On Your Farm

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On Your Farm: From Grains to Planes

From Grains to Planes

BBC Radio 4 - On Your Farm, From Grains to Planes

Anna Louise Claydon visits a farm in Cambridgeshire which holds an annual air show.

Anna Louise Claydon visits a family farm with an unusual diversification. The Jefferies family run an annual air show on their 750 acres of arable land in Cambridgeshire.

Anna Louise Claydon visits a family-run arable farm with a working airfield in the centre of its 750 acres. It's a busy season for John and Jenny Jefferies who run the farm in South Cambridgeshire - juggling the pressures of harvest with preparations for their annual charity air show. The show brings around 10,000 people onto the farm to watch the aerobatic displays, and raises money for BBC Children in Need and other local children's charities. 

Anna Louise joins John, a third generation farmer, inside the combine harvester - and hears about his enthusiasm for regenerative farming. She finds out how the air show fits in as part of the wider workings of the farm. John also reflects on a difficult time in his past, taking on Fuller's Hill Farm at the age of just 22, after the sudden death of his father. She talks to John's wife Jenny - an author who is passionate about welcoming the local community onto the land, promoting women in farming, and supporting farms with farmers' markets which are held in the aeroplane hangers.

We also meet Mark Jefferies, part of the farming family and a champion pilot, as he and his team take to the skies to rehearse for their high-octane display. We find out how both pilots and wildlife cope with the additional obstacles around the farm airfield, and discover where the interest in aeronautical farm diversification began.

Produced and presented by Anna Louise Claydon.

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