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Farming Today: The price of food, TB testing for goats, knowledge of the countryside.

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31/07/2017

The price of food, TB testing for goats, knowledge of the countryside.

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, The price of food, TB testing for goats, knowledge of the countryside.

When it comes to the price of food, what's the right balance?

When it comes to the price of food - too low for many who produce it, too high for many who consume it - what's the right balance? Farming Today considers the influencing factors.

This week Farming Today is focusing on the price of food: not simply in monetary terms, but also looking at the value and priorities we ascribe to the consumables we buy today. Christopher Ritson is an Emeritus Professor of Agricultural Marketing at the University of Newcastle; he's been speaking to Charlotte Smith about what effects food prices, and how that impacts and influences both producers and consumers.

Bovine TB continues to be a major issue for farmers across the UK, and though we mainly talk about cattle they're not the only livestock susceptible to the disease. Increasingly, species such as alpacas and goats are being TB tested as part of control efforts - and as with cattle, any reactors must be culled as part of disease control measures. Sarah Swadling has been hearing how an irreplaceable herd of Cashmere goats in Devon, owned by Lesley Prior, became caught up in the TB testing system. 

It's National Countryside Week and The Prince's Countryside Fund has released a report on the public's relationship to and knowledge of the countryside - which indicates that for 20% of people, the main source of rural knowledge is TV or radio rather than actually visiting the countryside. Chairman of the Fund, Lord Curry, explains why it's so important to address this disconnect.

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