tariffs on imports into the US and protecting American farmers. At the same time, the UK government is drawing up closer ties with the European Union. With war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East, it's a challenging time for global trade. So how will the UK's food producers be affected, and how do we make ourselves competitive in such a disrupted global market?All week we're taking a look at the dairy industry. Although milk production has been maintained across the UK, the number of individual dairy farms has fallen.Presenter = Anna Hill Producer = Rebecca Rooney

Turkey farmers are at full stretch across the country, as they get their birds ready for sale. Two years ago it was a very different picture when avian flu hit the poultry industry. In November 2022, the British Poultry Council said the UK had lost 40% of its free-range turkey flock. We visit a producer in Norfolk who lost thousands of birds to the disease. This year, he's back on his own farm, rearing thousands of free-range birds once more.A House of Lords Committee says agriculture must do more to reduce methane emissions. A report by the Lords' Environment and Climate Change Committee says almost half of the UK's methane emissions come from farming, mostly from livestock. It says farmers need support to use both traditional and high-tech solutions, to 'keep up the momentum' in achieving methane reductions. This week we're taking a look at the challenges dairy farming faces, from labour shortages to reducing emissions. An AHDB Levy Board survey in April this year showed a 5% fall in dairy farmers since 2023, but milk production is up as farms get bigger. We visit a third generation dairy farmer who milks hundreds of cows in an intensive dairy system.Presenter - Anna Hill Producer - Rebecca Rooney

Fruit and veg importers say a shortage of government inspectors at ports is reducing the shelf life of products and the current system risks spreading plant disease. At the end of April, the Government introduced its new Border Target Operating Model, a post-Brexit system of biosecurity checks for goods entering the UK. It means products classed as high or medium risk have to be physically checked, including live animals and meat, as well as fruit and vegetables and some plant products. The Government built a checking facility at Sevington in Kent, and said they’d take a pragmatic approach to implementing the checks to avoid queues. Other companies have also built private inspection points, where they too use government inspectors. The British Association of Tomato Growers say they're seeing significant delays in seeds getting to farms and the logistics company, PML Seafrigo, told Farming Today they regularly see consignments of fruit which should be inspected waiting too long for government inspectors to arrive, only to been 'green lit' without a check.Dairy farming is at a tipping point and many may leave; that's the warning from the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers. Its chair Robert Craig says farmers will need confidence to invest for the future, and at the moment many don't have it. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Agriculture accounts for around 12% of greenhouse gases in the UK, according to DEFRA and there is much work across the industry to cut that figure. Arla, the farmer run dairy cooperative plans to reduce its emissions by 30% per kilo of milk by 2030. The company has just started trials using a dietary supplement called Bovaer which is added to a cow’s feed to reduce methane emissions. The trial involves around 30 farmers and 3 supermarkets who buy their milk. But despite the feed supplement getting the thumbs up from UK and European food safety bodies, there’s been a social media storm of protest, some people calling for the boycott of Arla products because they do not think it should be used, including posting videos of themselves on social media pouring milk away. A scientist and industry expert give their views.A number of tenant farmers in East Yorkshire say they could be facing eviction to make way for a large solar farm.Dairy farmers say it is hard to find workers and growers use seasonal migrant workers to pick fruit and veg. The lack of people joining the fishing industry means some older skippers are now giving up early as they can't find a crew, meanwhile one farming apprentice is realising his dream.And Charlotte speaks to the winner of the BBC Food and Farming award in the "Farming for the Future" category.Presented by Charlotte SmithProduced by Alun Beach