Secrets Beneath the Soil

Available for over a year

Can the history of a field affect the crops that grow in it today? The answer is yes. In this programme, the historian, Dr Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, visits a farm in Oxfordshire looking for secrets buried beneath the soil. She speaks to archaeologists and farmers about the impact historical human activity can have on today's crops; from raised phosphate levels on the site of a Roman villa, to increased lead along an old track. She leans how the past can be used to inform the future of farming. Producer: Heather Simons