麻豆约拍

Charlotte Smith sets out on the perfect spring morning, to find out what farmers are up to as the busy season begins.

At Wykham Park Farm, a mixed farm just outside Banbury in Oxfordshire, she meets Lizzie Colegrave and her parents John and Julia, who run the farm in a partnership.
The arrival of spring is keeping them busy - Charlotte visits the Longhorn and Angus cross cattle herds, the sheep out with their lambs, the asparagus fields where planting is well underway, and the farm shop: where seasonal produce is steadily filling the shelves.

John, Julia and Lizzie also share their thoughts on the potential challenges ahead for sheep farmers and concerns over the growing lack of seasonal labour.

Meanwhile Anna Hill goes for a stroll with Professor Mark Butner from the John Innes Centre in Norfolk, to find out more about his research into the smell of spring; Beatrice Fenton visits Yeo Valley dairy farm in Somerset, to join farm manager Jon Wilson as the cows are let out to grass; and we hear from Lee Abbey, chief horticultural advisor at the National Farmers' Union, about the impact of the agricultural worker shortage on this year's spring flower crop.

Presented by Charlotte Smith; produced by Lucy Taylor.