麻豆约拍

The badger cull started again in Gloucestershire and Somerset this week. This is Year 2 of a four-year pilot project to reduce badger numbers by 70%. The government's decision to use culling as part of its strategy to tackle the spread of bovine TB is proving as controversial this year as it did in 2013.

In this programme, Charlotte Smith hears the arguments for and against the cull. She speaks to the Farming Minister and to the Badger Trust, which this week won the right to appeal against a High Court judgement that the cull is still legal, despite the removal of the Independent Expert Panel which oversaw it last year. We hear from reporters who have been out in the cull zones at night - with both the marksmen whose job is to find and shoot badgers, and the campaigners whose mission is to stop them.

Farming Today This Week also explores other options for tackling TB, including the vaccination possibilities for both badgers and cattle, and the need for increased biosecurity on farms.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Emma Campbell.