30/10/24 Budget preview, environmental targets, soil health on dairy farm, pumpkins

Farming Today

Labour's first Budget for 14 years will be delivered by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves today. The treasury's confirmed a 6.7% increase in the national living wage for UK workers over the age of 21 and the national minimum wage for those aged between 18 and 20 will also rise by £1.40 per hour. It's one decision that could impact farming businesses. We look at what other potential announcements could mean for agriculture and the environment.

The government's set out new criteria for meeting nature conservation targets. Environment secretary Steve Reed made the announcement at the COP16 biodviersity summit in Columbia. He renewed the pledge to protect 30 per cent of land and sea for nature by 2030. However the government's said it's had to revise its estimate of how much land in England currently qualifies for those targets - it's not as much as it thought. Sites of Special Scientific Interest will only count when they're in a favourable or recovering condition.

All week we've been unearthing stories of farms that are paying close attention to the health of their soils. Today we hear from a dairy farmer in west Wales who's turned his back on what he describes as a 'traditional farming system' to take a more ecological approach, working from the ground up.

It's almost Halloween and for some farmers, pumpkin picking has become an important diversification but bad weather has ruined the harvest in parts of the country this year. One grower in Cheshire had to cancel his pumpkin festival, which accounts for half the farm's annual income. However the family's turned to its orchards and is holding an apple festival instead.

Presenter = Steffan Messenger Producer = Rebecca Rooney