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Farming Today: 12/05/2014

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12/05/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 12/05/2014

British strawberries this summer are set to be sweet as they bask in the early sunshine.

British strawberries will be sweeter this summer as they bask in early sunshine. And why a virus causing havoc for the American pig industry is boosting the European pig market.

The spread of a devastating pig disease in America is boosting exports from Europe. Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea (PED) virus has killed millions of piglets on thousands of US farms over the past year and has had an impact on their pig production. All of this week Farming Today will look at how the British pig industry is fairing in light of such diseases and what biosecurity measures are in place to protect it.

With the strawberry season starting around three weeks earlier than last year in many parts of the country, there are predictions that it will be a bumper crop. British Summer Fruits say the early sunshine means strawberries are producing increased levels of sugar and therefore making them taste sweeter. Lucy Bickerton has been testing the sugar levels of strawberries at Nynehead Fruit in Somerset.

And farmers are appealing for more help from hauliers to transport donated fodder to those affected by the floods on the Somerset Levels. 

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Lucy Bickerton.

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12/05/2014

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