23/12/24 - 'Difficult' Stormont budget for environment minister, Victorian farm diaries, Turkey farmers

The Northern Ireland Executive has published its draft budget for 2025-26 and it’s now open for public consultation. Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs is set to receive just over £715 million pounds, an increase of 3%. But no specific funding has been allocated to address serious pollution in Lough Neagh and Andrew Muir, the environment minister, says his department has only been awarded around a third of what he’d requested for day to day spending. He describes it as ‘a difficult budget’.

Historic farm diaries provide a fascinating glimpse into agricultural, social and cultural life in years gone by. So curators at the Three Rivers Museum in Hertfordshire were excited to unearth a diary written in Victorian times by a farmer from Rickmansworth called John White. Masters students at the University of Hertfordshire have been scrutinising the diary entries to see if there’s anything that John’s observations from 150 years ago might teach farmers today.

Rearing and selling turkeys for Christmas has become a major source of income for some family farms, including Cuckoo Mill Farm at Pelcomb Bridge, in Pembrokeshire. And at this time of year, it’s a real family affair, with all hands on deck.

Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.