Ed persuades Oliver to keep dairy open and take a back seat. The digester’s to grow a little; Ambridge needs telling.

Radio Times: David suffers from foot in mouth.

Characters: Adam, Annabelle, David, Ed, Matt, Oliver, Ruth

• Ruth and David give their commiserations to Ed about Oliver closing the dairy. Their attempts to backpedal fail when they admit the ‘rumour’ came from Mike.
• A piqued Ed confronts Oliver who explains he’s just too old to take the T. B. strain. But the dairy’s profitable despite the T. B. says Ed and persuades Oliver that he and milkman Mike should run things instead. Oliver’s pleased not to have to close; the pair have 12 months.
• The digester quorum assembles. Annabelle and Matt start with what Ruth, David, and Adam already know; maize prices rising over the last year mean the figures don’t work. The duo’s proposed path is to break the ‘no food waste’ promise to the village and make the digester a ‘little’ bigger.
• The other three agree if a new meeting is held to tell the village. Annabelle trumps a reluctant Matt by agreeing. She later tells him it’ll shut up the village and keep David and Ruth onboard so Brian will lease the land. Matt wonders if it’s worth it. Adam observes that Annabelle has Matt under control to David and Ruth.