are you absolutely sure that it was the EU and not further afield and she went away again and then came back and admitted the chicken had come from Thailand." Later in the programme they went into some guy's house in Birmingham to rummage through his bins looking for any discarded 'ugly' vegetables in the hope of giving him a dressing down, but he turned out to be a model of recycling, someone who "does a roast and then the next day makes sandwiches and then a stock from the carcass" so they left him in peace. "Tomorrow we find out how frozen chicken can be labelled fresh as long as its been defrosted! You couldn't make it up!" marvelled presenter Charlotte Smith on Tuesday. There's nothing the show loves more than taking on the agents of waste, the haters of the wild. Either you're for life or against it. Period.

Very short shrift is given to people in authority, including lazy-arsed academics

(7) More than any other programme on Radio 4, FT's stories are entirely gleaned from its listeners, ie farmers, their neighbours, local rustic insomniacs, so it really is like a missive from the front. The show's following is particularly passionate, the emails firing in thick and fast, frequently disdainful and violently grievous ("Bernie in Bromley says 'tell Mr McLoud in Devon to buy some British chicken and a jar of one of the excellent curry sauces available and make his own'…")

(8) It can be slyly critical, adding up to an unbeatable portrait of the ploddingness of power. The other week they went to Borough market to listen to Michael Jack, chairman of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee giving a speech. "Welcome this morning to the board room of Borough market. From where I am sitting there is a notice on the wall that reminds me that this is an ancient market that…" and they just faded him out to a low drone ("Borough is a very expensive place to buy food," sniffed Charlotte). As a rule, on FT, very short shrift is given to people in authority, including lazy-arsed academics. "What we're trying to do is build a geographical dimension into the definition of endangerment which has been focused on the numerical levels of particular animals…" started a lecturer from the University of Worcester last week, and they faded him out too.

Every other show seems lank and unloveable, the equivalent of greasy hair

(9) Their roving reporter is actually called Sarah Swaddling.

(10) Once you really get into it, there's no going back. Now every other show seems so lank and unloveable, the aural equivalent of greasy hair. I demand radio that advises on how to increase my output of barley! I demand radio that devotes itself as much to the activities of the spirit as the hands. So, now I'm a devoted listener to On Your Farm too, which goes out at dawn on Sundays (how much are you envying my boyfriend right now, people?)