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11/09/23 Farming Today This Week: Sugar row, Horticulture report; Methane from livestock; Bird flu; Water management.

Sugar goes sour in negotiations about prices. Report says future for growers is bleak. Methane and livestock. Bird flu prevention. Water management.

The Government has intervened in an increasingly furious row between British Sugar and the National Farmers' Union over the price farmers will be paid for sugar beet next year.

The future for fruit and veg growers is bleak, according to a report from the House of Lords Horticulture Committee. It calls on the Government to 'safeguard the sector.' and warns that British growers are being squeezed out by cheaper imports and that horticulture, worth Β£5 billion a year to the British economy, is underappreciated by policymakers.

Agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon-dioxide-versus-methane debate.

All week we've been looking at the impact of bird flu. It continues to spread across the world, killing both wild birds and farmed poultry. It's been reported in more than 80 countries now. Bio-security on farms is tight, we visit a free-range egg producer to see the lengths poultry keepers are going to, to protect their birds from the virus.

It's been a challenging few weeks for farmers with Storm Babet and Storm CiarΓ΅n bringing exceptional amounts of rainfall to different parts of the UK. The flooding has washed away newly sown crops, and the soil they were in. Farmers are having to decide whether to replant or not. With volatile weather events happening more regularly, do we need to think differently about how land is managed in flood-prone areas?

Presenter = Caz Graham
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

25 minutes

Broadcast

  • Sat 11 Nov 2023 06:30

Podcast