Upland hill farmers fear for the future existence of their farm businesses in light of Welsh government’s scheme proposals.We visit Blas Farm - an organic vegetable farm on the Gwent Levels aiming to produce food in a sustainable way for the local community and to encourage young people into the industry.We hear how one of the world’s rarest and most endangered species of fir tree ‘coned’ for the first time in decades at Hergest Croft Gardens on the Powys-Herefordshire borderand how about joining the goat club in the city of Swansea? It's for the benefit of conservation but warning - they could be too cute to resist!

Forget trees, perhaps the answer lies in the soil? Could fields be farmed to store more carbon? We speak to Dr Non Williams of the Welsh Soil project. Campaigners fear the closure of visitor centres at three beauty spots. Natural Resources Wales say Ynyslas visitor centre near Borth, Bwlch Nant yr Arian, near Ponterwyd, and Coed y Brenin, near Dolgellau are under review due to financial pressures. Birds of Conservation concern - we continue our monthly look at birds at risk in the company of Wales' ornithologists - this month we have a trio of waders at RSPB Point of Ayr reserve.The poetry trail in Pembrokeshire - why boxes are popping up on our coastal path inviting passers-by to stop and create a poem inspired by the natural world

It's the Farmer's Union of Wales' Farmhouse breakfast week! Up and down the country, rural communities this week have been joining together around the farmhouse kitchen table, for what can perhaps be described as the most important meal of the day - Breakfast! Caroline Evans visits the village of Capel Gwynfe in Carmarthenshire where the farming and rural community have gathered to eat and chat, all in support of a rural charity - this year the Air Ambulance.

From dairy to mixed farming - we visit Bremenda Isaf Farm in Llanarthne, a Carmarthenshire Council owned holding. where they'll be growing fruit and veg for schools and care homes. We visit the village of Hermon in Pembrokeshire where they're breathing new life back into empty buildings for community use.Wales is blessed with an extensive coastline but we ask how ocean literate as a nation are we?and snowdrops, catkins and frogspawn - we're spotting the first signs of spring!

Where the land meets the sea there is a rich, but fragile habitat - but what can it tell us about the health of our shores? The Shore Search Intertidal Surveys project monitors that sea life to better understand the effects of pollution, climate change and invasive alien species. Pauline Smith joins the marine team of the North Wales Wildlife Trust and volunteers at Criccieth beach on the Llŷn peninsula to discover more.

Before the introduction of steam engines and tractors to work the land Shire horses were once essential for the farm. Today, however, these heavy horses are considered to be a rare and endangered breed. Caroline Evans visits a tourist attraction in Pembrokeshire, where the family have increased the number of breeding shires they keep in order to try and sustain the breed. Indeed, on the day Country Focus visits a new arrival has just been born! The Dyfed Shire Horse Farm in Eglwyswrw boasts royal links, providing horses to the Household Cavalry over the years, with Major Apollo, or Ed as he was known on the farm, this year leading the horses in procession for King Charles III's coronation.

With its white berries and rounded drooping leaves, mistletoe is often used in our Christmas decorations - but where do those traditions come from? Caroline Evans visits the mistletoe auctions in Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire and an orchard in Gwent to hear how this distinctive plant is good for wildlife and how it has become steeped in our folklore and festive traditions. And the Country Focus team would like to wish all our listeners a joyous and healthy Christmas!

Spreading out through the heart of Wales, the Cambrian Mountains contain some of our darkest skies. It's a perfect location for stargazers but also for remote rural communities to embrace astro-tourism. Dark Sky Wales run regular astronomy weekends, a chance for guests to come and discover the glories of the night sky. Pauline Smith joins them for an evening of stargazing at the Meddins' family farm near Staylittle, in Montgomeryshire.

