20/01/22 - Farmers tackling bathing water pollution, silage wrap tax, gene editing and urban goats
Success for farmers in Scotland who've been trying to reduce pollution at bathing water sites.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has been working closely with farmers for the last 10 years to reduce pollution at bathing sites in Ayrshire - and it seems to be working. We visit one of the farms involved.
For the first time farmers are going to be taxed on the plastic they use to wrap their silage bales in and theyβre not happy. The Plastic Packaging Tax comes into force on the 1st of April - designed to encourage the use of recycled plastic instead of new plastic packaging. But farmers says that silage wrap is a specialist material - strong and stretchy and able to keep out light and water - and canβt currently be replaced with recycled material.
And we hear about βStreet Goatβ - an urban goat-farming cooperative in Bristol, which runs herds for both milking and meat. The goats have another function when it comes to preserving the cityβs wartime heritage.
Presented by Caz Graham
Produced for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons
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- Thu 20 Jan 2022 05:45ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
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Farming Today
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside