Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Farming Today

Magazines & Reviews

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

BBC Radio 4 LW

Farming Today: TB testing on dairy farm, Changing legal landscape in farming, Biochar and ash dieback

farming-today_monday_1211_getty.jpg

22/02/2016

TB testing on dairy farm, Changing legal landscape in farming, Biochar and ash dieback

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, TB testing on dairy farm, Changing legal landscape in farming, Biochar and ash dieback

When a negative TB test result opens up some very difficult decisions for a dairy farmer.

Presented by David Gregory-Kumar. A negative TB test result opens up some very difficult decisions for a dairy farmer who has been followed by Farming Today in recent months.

Back in November Farming Today spend a week following a dairy farm near Stroud in Gloucestershire. We heard from Andrew and Hannah Cozens just how hard it is for them to make a living from their herd of 220 cows. The herd was tested for TB in December, which resulted in 5 "inconclusive results" - which meant they had to be re-tested. Emma Cambell goes along to watch the re-test, which opens up some very difficult decisions for the Cozens'.

Ash dieback has infected woodlands, parks and gardens right across the UK since it first arrived here in 2012. If it continues to spread we could lose up to 90% of our 146 million native ash trees. And the worst part is there's no cure. Or is there? We hear how an accidental discovery has led one tree health scientist to believe we may stand a chance of beating ash dieback. And it's all thanks to an ancient product Amazonian tribes used thousands of years ago to fertilise their soils. Anna Jones meets Dr Glynn Percival from Bartlett's Tree Health Research Laboratory based at Reading University. 

The introduction of the National Living Wage for all working people aged 25 and above takes effect from 1st April, when the hourly rate will rise to £7.20. This is a change that is set to have a major impact on farms businesses which are heavily reliant on manual labour such as some vegetable or soft fruit producers.
And this isn't the only upcoming legal change facing the farming and food sectors. First, though: the introduction of the National Living Wage for all working people aged 25 and above takes effect from 1st April.. when the hourly rate will rise to £7.20. This is a change that is set to have a major impact on farms businesses which are heavily reliant on manual labour such as some vegetable or soft fruit producers. Joel Woolf is a solicitor, and head of agriculture at the law firm Foot Anstey. He explains the new legal measures that farmers need to deal with. 

Presented by David Gregory-Kumar and produced by Mark Smalley.

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

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Farming Today

TB testing on dairy farm, Changing legal landscape in farming, Biochar and ash dieback

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4