09/02/26 Farmer protests, Defra farm training, AI in agriculture

Over the past few weeks farmers have been protesting, at ports and around supermarket distribution centres. Why? They say it's a combination of things, from concerns about the impact of imported food to the prices supermarkets pay for UK produce, along with continuing anger over inheritance tax on farms. The Government has raised the threshold, now farmers can pass on a farm worth up to £2.5m without being affected but some say that not enough and they want the tax scrapped.

Civil servants will be spending time on farms. The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has agreed a 4 year contract with the Allerton Project to provide training to all its staff and 'deepen their understanding of modern British Agriculture".

Artificial intelligence is having an impact on many businesses around the world and farming is no exception, so this week we're looking at AI in agriculture. From monitoring the health of crops to measuring their uptake of water and improving animal welfare AI is already being used all around the country.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.