Another small abattoir has announced it’s to close its doors for good. McIntyre Meats in Bainbridge in the Yorkshire Dales has been working with local farmers for the last 23 years and is just the latest small abattoir to decide to call it a day.

Graham Bottley produces Mutton from his flock of Swaledale sheep in the Yorkshire Dales, and until now, has been using McIntyre Meats regularly

We are looking into the business side of farming this week, now for most non-farming companies or organisations, training, appraisal and continuing professional development is the norm. But if you’re a small family farm business, already dealing with rising costs, increasing paperwork, as well as the unpredictability of markets and weather, training courses can come a long way down the priority list.

In the Scottish Highlands, rewilding and planting trees for carbon capture are increasingly attractive for big new landowners, but what impacts do these activities, taking over vast tracts of the countryside, have on the communities around them? A report for the Scottish Government tries to quantify those impacts and not all are positive. We visit affected communities and speak to the author of a new report.

All week we've been looking at the business side of farming. According to DEFRA, 69% of farm businesses were engaged in some kind of diversified enterprise in 2022-23. Having an extra income strand can make the difference between a viable farm and one that can’t pay its way, so nowadays the business of farming often means looking at what other businesses a farm can grow. Branching out can give both farm and farmers a whole new lease of life as we find out on a small upland farm in Cumbria.

Presenter = Caz Graham

As more farmers take up payments to farm in a more environmentally-friendly way, will that mean growing less food? After leaving the EU, the four nations of the UK have decided on different payment systems for farmers. In England, the Environmental Land Management Scheme, or ELMS, has several parts to it - the simplest being the Sustainable Farming Incentive or SFI. Some farmers said there was little incentive to sign up, because payments to do environmental work were too low. However, in January that changed and some payments were increased. We unpick the details of the scheme and find out who the winners and losers are. We also talk to the Defra farming minister, Mark Spencer.

Some farmers in Northern Ireland fear a new scheme designed to reduce emissions from livestock will put slower-growing breeds of cattle at a disadvantage. They are concerned it will make rearing grass-fed or native breed cattle less viable.

Presenter: Anna Hill

After two years without a government, Northern Ireland's got a minister for agriculture and the environment again. We speak to Andrew Muir, who's just started his new job at DAERA - the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. His in-tray is bulging with a raft of issues: farming subsidy changes, environmental concerns and bovine TB, among other things. Anna Hill speaks to the Ulster Farmers' Union about what they want from the new minister, and also to Northern Ireland Environment Link - a coalition of conservation groups.

All week we’re looking at the business of farming. Paperwork is a big part of the job and one firm which was set up to assist farmers with their form-filling says it’s been inundated with requests for help. The Herefordshire-based company says many farmers feel burdened and isolated by the sheer amount of red tape involved in the modern farming industry.

Presenter: Anna Hill

Today Biodiversity Net Gain becomes the law in England. It means that any developer building ten or more homes must not just replace the biodiversity they've destroyed, but have to show a 10% net gain over what was there before. The net gain can be on the housing estate, or builders can buy a biodiversity unit from a landowner. If that's not possible they can get a (more expensive) biodiversity credit from the Government, which will then invest in habitat projects across the nation.

Farming is going through a tough time; prices, the supermarkets, massive changes in public subsidy systems, endless rain, or drought. The word many use a lot is 'challenging' and this week we're going to look at the challenge of running a farming business. We start with an overview from Martin Hanson, Head of Agriculture at HSBC UK.

A rescue plan for nature is being drawn up in The Ashdown Forest in Sussex. The project could see rare plants and animals including nightingales, turtle doves, pine martens and beavers being restored to the landscape.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Farming leaders in Wales have warned of "huge unrest" over planned Welsh government reforms to farm support payments, claiming mass protests are now "more or less inevitable". The Welsh government has urged farmers to participate in a consultation on their plans - which would require farms to have 10% tree cover and manage a further 10% of their land as wildlife habitat in order to access funding in future. 

Scotland's farmers will continue receiving most of their existing subsidies for growing food. The Scottish First Minister Humuza Yousaf has announced that 70% of future support in Scotland will be direct payments. This is the Scottish post-Brexit system which will replace the EU's Common Agricultural Policy and is in marked contrast to the new systems being introduced in England and Wales where the vast majority of public money will be paid only for environmental work, and direct payments are phased out.

