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Farming Today: 18/11/2013

18/11/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 18/11/2013

Charlotte Smith looks at the progress of Defra's plans for biodiversity offsetting.

Farming and countryside news. Charlotte Smith looks at the progress of Defra's biodiversity offsetting pilot schemes, and asks why the project has yet to deliver results.

In April 2012 Defra selected six areas to trial its plans for voluntary biodiversity offsetting - that's compensating for the loss of wildlife habit as a result of building work. When development destroys a natural habitat, developers are asked to stump up the cash for "bigger or better nature sites". The six pilots got underway in April 2012 in Devon, Doncaster, Essex, Greater Norwich, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire, and will come to an end in April next year. The problem is they haven't actually piloted anything yet. Although there are some plans in the pipeline, nothing's happening on the ground. Heidi Thompson, from the Greater Norwich pilot, tells Charlotte the scheme's been a "resounding failure".

When the EU reached an agreement to end fish discards earlier this year, the move was widely welcomed. But new research shows that just ending discards alone may not be enough to keep fish stocks sustainable. We hear from Professor Alistair Grant, who supervised the work by the University of East Anglia.

And kicking off a week about CAP reform, Charlotte discusses the ins and outs of the Common Agricultural Policy with the Farmers Guardian political editor, Alistair Driver.

Presented by Charlotte Smith produced in Bristol by Anna Jones.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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