Rain boosts crops, machinery spares, public support for farmers, dairy hardship, & garden centres

In the last week of the driest April since records began, it finally rains – prompting growers to tweak their crop management programmes.

We ask three farmers – David White (Cambridgeshire), Colin Woodward (Oxfordshire) and Craig Livingstone (Hampshire) – how they are getting along.

Growers of ornamental plants say garden centres which were shut down under coronavirus restrictions must reopen to the public as soon as possible.

Sales of ornamental plants are worth £1.4bn annually – and May is the busiest month. Martin Emmett from Tristram Plants says his business is on a knife-edge.

In the markets, pressure is mounting on the government for hardship payments to help dairy farmers ride out the coronavirus lockdown. 

NFU president Minette Batters tells us how public support for British farmers has increased during the lockdown – and why a dairy support package is vital.

As their European factories reopen, machinery manufacturers say they are pulling out all the stops to get spare parts to farmers ahead of the busy silage season and harvest.

And we have a timely safety reminder from a Lincolnshire farmer who was lucky to escape injury when the main boom ram failed on his loader.

This episode co-hosted by Farmers Weekly chief reporter Johann Tasker and Surrey farmer Hugh Broom with Farmers Weekly livestock editor Rhian Price.