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Farming Today: Scottish Rural Parliament, Deer, Beef Recovery

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10/11/2014

Scottish Rural Parliament, Deer, Beef Recovery

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Scottish Rural Parliament, Deer, Beef Recovery

Farming Today reports from the first meeting of the Scottish Rural Parliament.

Four hundred people gathered in Oban on Scotland's west coast over the weekend for the inaugural meeting of the Scottish Rural Parliament. How will it help remote communities?

The first meeting of the Scottish Rural Parliament took place in Oban on the country's west coast over the weekend. It has no legislative power, but follows in the footsteps of other European countries such as Sweden and Estonia which have established rural parliaments as a way of airing problems and finding solutions to some of the issues affecting remote areas.

It's been a rollercoaster year for beef producers in the UK. In 2013 prices were high in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, but during 2014 they've dropped significantly. By August this year, farmers were warning that they were losing money on each animal they produced. Charlotte Smith talks to Debbie Butcher from the English Beef and Lamb Executive, who describes a "slow and steady" recovery since then.

All this week Farming Today will be talking about deer, both the farmed and the wild varieties. Sales of venison in the UK have increased by over 400% in just over a year. Ben Jackson reports from Bradgate Park in Leicestershire - a medieval deer park where animals are culled every year and sold for meat.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Emma Campbell.

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