15/10/24 - Renewable community benefits, English sparking wine, grassland payments

Farming Today

New energy infrastructure projects like solar and wind farms don't always go down well with local communities. But what if people living nearby got cheaper energy bills or even owned shares in the development? When asked about new energy infrastructure last month, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said he wants to "do deals with local people so they can see a benefit for their community". We find out how that could work for rural people.

We visit Chapel Down on the North Downs in Kent. It's England’s largest wine maker and still has ambitious plans for expansion, including planting more than 100 acres of new vines.

More than 30 organisations have written to the Government to say the current system of farm payments is encouraging some farmers to tear up fields of permanent pasture, which could be managed to become species-rich meadows.

And how do you harvest walnuts? We go along and take a look.

Presented by Anna Hill Produced by Heather Simons