24/10/2025 Fishing fund and Scottish fishers. DNA of cider apples. Cornish centenarian farmer.
"Anger, dismay and sense of betrayal”. That’s how the SNP described the response of Scottish coastal communities to the allocation of money to Scotland from the UK’s new ‘Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund‘ in parliament yesterday. The £360 million pound fund was first announced back in May and aims to modernise Britain's fishing fleet, enhance workforce skills, and revitalise coastal communities. However Scotland says it's getting less than 8 percent of the fund, despite accounting for more than 60% of the UK’s fishing capacity and producing more than 60% of UK seafood exports. A project in a tiny corner of Somerset is currently identifying and documenting the rich variety of apple trees around the village of Kingsbury Episcopi. The Kingsbury Pomona project, set up by pomologist or apple expert Liz Copas and cider maker Tim Gray aims to uncover lost apple varieties and help keep the different genetic strains alive. Farming is a long game, but there aren’t many who’ve been playing it quite as long as David Lightfoot from Cornwall. He started his career with a couple of cows he milked by hand and a few rented fields. He went on to farm for Prince Charles, before he became King, and now as he reaches his hundredth birthday he shares his farming memories.Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
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23/10/25 Environmental regulation in Northern Ireland. Malting barley for beer. Food system report
Northern Ireland needs a new independent environmental regulator, properly staffed and financially resourced to tackle the many challenges it will face. That’s one of the recommendations of a comprehensive review of the country’s environmental governance which its authors describe as a ‘call to action’. The review was prompted by a number of environmental concerns including extensive and repeated blooms of blue-green algae in Lough Neagh which supplies forty percent of drinking water. The report also said there was “starkly lacking clarity “ over roles, responsibilities and accountability. We speak to Dr Viviane Gravey from Queen’s University in Belfast who chaired the review panel.We’re talking about beer and cider all this week on Farming Today and one crucial part of beer is malting barley. We visit a maltster in the heart of Norfolk A new report says the UK must radically transform the way it produces and consumes food if it is to avoid a cycle of escalating crises. The authors say action is needed on a scale not seen since the Second World War to safeguard food security, protect public health and meet climate targets. The Roadmap for Resilience: A UK Food Plan for 2050 argues that urgent reform is essential to reboot the economy, reduce pressure on the NHS and prevent repeated shocks from rising food prices, supply chain disruption and climate disasters.Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
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22/10/25 Water Grid, Perry Pears, Sugar Beet Prices
It's a familiar idea that batteries store electricity and now a new European project, called Water Grid, is encouraging farmers to create ponds as 'water batteries' for storing rainwater, to draw on in times of drought. Researchers think they could even be used to top up rivers. The Water Grid project will run across 13 European countries, and the 22 partners involved are being coordinated by the Westcountry Rivers Trust.We visit the National Perry Pear Collection in Gloucestershire, as it's the season for pressing fruit to make perry. Thecollection has just won an award from the Campaign for Real Ale and Cider.The sugar beet campaign, or harvest, is underway but farmers are looking ahead to lower prices next year.Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling
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21/10/25 Welfare report on CO2 and the slaughter of pigs; producing cider
An independent review of the way pigs are slaughtered has called for the use of carbon dioxide gassing to be prohibited, because it causes too much distress and pain to the animals. 90% of pigs reared in England and Wales are slaughtered this way. The report was carried out by the Animal Welfare Committee, an independent expert committee from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Scottish government and the Welsh government. It recommends that argon gas should be used instead. We speak to vet Dr Jane Downes, who led the Animal Welfare Committee at the time the report was prepared. We also speak to the National Pig Association.All week we're looking at beer and cider. One of the biggest cider producers in the UK, producing 65 million litres every year, is Westons, based in Herefordshire. The business started in 1880, and now works with 180 apple growers and orchard owners in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire – the heart of apple country. We visit the production line.Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Rebecca Rooney
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20/10/25 Planning reform, beer and growing hops.
The Government’s bill to ‘get Britain building’ returns to the House of Lords for its report stage. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill gained more than sixty Government amendments earlier this month to streamline the process and give ministers more power to grant permission for big planning projects. However conservation campaigners are not happy about the developments, and the Government's rhetoric. All this week we’re taking a look at the beer and cider industry, and the UK growers who make it possible. There are around 45 hop growers across the country, around half of them in the West Midlands. We speak to a farmer in Herefordshire as he harvests his crop and ask the Campaign for Real Ale about the market for home-grown hops.Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
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