11/08/2026 Impact of bluetongue on farmers, harvest in Europe, glass house salads.

Livestock farmers in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset are at the centre of the current outbreak of bluetongue and cases are rising rapidly. Bluetongue can be fatal to animals like sheep and cattle but doesn’t affect humans, it’s spread by midges, and makes animals lethargic and lame as well as causing birth defects or spontaneous abortions. The Farming Community Network has a 24 hour help line: we ask them about the impact the disease is having on farmers in the South West of England.

As England and Wales are set to enter the fifth heatwave of the summer, almost three-quarters of England is now in drought. The National Drought Group has added the East Midlands, Lincolnshire & Northamptonshire, Kent & East Sussex, and Solent & the South Downs into drought status. The prolonged lack of rain in some places is having a major impact on farming and food production in the UK and Europe. We speak to a farmer from Copa Cogeca which represents European farmers and farming cooperatives.

We’re talking about UK salad production all this week. Unseasonably hot weather doesn’t just increase our demand for lettuce, tomatoes and other salad crops, it also has an impact on how they well they grow, the diseases they might catch, and the working conditions of those planting and harvesting them.

Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney