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Farming Today: Beef prices; Salad crop; Artificial insemination

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21/05/2014

Beef prices; Salad crop; Artificial insemination

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Beef prices; Salad crop; Artificial insemination

With a fall in farmgate beef prices, is it down to the farmer to become more efficient?

With a fall in farmgate beef prices, do farmers need to become more efficient? And Anna Hill meets a sheep farmer using artificial insemination to improve commercial flocks.

The price farmers are paid for beef has fallen with average prices down around 13% from this time last year. Farming Today explores the complex reasoning behind this drop in price. British retailers say some beef farmers need to become more efficient and the supply chain needs to work together, however farmers argue they've already had to become more efficient in order to survive.

The Lea Valley, north of London, was once home to the highest concentration of glasshouses in the country and helped feed London during the two world wars. However, the area has experienced an 80% drop in growing space since the 1960's. This week, after a 3 year planning battle, Valley Grown Nurseries has received permission to build 21 acres of glasshouses to grow tomatoes and peppers. This is thought to be the largest expansion in the Lea Valley for more than 50 years.

And as Farming Today continues to look at livestock breeding Anna Hill meets a sheep farmer using artificial insemination to get his ewes into lamb.

Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Lucy Bickerton.

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