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Farming Today: Future farming, rare breeds, Scottish grapes and milk prices

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04/10/2017

Future farming, rare breeds, Scottish grapes and milk prices

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Future farming, rare breeds, Scottish grapes and milk prices

Anna Hill hears how farmers could be paid on how well they protect the countryside.

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside. Anna Hill looks at farm payments after Brexit, saving Britain's rare breeds, an Aberdeenshire vineyard and dairy incomes.

A new way of funding farming could see direct subsidies replaced by payment on the results of environmental schemes. A group of Government advisors has suggested that the success of projects to protect the countryside, improve animal welfare and increase bird or pollinator numbers could be measured to qualify for money from Whitehall. 

The future of iconic livestock breeds such as the Gloucestershire Old Spots pig and the Suffolk Punch horse could be at risk unless drastic action is taken. In an attempt to safeguard them from the threat of dwindling numbers and the possibility of disease, the Rare Breeds Survival Trust has launched the National Livestock Gene Bank. But who should pay for collecting and freezing rare breed genetics?

England's southern counties are traditionally the area where successful vineyards are created. But now one entrepreneur in Aberdeenshire is trying to make wine from hardy Russian grape varieties in the UK's most northerly vineyard. 

As the Dairy Show opens at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Somerset, a survey predicts that dairy farm incomes will increase significantly this financial year, because of "soaring dairy demand and values". 

Presented by Anna Hill.
Produced by Vernon Harwood.

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