Twenty tonnes of illegal meat and animal products have been intercepted at Dover in September alone according to Dover's Head of Port Health and Public Protection. Lucy Manzano tells us the amount of illegal meat her staff are seizing is 'escalating'.

The way deprivation is measured in the UK means the challenges facing rural areas aren't taken into account. That’s the conclusion of "Pretty Poverty", a new report from Plymouth Marjon University. It argues that rural hardship could be "hidden behind scenic views" and that factors like needing to own a car in remote areas with poor public transport aren’t taken into consideration.

All week we've been looking at livestock markets, we catch up with farmers who say Cockermouth Mart in Cumbria is a vital social hub. We visit a mart on the English Welsh border to find out how the sector's coping with bluetongue restrictions and we speak to Dr Carrie Batten the bluetongue expert at the World Organisation for Animal Health and Head of the National Reference Laboratory for the disease at the Pirbright Institute

Every autumn pigs are released into the New Forest for the ancient tradition of "pannage". The pigs gobble up acorns from the thousands of oak trees in the Forest - and it's a bumper crop this year. Good news for fattening pigs, but bad news for ponies and cattle for whom the acorns are toxic.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith

The price farmers are paid for milk is falling. This comes at a bad time for many farmers who are having to buy in forage for their cows after the long hot summer slowed, or stopped, the growth of grass.

The new Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds says farming is "transforming and modernising". In one of her first speeches, at the Labour Party conference, she told delegates she's seen first hand how much we depend on hardworking farmers.

And why bluetongue virus matters for food security.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

20 tonnes of illegal meat and animal products have been intercepted at Dover in September alone. Dover's Head of Port Health and Public Protection tells us the amount of illegal meat her staff are seizing is 'escalating'. Last month MPs warned that illegal meat imports were at a crisis level, increasing the risk of diseases like Foot and Mouth and African Swine Fever entering the country and threatening public health.

Wales' new Sustainable Farming Scheme was revamped following farmer protests, at projected cuts to livestock numbers and jobs. Now an economic impact assessment into the revised version of the scheme has been published by the Welsh Government. BBC Wales' Environment Correspondent Steffan Messenger has been gauging the farming unions' reaction.

What will inflationary pressures mean for farm workers wages? We hear wages may need to rise to compete with other sectors.

Presenter: Anna Hill

Every autumn pigs are released into the New Forest - the tradition of Pannage. The pigs gobble up the acorns from the thousands of oak trees in the Forest. Anna Hill hears why it's particularly important this year, to protect ponies and cattle from a bumper crop of potentially toxic acorns. The pigs suffer no ill effects from indulging. The New Forest's Head Agister explains the logistics of releasing the pigs and getting them home again.

A new report commissioned by the research body Rural England claims the Government policy on rolling out environmentally friendly home heating is 'heat pumps or nothing'. The report says heat pumps can be expensive and impractical to install in old rural housing, in part due to the insulation needed to make the pumps warm rooms efficiently. It suggests that more should be done to promote alternative renewable fuels, which could be used in existing heating systems.

And we're ringside at the Cockermouth Mule Gimmer Lamb Sale to reflect on livestock markets' role as a social hub.

Presenter: Anna Hill

As the Labour Party Conference continues, the Prime Minister says improving profitability is his priority for farming. There's no sign of change on the decision to reimpose Inheritance Tax on farms worth over £1 million.

We begin a week focussing on the role of livestock markets in 21st century farming, and ask are they as relevant now as a generation ago?

County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, is famous for its Bramley Apples and we visit a grower who says his family has apple in their blood.

Presenter: Charlotte Smith

As the fallout continues from cyber attacks on Jaguar Land Rover and nursery chain Kido in recent days, so too does scrutiny of the food supply chain and how vulnerable it may be to hackers.

We've talked a lot about the problems the baking weather this summer has caused farmers, but for apple, pear and plum growers it has been great. The Lyth Valley in south Cumbria is known for its damson orchards, a dazzle of snowy white blossom in spring and this year creaking under the weight of a bumper harvest. It's such a bumper crop that some growers have more damsons than they know what to do with.

What will you eat today and where will it come from? For Max Cotton that's an easy question: he'll be having what's in season and grows in the UK. For the past year he has been following a UK only diet on a strict budget and he's made a series about how and why, Food Britannia on BBC Radio 4 next week.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

As the fallout from a cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover continues, how vulnerable are the major retailers' food supply chains to hackers? The Grocer's Technology Editor tells us that the supermarkets are nervous, and putting pressure on their suppliers to improve cybersecurity.

England's new Tenant Farming Commissioner has been named. Alan Laidlaw will be an 'independent champion' to promote better relationships between tenants and landlords, according to DEFRA.

Presenter: Steffan Messenger

This year's baking heat has had a beneficial impact on damsons and dahlias.

The Lyth Valley in south Cumbria is known for its damson orchards, a dazzle of snowy white blossom in spring and this year creaking under the weight of a bumper harvest. It's such a bumper crop that some growers have more damsons than they know what to do with.

In Gloucestershire dahlia growers are enjoying a good growing season. These bright autumn flowers originally come from Mexico, and their popularity here as a cut flower is growing.

Weather patterns are changing, and farmers in the usually dry eastern counties of England are having to adapt to more sudden and unpredictable downpours. This water runs off the land, and rather than giving crops a drink, it ends up on country lanes taking precious soil with it. We join a water workshop in Norfolk where farmers are learning how they can do more to contain and re-use water.

Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Farmland bird populations in England have seen a 'rapid nosedive' says the RSPB. It's worried by new Government figures showing an 11% decrease in farmland bird numbers between 2019 and 2024. Meanwhile, farmers in Scotland have been trialling tweaks to conservation scheme options which could help the Corn Bunting.

And, new techniques to make Plum growing more profitable by using resources more efficiently.

Presenter: Anna Hill

Bluetongue affects ruminant animals, like Sheep and Cattle, and it's spread between animals by biting midges. The disease tends to subside as temperatures drop but vets are warning farmers not to become complacent about Bluetongue this autumn. Anna Hill hears from the British Veterinary Association.

This week we're focussing on apples, plums and their ilk - known as Top Fruit. Today, a visit to a Herefordshire orchard growing apple varieties old and new, which is enjoying a good harvest.

Anna visits a conference in North Norfolk, where farmers are at the sharp end of balancing farming for food production with farming for nature.

Presenter: Anna Hill