05/06/26 Dartmoor ponies, upland economics, Open Farm Sunday
About this episode
The episode discusses the impact of agri-environment schemes on Dartmoor ponies and upland farming, alongside the celebration of Open Farm Sunday's 20th anniversary.
Concerns have been raised that new agri-environment schemes will require such a steep drop in the numbers of grazing livestock that 90% of Dartmoor ponies will be lost. We’re talking about upland farming all this week, and this morning we hear how the phasing out of the old EU farm payments are affecting English hill farmers, with two generations of a Lake District farming family. It’s twenty years ago this summer that a group of farmers put their heads together and decided to set aside a particular day when they’d all open up their farms to the general public. It was a fairly radical idea at the time, driven by a desire to address the disconnect between urban populations and farming, and inspired by a similar project in Denmark. That was the very first Open Farm Sunday which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this weekend. Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
People in this episode
Host: Caz Graham
Topics covered
- Dartmoor ponies
- upland farming
- agri-environment schemes
- EU farm payments
- Open Farm Sunday
- farming community
Keywords
- Dartmoor ponies
- upland economics
- agri-environment schemes
- EU farm payments
- Open Farm Sunday
- farming
- Lake District
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: BBC Radio 4
Places: Dartmoor, Lake District
More episodes of Farming Today
- 06/06/26 - Farming Today This Week: Dartmoor ponies, water voles and land-based jobs
- 04/06/26 High Court rules the Food Standards Agency overcharged abattoirs, hydropower funding, upland farmer groups
- 03/06/26 EU trade agreement, peat restoration and water voles, Scottish uplands
- 02/06/26 Rural skills gap, upland farming in Wales, Future Countryside.
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