Farming Today Folgen

Growing resilience and transforming our food and farming system, the two themes of the two farming conferences happening in Oxford this week. We will be at both - so what can we all expect? And we revisit a farm that installed a milk vending machine with the hope of improving the farm’s fortunes.Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

A round up of seasonal offerings from Farming Today.The charity Farms for City Children turns 50 this year. Set up by writer Michael Morpurgo and his wife in 1976, the charity works to connect children with farming and the countryside. Fiona Clampin dons her wellies and joins the Morpurgos at their farm in Devon.Farming life is full of traditions, and we hear from Rathfriland Livestock Market in County Down about one of these: the luck penny. Farmers selling their animals hand money back to the buyer, to seal the deal. It's a way of wishing the customer success with the stock and building up a trustworthy business relationship. Kathleen Carragher visits Rathfriland to find out whether it's still practised today.Tradition also abounds at one brewery in Oxfordshire, which still uses heavy horses to deliver barrels of beer to local pubs. Vernon Harwood meets three of the shire horses delivering horse-powered pints.Work is being carried out in orchards to DNA fingerprint cider apple trees to identify varieties whose names died with the people who created them, or were never named. The aim: to secure the future of forgotten cider apple varieties. Sarah Swadling speaks to Keith Edwards, Professor of Crop Genetics at Bristol University and Devon cider-maker Barny Butterfield who have been working on the project.Historians in Cumbria are publishing extracts from the diary of an 18th century yeoman farmer. The writings of Isaac Fletcher, who farmed at Mosser near Cockermouth, are providing a window into rural life 250 years ago. Helen Millican has been for a tour of what would have been Isaac's farm. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Jo Peacey. A BBC Audio Bristol production.

Controlling wild goats is proving tricky in Scotland's border country. While herds can damage trees and outgrow their food supply, these fierce yet endearing creatures have a place in people’s hearts, and they are believed to be a link to our Stone-Age ancestors. As different landowners carry out their own culls, there are fears of a devastating impact on the population. Richard Baynes finds out how it's hoped herds can be controlled, but kept healthy.Produced and presented by Richard Baynes.