Red meat and dairy exports - how is the Iran war impacting trade? Plus, what farmers are planting

April 15, 2026·40 min·2 clips

Lucy says the Middle East has become AHDB's second biggest export market, despite port disruption and higher transport costs.

It starts with demolition chat. The cold open stays loose: sledgehammer work, a dug-up drain, and a downstairs toilet problem before the programme gets back to farming detail. Then the numbers turn up. Emily Udall gives the forage update for Friday the 1st of May, with contributor growth rates running from 26 to 105. Moisture is already holding back some growth. Rain due next week could shift things, but average farm cover at 2,600 kilos of dry matter per hectare may mean cows are heading into covers that are higher than target. The practical worry is utilisation. The quality figures come in very AHDB: 21% dry matter, 12.5 ME, and 19.3% protein. Hannah then resets the show. Charlotte is away, Phil is in the stand-in chair, and the programme turns to cereal and oilseed growers. The ask is simple. AHDB wants responses for its annual planting and variety survey so it can build an early picture of the UK harvest. Helen Plant joins at exactly the right moment. As AHDB's lead analyst for cereals and oilseeds, she explains that the survey checks what actually went into the ground. Autumn intentions may not be the story anymore. Challenging economics may have pushed growers to change plans, with different effects across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The episode also reaches into exports and market development, then ties that back to planting choices at home. It still has room to mess about. Phil gets judged, lightly. Hannah laughs. Charlotte is declared irreplaceable, and off they go.

As heard by us

A plainspoken look at exports, planting, and the season ahead.

Hannah Clark and Phil Maiden steer the episode from export market talk into the more immediate question of what is being planted, with Helen Plant spelling out the annual planting and variety survey.

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Why you'd press play

If you want the UK harvest picture through AHDB's planting and variety survey.

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