Farming Today

After what was the wettest January on record for some, more rain means more problems for farmers, from flooding and waterlogged fields to worries about the impact on this year's harvest and their bottom lines. This week we heard from farmers at different ends of the country.
We hear from the Environment Agency boss on building resilience though natural flood management, in a landscape recovery project in Oxfordshire.
And AI in dairy: Big Brother is watching moo.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

James Winslade's fields started to flood nearly three weeks ago. They're still under water, and the floods are creeping closer to his farm buildings. He updates us on the situation on his Somerset farm, and tells Charlotte Smith that this year's floods will put a 'huge strain' on the business.
The relentless rain is leaving some livestock farmers, especially dairy farmers, with a mucky conundrum. Environmental regulations prevent slurry being spread on the land during the wettest winter months, to reduce the risk of pollution runoff into water courses. That period's now officially over, but many fields are too wet for slurry spreading. Storage space is finite...and with animals winter housed the slurry keeps coming.
With increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and rising costs of fertilisers and pesticides, could Artificial Intelligence help arable farmers make their growing season more efficient, and more profitable? The Royal Agricultural University is investigating the use of AI and drones to identify weeds in a wheat crop, so precision treatment can be used to take them out.
Presenter: Charlotte Smith
Producer: Sarah Swadling

With some farms underwater we hear from the Environment Agency boss on building resilience though natural flood management.
The plant based drink company Oatly has lost a long running legal battle over the use of the term 'milk' in its marketing.
And can AI help fight crop pests?
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

Eastern Scotland is usually relatively dry but so far this year it's experienced record-breaking rainfall. Aberdeen last saw sunshine on 19th of January. We hear from arable and beef farmer Jack Stevenson in his, very wet, winter wheat fields on the East Coast. He tells us some parts of Aberdeenshire have seen about a quarter of their annual rainfall in a matter of weeks during January and February.
Artificial intelligence, AI, is starting to influence many aspects of everyday life. Farming is no exception, and this week we're looking at how the technology might be harnessed to help solve some tricky problems. Today: dairy cows' health and welfare. The University of Bristol vet school's farm is using AI and CCTV cameras to spot changes in behaviour among its dairy cows, to find out whether it can pick up potential issues sooner than human herd managers. The project has turned a barn into a bovine Big Brother House.
Beef cows grazing with their calves are a traditional part of the landscape, particularly in upland areas of the UK. But a new report says Welsh beef suckler herd numbers have decreased by nearly 40 percent over the last two decades. The National Farmers Union in Wales, - NFU Cymru - produced the report, and it says this approach to beef farming is in need of urgent support.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling

The Country Land and Business Association, CLA, says winter flooding is putting pressure on farm finances, coming after summer drought and during a period of poor arable and milk prices. The CLA's Deputy President, Joe Evans, describes driving past 'hundreds of acres' of 'prime arable land' under water on the outskirts of Worcester. He tells Anna Hill of instances where arable farmers in Somerset have stopped growing crops because of repeated flooding. He believes that farmers could be more resilient, and help protect nearby communities, if they were given the right policy and regulatory support.
The Government has said it plans to end the use of sow farrowing crates under proposals in the new Animal Welfare Bill. These narrow pens are used in indoor pig units, and they confine sows during birth and suckling, for around a month. Their purpose is to prevent sows killing piglets by accidentally lying on them. We visit a farm in East Yorkshire which has been trialling alternative systems for 15 years.
This week we're exploring how artificial intelligence, AI, could help farmers improve efficiency, and reduce the environment footprint of producing food. Today, a project combining AI with a camera which 'sees' things in a different way to the human eye, to understand how plants are behaving. It could eventually help farmers use nitrogen fertiliser much more precisely.
Presenter: Anna Hill
Producer: Sarah Swadling