Rebranding Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty to National Landscapes to reflect their natural beauty and important role in climate change, conservation and wellbeing.We head to the rocky shores of Anglesey for our bird of the month. The purple sandpiper is a wader that likes our winters!Are you away for Christmas? Who's looking after the hens? We hear from the Cosy Hen Co in Monmouthshire providing Hennels, or hotels for poultry! And earthy paints - we meet an artist from Powys who has taken her love of the natural world and started a business making paint from soil

For many it's the start of the festive season in the agricultural calendar of rural Wales as livestock, producers, exhibitors and vistors all gather at the Royal Welsh showground for this year's.... Winter Fair! Caroline Evans visited the event in Llanelwedd to discover more about the issues facing agriculture and the Welsh food industry.

Ahead of the Royal Welsh Winter Fair we catch up with the Welsh Government's Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths, amid challenging times for the agricultural industry. The restoration of a rare heathland habitat in Hensol Forest, in the Vale of Glamorgan. Sheep farming in Wales as you've never seen it before - "A Hardy Breed: Sheep Farming in Wales" a photography book by Bruce Cardwell And a thoroughbred census to establish what happens to the horses when their racing days are over.

The national call to plant trees to fight climate change requires a good stock supply! This week we're at the largest commercial tree nursery in the UK – selling approximately 35 million trees a year from it's base just outside Wrexham. We've all heard the mantra "the right tree in the right place", well behind that is a lot of research and science. Caroline Evans visits Maelor Forest Nurseries at Bronington, close to the Welsh border, where they are sowing the seeds to success specialising in home grown trees.

At a crossroads - the family farming organically in Pembrokeshire, trying to make sense of the Habitat Wales scheme and uncertainty around future funding. Renowned as the ‘voice of Welsh shearing’ Tom Evans from Beulah, Radnorshire recounts his memories from over nearly 40 years of commentating on Welsh shearing. The community woodland in Knighton encouraging more people to visit and get involved with the conservation. Our bird of the month is the somewhat elusive Woodcock. And Sycharth Castle - we go in search of ancestral home of Owain Glyndwr but would a little signage help?

From falcons and hawks to eagles and owls - Falconry Experience Wales is home to around 30 different birds of prey. It's a popular Powys wildlife tourist attraction but for owners Barry MacDonald and Luce Green their endeavours are with the conservation work and raising public awareness of the plight of raptors in the UK and abroad.

Plastic plates, cutlery, polystyrene takeaway food containers... just some of the items newly banned from being sold across Wales. Welcome news perhaps for Yr Wyddfa's ambition to be the world's first plastic-free mountain? We hear graziers concerns about the future of farming on the tops of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. Why there are fears that the habitat Wales scheme could lead to a significant contraction in organic farming. And for this November's bird of the month we're off to Pembrokeshire to hear about one our fastest declining native resident birds, that nevertheless seem to love our wet, damp, woodlands!

The Wales Real Food and Farming Conference that gets underway this week at Llysfasi in Ruthin - sure to cause a buzz is a discussion on the Welsh Dark Honeybee and its role in sustainable food production. We hear how the historic ban on use of snares and glue traps which came into force this week will be policed in rural Wales. We meet the lichenologist transplanting rare lichen back into the countryside to save some of our most endangered species of the complex lifeform And the observatory in Powys that hopes to spot dangerous, new asteroids - if they fix the telescope!

Thanks to our somewhat damp climate, Wales is home to a staggering 850 different species of Bryophytes, representing three quarters of the total number (which is 1100) found in the UK as a whole. Bryophyte is the collective name for a group of plants that include mosses, liverworts and hornworts. This year the British Bryological Society is celebrates its hundreth birthday and has a variety of activities to mark the centenary, including designing a number of moss trails at Treborth Gardens in Bangor; the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthenshire and also one in Harlech, Gwynedd. It's there Pauline Smith explores the wonderful world of bryology and goes "mossing"!

Applications for the new Habitat Wales Scheme have opened but farmers call for a "funding rethink" and support with their food, farming and the environment ambitions A fourth National Park for Wales? People are being encouraged to have their say on the proposal for one in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley area. Nature loss on a "devastating scale" - the State of Nature report finds of almost 3900 different animals, plants and fungi studied, one in six are at risk of extinction now from Wales. Pondweed - unlocking the ecological secrets of 2 rare aquatic plants on the Montgomery Canal as stretches are dredged to improve water quality. and it's time to get voting for a sweet, Sweet Chestnut in Wrexham!

