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Farming Today: Rural Payments Agency Latest; First Milk Changes; Puppy Farms in Wales

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05/05/2015

Rural Payments Agency Latest; First Milk Changes; Puppy Farms in Wales

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Rural Payments Agency Latest; First Milk Changes; Puppy Farms in Wales

The latest on the Rural Payments Agency, as farmers try applying for EU farm subsidies.

Food, farming and the countryside news, including the latest instalment on the Rural Payments Agency, as farmers try applying for their EU farm subsidies.

We hear the latest instalment in what's becoming the long running saga of farmers attempts to negotiate the subsidy payments system. As reported on Farming Today, the computer based application process in England was replaced by paper forms after major problems with it. The Rural Payments Agency promised that those forms would be with farmers by the end of April. But by the end of last week many farmers were still waiting.

For years Wales has been dubbed the puppy farm capital of the UK by animal lovers who say some breeders have kept dogs in poor conditions and bred dogs with genetic weaknesses for profit.
However, stricter rules for puppy farms have now come into force in Wales, so more people who breed dogs will have to apply for a license. Some welfare charities question how effective this will be. Abigail Neal of BBC Wales tells us why puppy farms have become such an issue, particularly in rural west Wales.

The dairy co-operative First Milk has announced that it is cutting jobs and prices in a plan designed to turn around the struggling business. Rob Harrison, the chairman of the National Farmers Union's Dairy Board gives us his reaction.

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