The Archers star Lucy Speed reveals her pride in show embracing "important" new BBC initiative

Stories to be featured include a 25-year-old farmer in Herefordshire who unexpectedly took over the family farm at 17 – leaving her in charge of a 200-acre site, with more than 1500 sheep and cattle; investigating the financial and emotional cost of farm fires in the East and West Midlands; meeting a fifth-generation wool farmer in County Durham; and 12 hours of outside broadcasting from a mixed farm in Somerset which makes its own gelato.

There will also be a live broadcast from a combine harvester — with a so-called “Combine-Cam” — showing a field being harvested and allowing viewers to ask questions directly to farmers while they’re working.

Harriet Cowan, the popular farmhand from Clarkson’s Farm, and Mike Wilkins, the fourth-generation Wiltshire farmer who starred in last year’s Great British Bake Off, will be presenting a live programme on every BBC Local Radio station across England.

Yet, anything on BBC radio linked to farms and farming has to pay a visit to the nation’s most famous farmers in Ambridge, with The Archers on BBC Radio 4 featuring a special BBC Farmwatch storyline in which some of the Ambridge residents tune into their local radio station and are inspired by what they hear.

Talking to Radio Times about the initiative, The Archers actor Lucy Speed said, “Farmwatch is a brilliant BBC Local Radio initiative that shines a light on the real stories behind British farming, and it’s something I’m proud to see reflected in The Archers.“

Her character, Stella Pryor, has been at the heart of a recent story that explores the conflict between environmental initiatives such as rewilding and farms’ food production capacity and profitability, with the harvest proving a pivotal plot point in the battle between the entrenched points of view of two old rivals, Justin Elliott and Brian Aldridge.

So it’s unsurprising the view she takes of the importance of the public learning more about farming, “Our storylines are rooted in real agricultural life so it’s vital they are authentic. That’s why campaigns like Farmwatch are so important, not only because they celebrate the community spirit that defines rural Britain, but also reflect the everyday challenges our farmers face.”

One of the Archers’ farming and countryside advisers, Fiona Mountain, adds to that, “’70 per cent of land in Britain is farmland, so farmers have a huge impact on all our lives, whether we live in the town or the countryside. Many people who listen to The Archers gain an impression of rural life and farming through the drama, which is why we do our utmost to convey farming and countryside issues authentically. Farmwatch builds on this by showcasing real life farmers who play such a crucial role in providing us with food and acting as custodians of the land.”

Lucy Speed also links Farmwatch back to the rural soap and the work of Mountain and her fellow adviser Sybil Ruscoe in keeping everything in Ambridge as grounded in reality as possible, “As someone who plays a farm manager, I really want our content and storylines to be as real as possible so that they honour the legacy of farming at the heart of the show.”

We’re not sure how Eddie Grundy’s madcap schemes fit into that, but if you tune into Farmwatch on 7 August and learn of a farmer building a “Ferret Wheel”, do let us know!

Farmwatch will air on Thursday 7th August.

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