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Farming Today: Halal and stunning livestock; Green Party vision for farming post-Brexit; Business Rates

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23/02/2017

Halal and stunning livestock; Green Party vision for farming post-Brexit; Business Rates

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Halal and stunning livestock; Green Party vision for farming post-Brexit; Business Rates

Charlotte Smith asks whether the killing of animals without stunning can be humane.

Charlotte Smith asks whether the killing of animals without stunning can be humane. Plus, the government's plans for rural Britain after Brexit and changes to business rates.s.

Can the killing of animals without stunning be humane? All this week on Farming Today we've been talking about animal welfare in farming. On Tuesday we visited Scotland's biggest abattoir to find out if animals suffer at the point of death. There, as is standard practice across the UK, animals are stunned before slaughter. But some religious groups don't allow that: for some strict Jews or Muslims animals must be killed without stunning. Sally Challoner hears about the strict Kosher and Halal rules that require the animal to be alive at the moment of death, and how stunning can stop the heart, particularly with the equipment used on larger animals like cattle.

So far we haven't heard much detail on the government plans for rural Britain post-Brexit. Although we understand that 25 year plans for both the environment and food and farming have been written and are ready to be launched DEFRA hasn't yet released them. Into the void steps the Green Party which has commissioned two reports and come up with 'radical plans' to shape the future of farming: scrapping direct payments based on land, paying farmers for safeguarding or improving the environment and introducing VAT on meat. Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South-West of England, tells Charlotte Smith why payments need to be for the good of all.

Rural businesses in England are readying themselves for what's being described as "the largest changes to business rates in a generation" As you're probably aware businesses across the country are up in arms about this, as it's the first rise in seven years and so in many places will be quite a jump. Beccy Barr reports.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Mark Smalley.

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