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On Your Farm

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Getting to the heart of country life with a look at individual farming endeavours

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On Your Farm: 01/01/2012

01/01/2012

BBC Radio 4 - On Your Farm, 01/01/2012

Anna Hill visits a farm converting to organic at a time when the UK market is shrinking.

Anna Hill takes a tour of a farm in the process of converting to organic. Although the UK organic market is in decline, the farmer is convinced that all his work will pay off.

Two years ago former professional golfer Paul Dobson bought a farm in East Sussex to fulfil his lifelong dream of becoming an organic farmer. There are around 3000 organic farms in the UK, and to join their ranks Paul will spend at least 2 years converting his farm. But, as government figures suggest consumer demand for organic food is at its lowest since 2005 Anna Hill asks Paul if this is really the best time to go organic? 

Paul's farm is a conventional 240 acre livestock farm and he is working on converting the land to organic for his 350 sheep and his veggies and crops. On a cold winter morning, Anna Hill visits him in the fields alongside Sarah Hathway, an Inspector from the Soil Association, which monitors organic farms to ensure they meet the required standard. During her visit Sarah and Paul explain how the land and the animals that graze on it, now have to be managed differently. 

Presented by Anna Hill and produced in Birmingham by Angela Frain.

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