A new 15 year, £30 million partnership between Reading University, the Met Office and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is going to be harnessing AI to produce more accurate forecasts that could predict the weather for up to six weeks in advance. As climate change brings longer droughts and more flooding, what benefits could better forecasting have for farmers? We speak to the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading.  The cleaner the river, the better it is for the fish that live in it. Bibury Trout Farm was founded more than 120 years ago on what were former watercress beds on the River Coln near Cirencester. The river is at the heart of what is still a working fish farm and tourist attraction. As part of our week looking into rivers in the landscape, we visit the farm and find out why the river is so vitally important to this business. Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

01/03/24 AI Weather forecasts six weeks in advance; Trout farm; River pollution.

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

Science

Just what happens when a foreign billionaire buys a vast tract of the Scottish Highlands and sets about changing it? Does Scotland’s biggest landowner Anders Holch Povlsen dictate everything that happens on his 80,000 acres of the Cairngorm National Park? Is he making money from it? Richard Baynes has been to the heart of Povlsen’s Wildland estate, talking to those charged with restoring nature on it and finding out how they work.  
Produced and presented by Richard Baynes.

06/05/24 Behind the scenes on the Wildland Estate where Scotland's largest landowner is making big changes.

New physical checks have been brought in on some imports of food and plants from the EU. Products deemed high or medium risk now have to be inspected - including live animals, meat and some plant products. We report from a border control post to find out how it works. An investigation is under way following the large scale illegal dumping of waste at a site in Kent. Local residents describe a steady stream of lorries carrying waste being brought to the site. And the largest cider manufacturer in the UK - Heineken - has ripped up thousands of apple trees in a 140 acre orchard in Monmouthshire. The orchard was planted by Bulmers - which is now owned by Heineken - more than twenty years ago. Some local people have raised concerns about the effect on ecosystems in the area, but the company says it’s selling the land due to a fall in the cider market. Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

04/05/24 - Farming Today This Week: Border checks, cider orchards and illegal waste dumping

The latest figures from Defra show nearly 20,000 badgers were killed across England last year, as part of the Government's policy to tackle TB in cattle.  Badger campaigners say that the continued culling is leading to local extinctions. Defra says there are no easy answers, but badger culling "has proved highly effective and needs to remain a part of our holistic approach". Jeremy Clarkson says if he wanted to make money from his thousand acre Oxfordshire farm he'd put as much as possible into government environmental schemes.  Instead he's turned it into a TV show and for the third series, which starts today, he's gone into pigs.  Fusarium basal rot: its a fungus and apparently the single biggest problem facing the country's onion growers. This week we're looking at crop pests and diseases and the efforts being made to combat them. Researchers are looking into technology which can sniff-out early stage disease. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

03/05/24 Latest badger cull figures, Jeremy Clarkson, sniffing onion disease

An investigation is under way into a case of large-scale illegal waste dumping in Kent.  According to a House of Lords committee report, up to a third of veterinary medicines currently used in Northern Ireland could cease to be available to farmers when a grace period ends next year. A Natural Products BioHub has been launched at Swansea University, which will support researchers and businesses specialising in pesticides which control pests without the need for chemicals. Presented by Charlotte Smith Produced by Alun Beach

02/05/2024: Illegal waste dumping; NI veterinary medicines; Natural pesticides

New physical checks have been brought in on some imports of food and plants from the EU. Products deemed high or medium risk now have to be inspected - including live animals, meat and some plant products. Inspections can be done either at Government run sites or at commercial facilities - we report from both to find out how it works. The major political parties are all competing for the rural vote ahead of the local elections. A combination of councillors, mayors and police and crime commissioners will be selected across England and Wales. And, blackgrass is a weed that can grow amongst fields of commercial crops, competing for nutrients in the soil, and reducing yields. We meet a team of scientists at Rothamsted Research who are looking into how to tackle this pernicious weed. Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

01/03/24 AI Weather forecasts six weeks in advance; Trout farm; River pollution.

Download our free app to listen on your phone