We're dancing at the edges of Wales this week with a look at nature conservation efforts on the coastal slopes around the country to protect and build healthy resilient ecosystems and communities, for now and future generations. Huw Jenkins takes a waltz around the coast of Wales and hears how conservation organisations have been sharing their knowledge to promote best practice in sustainable coastal fringe management.

Farmers welcome new rules on the movement of TB restricted cattle and we visit a dairy farm in Pembrokeshire that's taking part in a new pilot project finding new ways of tackling the disease. We hear how "leaky dams" on the River Teme to manage the flow of water to prevent floods over in Shropshire can also be beneficial to farmers upstream in Wales. A Radnorshire farmer takes time out from the harvest to highlight the beauty of the mountain blackbird - the Ring Ouzel .....and the orchard trials in Machynlleth to grow to pears for both Perry and eating, with a little help from Willow!

Fed up with high sewerage discharges into their local river the Garw WI organise a walk to show their disgust! We speak to Dwr Cymru Welsh Water about the sewage being dumped in the River Garw. Green prescribing - could it save the NHS millions of pounds? The Wildlife Trusts certainly think so - we join a guided walk with Gwent Wildlife Trust and ask a GP if they would prescribe a dose of nature?! This year marks the 70th anniversary of the iconic fashion brand - Laura Ashley. Her designs travelled the world, but many were created in rural mid-Wales.

How bird flu is decimating Wales' gannet population on Grassholm island off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Calls for tougher penalties for dog owners after 46 ewes in a "horrifying attack" on a farm near Wrexham Could you have the next Japanese Knotweed or Himalayan Balsam growing in your garden? We speak to a PhD student about his work identifying ornamental garden plants with an invasive potential. We meet the former Red Arrows engineer in his first year as warden for Flat Holm island, off the coast of Cardiff. And we meet the two musicians finding new ways of connecting post covid and promoting their album as they walk the Wales Coast Path

Shearing season is upon us but with the price of wool in decline in recent years, the challenge is to find a sustainable use for this natural product. This week, on Country Focus look at Gwnaed a Gwlan - the Made with Wool project, which is finding innovative ways of using Welsh wool and discovering it's potential to revitalise the rural economy. It all starts with the raw product and Caroline Evans first meets with the Williams family at Parlla Isaf Farm in Rhoslefain, in Gwynedd. From there it's on to the Wool Testing Authority in Caernarfon, which is offering farmers the chance to get their wool tested and the potential it has. Finally we discover some of the innovative uses being developed at Bangor University BioComposites Centre. Menter Môn is calling on farmers to get involved!

Set in the very heart of Wales, Rhayader was once a stop off for drover's on their way from Aberystwyth to London. Today, it acts as a busy crossroad between east and west , the north and south - but given it's scenic location at one end of the Elan Valley and set in the Cambrian mountains, could this historic market town be the Outdoors Capital of Wales? Caroline Evans visits the town and hears how the community is boldly and proudly rebranding Rhayader as a flourishing and unique place to live, to do business and to visit.

The Penllyn Estate near Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan is home to a diverse range of businesses, but agriculture remains at its core. Farmed by Homfray family since 1846, back in 2020 they were set to welcome their first customers to their new venture - the Forage Farm Shop & Kitchen. Of course, 2020 is the year the Covid pandemic struck but three years on and they've developed from scratch, an award winning business ( in the 2022, the Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards) with local and sustainable produce very much at it's heart.

It once made the finest steel but when Wrexham's Brymbo Steel works closed in 1990 it was a huge blow to the local community but now the historic industrial site is being turned into a remarkable heritage attraction. Sarah Easedale meets the members and volunteers of the Brymbo Heritage Trust and hears about the community's efforts to preserve and celebrate Brymbo's industrial past, conserve a 300-million-year-old fossil forest and provide an area for events and activities