The British Veterinary Association is urging farmers to avoid treating livestock for parasites unnecessarily. The say blanket treatments of worming medicines can lead to resistance and have an impact on the environment.

Conservationists in the south east are reporting a drop in the number of barn owl chicks being raised, they say it's the worst breeding season they've seen for decades.

All week we're following the harvest around the country, pea producers say this year's crop is down by a quarter because of dry windy weather.

Presenter = Anna Hill

The egg industry is calling for better labelling of products using imported eggs, and for all imports of eggs and egg products to be checked at the border. The British Egg Industry Council says there's been a rise in imports and they're concerned that eggs contaminated with salmonella are not being picked up.

Plums used to be a big crop for British farms back in the 1960s, but over the decades the amount grown here has fallen dramatically. However, one farm in Kent believes the tide is turning. WB Chambers near Maidstone say new varieties, new orchards and new technology are extending the growing season and providing consumers with British plums for longer.

As part of our week-long focus on harvest, we see how this year's oil seed rape crop has fared. We visit a farmer in East Yorkshire who used a drone to help seal the pods with a special sealant a couple of months ago, to stop them falling off too early. He says it's saved a lot of crop - and money.

Presenter = Anna Hill

It's been a tricky year for many farmers this year with extremes of drought and rain at various times - usually the wrong times. All week we'll see how harvest 2025 is shaping up. We start with barley in East Anglia and a dairy farm in Wiltshire, and find out from a cereals analyst how crops are looking across the board.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith

Farmers are having to cope with too much water, or too little, more and more often due to the effects of climate change. This week Charlotte Smith explores how farmers can strike a balance on their land, with competing pressures for water including crops, homes, and wildlife. And, campaigners against Government plans to reintroduce Inheritance Tax on farms worth over £1 million found an unlikely ally in President Trump this week. But with the Government showing no sign of changing course, how feasible is a backbench rebellion on which farm lobby groups are now pinning their hopes?

Presenter: Charlotte Smith

Half a million pounds is going from the UK Government to a project aiming to improve soils in Ukraine. The ongoing research, being run by the Royal Agricultural University, has identified significant damage to soils from the war there - things like heavy metal contamination from bombardments. The new money will help set up soil labs. We speak to the professor leading it and a farmer in Ukraine.

Small changes in the way a river catchment is managed can have a big impact - reconnecting floodplains, re-wiggling rivers and slowing the flow upstream can reduce the flood and pollution risk and encourage more biodiversity. A ‘whole Cumbria strategy’, which involves three River Trusts, the Environment Agency and Natural England – has just been named as one of only four finalists for a prestigious global award, the Thiess International River prize. It’s up against river projects in the USA and Albania. We see the kind of work the Cumbrian River Restoration Partnership Programme is doing in the Lake District.

The Environment Agency's urging farmers to think ahead and get ready for storage of slurry this winter.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith

The bioethanol company Vivergo says it will take in its last consignment of grain tomorrow, before it stops production at its plant near Hull - unless the UK government steps into help. It says this is because of the US UK trade deal which came into force last month, allowing up to 1.4 billion litres of tax-free bioethanol from the States.

How's water managed in the Norfolk Broads? We look at the system of pumping stations and drainage ditches which helps balance the competing demands of water of homes, farms and leisure.

Nearly two million people have signed a petition in France demanding an end to the use of a chemical called acetamiprid which was previously banned. They say the French government should not have overturned the ban, and that it is bowing to pressure from farmers. Farmers say France is already allowing imports from countries which use the neonicotinoid and that it's not a level playing field.

The UK is heavily reliant on fruit and vegetables grown overseas. But a new report predicts that, by 2050, around half of fruit and veg imports to the UK will be affected by climate change risks including rising temperatures and diminishing water supplies. Water management is such a burning topic at the moment that the NFU has just held its first Water Summit on a Yorkshire farm. And, how do you incentivise reintroduced Beavers to shape rivers the way you intend?

Presenter: Anna Hill

As the NFU hosts an on-farm water summit, we find out more about an innovative project in Shropshire to manage water. It aims to prevent excess run-off from urban areas which floods farmland and destroys crops.

Out and about with the Agricultural Chaplain for Suffolk who's helping farmers cope with the pressures of running a farm business. He says they're especially concerned about changes to inheritance tax reform.

Scientists are working with farmers to find a high-tech way of tackling one of the most voracious pests farmers face - slugs. Traditionally, producers have used ferric phosphate pellets to kill them, or taken a more expensive but eco-friendly route, using nematodes to eat the pests. Now the British On-Farm Innovation Network or BOFIN for short, is using artificial intelligence as part of a "Slimers" project to work out where slugs are hiding.

The National Farmers Union says the fight over inheritance tax on farms is not over, despite the publication of draft legislation which shows that the government isn't backing down. Campaigners against the re-impostion of the tax, which will be levied at 20 per cent on assets over a million pounds from April next year had hoped that the government would, at least, change aspects of the policy. The Government argues that its a fair tax which the majority of farm businesses either won't be liable for, or can plan for. A record breaking wet winter has been followed by a record breaking dry spring and early summer in many parts of the UK - with three heatwaves thrown in for good measure. So managing water has become a huge challenge for farmers, which we're exploring all this week on the programme. And, traditional Eel fishermen on Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland have said they're cancelling their season, and one of the factors they blame is water pollution. It comes as the Northern Ireland Executive has proposed more stringent measures to reduce run off from farms, which are strongly opposed by the Ulster Farmers Union.

Presenter: Charlotte Smith

The UK's Chief Vet is urging travellers not to run the risk of bringing foot and mouth disease back from European holidays, in banned personal imports of meat and dairy. Caz Graham hears why a warm, dry summer in many fruit growing areas has led to a bumper crop of high quality blackcurrants. All farmers tend to the needs of their livestock, but few creatures are as needy as leeches. We visit the UK's only medical Leech farm and find out how sensitive the blood suckers really are, to everything from atmospheric pressure to metals in the water. And we drop in to the mobile consulting room bringing health checks to farmers who are too busy, or reluctant, to get to their GP's surgery.

Presenter: Caz Graham