It's 20 years since the Morecambe Bay cockling disaster. 23 people lost their lives after getting cut off by the Bay’s notoriously fast flowing tide while gathering cockles. Those who drowned were Chinese Migrants, illegally smuggled into the country and were working as forced labour for criminal gangmasters. The tragedy paved the way for the creation of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority in 2005 and to this day, anyone supplying workers into the shellfish sector, and into agriculture and horticulture, requires a licence with what is now the GLAA.

We visit Glynhynod Farm, which means "Remarkable Valley" in Welsh - a family business making Caerphilly and Gouda and distilling Welsh whisky.

Also, what makes a champion sheepdog? We find out from a handler who's worked with dogs all his life.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith

Farmers in Scotland want to see cuts to the Holyrood agriculture budget reversed and an extra billion pounds worth of funding to farmers across the country from the UK Government. Both issues were raised yesterday at the NFU Scotland conference that’s taking place just now in Glasgow. National Farmers Union Scotland members are expecting to be joined by First Minister Humza Yousaf this morning. He’ll be joined by Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon, for what may well be a rather heated question-and-answer session.

Conservationists say more should be done to preserve and restore Britain’s temperate rainforests. These ancient woodlands have a mild and damp climate and support species like mosses and lichens. They may once have covered about a fifth of Britain but now just fragments of the forest remain. In December the Government pledged £750,000 for research but campaigners say more needs to be done.

These days it's rare to get eggs delivered. But if you live in the village of Sibford Ferris near Banbury you could get your eggs delivered by goat. All this week we’re hearing about working animals. Sue Sabin has been running an egg round for the last fourteen years with Alan, her pack-goat.

Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

This week marks 20 years since the Morecambe Bay cockling disaster. 23 Chinese migrants lost their lives after getting cut off by the Bay’s notoriously fast flowing tide while gathering cockles. Those who drowned were found to have been illegally smuggled into the country and were working as forced labour for criminal gangmasters. The tragedy paved the way for the creation of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority in 2005 and to this day, anyone supplying workers into the shellfish sector, and into agriculture and horticulture, requires a licence with what is now the GLAA, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has been meeting at Stormont this week for the first time in two years. There’s a whole new executive, finding their desks and their feet, including a new minister for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. It’s Andrew Muir, an Alliance party member, who's been visiting Lough Neagh.

From sheepdogs to birds of prey, we’re hearing about working animals on the programme this week. The shire horse was the original workhorse, essential for heavy farm work like ploughing before the tractor took over. Today the breed is considered endangered but there are still a few working shires left, like the ones at Hook Norton Brewery in Oxfordshireshire, where they’re used for delivering beer.

Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Protests by European farmers have sparked a wider debate across the UK, about whether farmers here might be tempted away from growing food, by payments for environmental work. We hear from farmers concerned about how environmental policies are affecting food security. We also speak to Professor Tim Benton, Research Director of the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House who says a clear strategy for food, environment and trade is the key to enabling sustainability in the food chain, and how a 'just transition' from the previous system to the new ones should pull all those areas together.

The pheasant shooting season in the UK has just come to a close.  So before it ended, we thought we’d take a look what gundogs do in a shoot, as part of our week-long focus on working animals.  We meet a trainer who's been working with gundogs for more than 20 years for the first drive in a day’s shooting organised by Blannicombe Sporting Club in Devon.

Presenter = Anna Hill

One in three women, and one in five men in the UK are affected by domestic abuse according to a recent National Rural Crime Network report - it also found that rural victims of domestic abuse tend to suffer for 25% longer than those in urban areas because of geographical isolation and barriers to accessing help and support. We hear from one woman in rural North Wales where she was the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her ex-partner, who is now in prison.

The presence of microplastics in farmland soil increased by 350% between 1997 and 2005 according to figures in a study by the University of Lancaster. That six-fold increase was largely due to the plastic coatings around fertiliser granules. The study was based on soil sample archives. Another study by the same researchers found the use of plastic to cover crops early in their growing season has also had an impact. We speak to the lead author of the reports.

All week we're looking at working animals. Birds such as starlings and feral pigeons can be a real pest for farmers - eating animal feed, seeds and young crops. An increasing number of farmers are turning away from noisy bird-scarers to a different type of pest control and employing falconers to help them deal with the problem. Hawks are trained to be a deterrent for the unwanted visitors without actually doing them any harm. We visit a farm in Shropshire where they’ve been trying out the idea.

Presenter = Anna Hill