23/01/26 Illegal meat, farm incomes, winter feed on the Western Isles

The smuggling of illegal meat is on the rise. Farmers are worried it could bring animal diseases into the UK. Europe has seen outbreaks of both African Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth, neither of which affect humans but both of which can wipe out whole farms.

Average income across all farms in England rose by 49 percent in the year from March 2024 to February 2025, with increases in all farming sectors, bar specialist pig farms and horticulture. That’s the headline from DEFRA’s newly published Farm Business Survey. So, are English farmers laughing all the way to the bank, and how do those figures sit alongside frequent reports about tough times for farmers with high costs, uncertain markets, more extreme weather events, and low confidence in new agri-environment schemes?

It's mid-winter, the hungriest time of year for livestock, so all this week we're looking at the challenges of providing winter feed, be they financial or practical. It's tough enough when farmers are able to grow or make their own forage, but in the Scottish islands, where the land’s poor and the climate’s wet, crofters rely on hay and straw being brought in by lorry from the mainland. We join a haulier as he drops off bales in the Isle of Lewis. His family has been supplying forage to the Western Isles and Skye for three generations.

Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney