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Farming Today: 13/09/2013

13/09/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 13/09/2013

The Seasonal Agricultural Workers scheme is to end; so who replaces them in the fields?

The latest farming news. The government is to end the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme. Charlotte Smith assesses the impact on the UK horticultural industry.

The Government is to end the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme, which allows people from Bulgaria and Romania to work in UK agriculture for six months. The 21,000 people on it account for a third of Britain's seasonal agricultural labour force. Charlotte Smith discusses the impact of losing the scheme on UK horticulture with James Hallett, chief executive of the British Growers Association. He fears it will lead to labour shortages and may, in turn, push up the price of fruit and veg.
One fruit you can still get for free is the wild blackberry and they are growing in abundance on roadsides across Britain. But are they safe to eat? Researchers at Bangor University have been X-raying urban blackberries and comparing them with both rurally grown and shop-bought ones. They found tiny levels of heavy metals such as lead, titanium and palladium but concluded they pose no threat to human health and pedestrians can tuck in with gusto. Anna Jones - a self-confessed berry snob - puts the science to the test by tasting some growing in Bristol City Centre.
And it's cobnut season in Kent - a fresh, green nut resembling a hazelnut. Charlotte explores a 'platt' and finds out why cobnuts were kept in Medieval castles, and eaten with port by the Victorians.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced in Bristol by Anna Jones.

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