Farming Today

Farming Today This Week: Tenant Farmers

Farming Today

It's estimated that around five million hectares of farmland in the UK is looked after by tenant farmers. In this programme Caz Graham visits a couple farming on the Lancashire/Cumbria border. They have beef cattle and sheep on 900 acres of land - but spread across several sites, and with four separate landlords. She learns about the extra challenges posed by having to drive forty miles to reach the opposite ends of your farming business, and the frustrations of short-term contracts. We also hear from the Tenant Farmers Association, whose chief executive explains why farm tenancy agreements have been getting shorter over recent years. Meanwhile, reporter Clare Worden finds out why Norfolk County Council is bucking the current trend by buying rather than selling off farmland, to rent to tenants. We also hear from the newly appointed Tenant Farming Commissioner for Scotland, whose role is to help resolve disputes between tenant farmers and their landlords. Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Emma Campbell.

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