Farming Today

Historians in Cumbria are publishing extracts from the diary of an 18th century yeoman farmer. The writings of Isaac Fletcher, who farmed at Mosser near Cockermouth, will be featured by the Cumbria County History Trust on their website every month. His diary provides a window onto life in rural Cumbria 250 years ago, and an insight for farmers who work the land there still. Helen Millican meets two of Isaac's biggest fans, historian Angus Winchester and local farmer Mark Clark, who give her a tour of what would have been Isaac's farm.You can read the diary in more detail by visiting The Farming Year Diary on the trust's website - https://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.ukProgramme produced and presented by Helen Millican.

Sarah Swadling finds out about a quest to save our hidden cider orchard heritage using DNA testing.Work is being carried out in orchards to DNA fingerprint cider apple trees to identify varieties whose names died with the people who created them, or were never named. Keith Edwards, Professor of Crop Genetics at Bristol University, has been working with Devon cider-maker Barny Butterfield on the project. So far they've leaf sampled more than 10,000 trees on the hunt for DNA markers which aren't found in any of the national collections of apple trees, but are repeated in other historic cider orchards (so they're more significant than a lone tree grown from a pip). The aim: to secure the future of forgotten cider apple varieties, with the rediscovered trees being grown on from cuttings to preserve them for the future. Produced and presented by Sarah Swadling.

Farmers at Rathfriland market in County Down still practise an old tradition when livestock changes hands. Farmers selling their animals hand money back to the buyer, to seal the deal. It's known as the luck penny and is a way of wishing the customer success with the stock and building up a trustworthy business relationship. At the old fairs, a couple of coins would be handed over - today it could be a £20 note. The tradition, said to have originated in Ireland and lives on in modern insurance policies covering livestock after sale. And in Rathfriland, it is celebrated with a sculpture of a giant bronze penny in the town square.Produced and presented by Kathleen Carragher.

Elise Sutton is a new entrant to farming, but the herd of Longhorn cattle she looks after have a blood line that goes back 85 years. The Stoke herd, which graze the chalk grassland of Salisbury Plain, are seen as integral to the protection of rich and varied flora and fauna, including some orchids not found anywhere else in the world. Marie Lennon has a tour of Cherry Lodge Farm with Elise, as well as Debbi Dan from the Longhorn Cattle Society. Produced and presented by Marie Lennon.

This year, Anna Hill marked her 30th anniversary as a presenter of Farming Today. Talking to her fellow presenter Charlotte Smith, Anna reflects on three decades of reporting on farming life, from Mad Cow Disease and Foot and Mouth to the lighter side of life on farms and her love of rural East Anglia. Produced by Beatrice Fenton and Chris Ledgard for BBC Audio Bristol