Why I’m obsessed with Farming Today

Farming Today airs at an undignified hour each morning on Radio 4. On the few occasions I’ve caught it live I have felt, first of all, relief that I am not a farmer; second, inadequacy; and finally, a surge of evangelism for the farmer’s way of life. I am now reaching the conclusion that getting up early enough to listen to Farming Today is the very least we can all do.

By no means will everything discussed on the programme hold relevance for your life. One feature last week was dedicated to a project to preserve ten acres of salt marsh downstream from Totnes. Another recent episode explored the Lakeland barns being saved for cultural heritage. And on Christmas Eve we visited a farm in the Upper Coquet valley of Northumberland as it received mains electricity for the first time. But such esoteric forays are often the most eye-opening – which, let’s face it, is all one can hope for at 5.45 a.m.

The Upper Coquet valley episode certainly dispelled the romance of the idea, cherished by so many of my urban friends, of living off-grid. The charm of casting your house in darkness just because you happen to put your kettle on at the same as your neighbour must quickly pall. Add to that the price of oil required to run a generator, as well as the cost of the batteries, and the dream of The Good Life disappears pretty quickly.

The fact that you’re listening to all this in a London bedroom makes it more, not less, interesting. Contrary to what most programmers believe, relevance isn’t why people tune into something, though Farming Today more than delivers on that front, too. There’s a good reason the programme has been running, in some form or other, since 1937.