大象传媒

Farmers in a remote Northumbrian valley are campaigning to be connected to mains electricity. They say living without it is hindering the development of their farms. At the moment they rely on diesel powered generators. However, with the price of diesel increasing it can cost some families ten thousand pounds a year to run.

There is concern from farmers in Wales as next year their single farm payments will be based on how much land they have as opposed to how much they produce on the farm. This is part of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. From January 2015, land in Wales will be classified into a three tier system and the money will then be divided up accordingly. This comes after the Welsh Government announced it will move 15% of the funding from direct payments to farmers into environmental and rural development schemes.

And erosion and compaction are just some of the problems facing soil on UK farms. Over the past 5 years surveys and reports across the UK and Europe have pointed to soil erosion as a problem that could threaten food security. All of this week Farming Today will look at the issues surrounding this and at some of the solutions that can boost soil health.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Lucy Bickerton.