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It's one of the biggest debates in farming - is big bad? A new book due to be published at the end of this month says it is. 'Farmageddon' claims large-scale, intensive farms across the world are monocultures devoid of wildlife and that farm animals are disappearing from fields and into industrial-sized barns. But is it that simple? Anna Hill chats to its author Philip Lymbery - who is also chief executive of Compassion in World Farming - and David Alvis, a published Nuffield scholar who wrote 'Can Big Be Beautiful?', which looks at the relationship between size and sustainability.

Natural England is asking farmers and landowners to start preparing their applications for badger control licences in 2014. This comes ahead of the Independent Panel of Experts report on the safety, effectiveness and humaneness of the pilot culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset. Defra hasn't confirmed yet if the badger culling policy will be rolled out to other areas of the UK so is Natural England jumping the gun, so to speak? Anna speaks to Matt Heydon, Natural England's principal specialist for species regulation.

Continuing our 'soil week', Anna visits Robert Salmon on his farm in mid-Norfolk. He takes such an interest in keeping his land in 'good heart' that he's actually changed what he grows to protect it.And we hear from the Brassica Growers Association on the day of their biennial conference in Lincolnshire.

Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Anna Jones.