The Today Debate: Does British farming need rescuing?

Available for 29 days

Does British farming need rescuing? That is the question for this edition of the Today Debate. The Today programme's Anna Foster asks whether we can feed the nation at affordable prices, make our countryside a haven for nature and preserve a healthy farming industry? This triple-headed challenge is made even harder in a year when we have seen farmers buffeted by extreme weather - from floods early in the year to the summer's drought whose effects still endure. She is joined by an expert panel of: Baroness Minette Batters, crossbench peer who was head of National Framers Union from 2018 to 2024. A farmer herself, in 2025 she led a six-month independent Farming Profitability Review for the government. Martin Lines, an arable farmer in Cambridgeshire who is the CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network. George Freeman, Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk, deputy chair of Science, Innovation and Tech Committee and Vice Chair of All Party group on Science, Agriculture and Technology. Karen Betts, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation.