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Farming Today: 26/09/19 Deer control; fish stocks; livestock agent; planting trees

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26/09/19 Deer control; fish stocks; livestock agent; planting trees

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 26/09/19 Deer control; fish stocks; livestock agent; planting trees

Deer management programme ending; fish stocks on the move; livestock agent; afforestation.

How will deer population be controlled when the Deer Initiative comes to an end?
Warmer waters make fish stocks move north.
Livestock agent.
Report questions mass afforestation.

The UK deer population's grown and a government-backed scheme has helped to manage wild deer. But after 20 years, the Deer Initiative is closing. Its Defra funding comes to an end next March. Caz Graham reports from an RSPB reserve in Lancashire where managing deer has helped create a better habitat for rare birds.

Fishermen say warmer waters are having a big impact on fish stocks around the British coast. The International Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a report on the warming oceans. And earlier this week, the Marine Stewardship Council declared stocks of North Sea cod were on the verge of collapse and could no longer be certified as sustainable. The new head of the Scottish Fisherman's Federation Elspeth MacDonald says  fish are moving northwards to find colder waters. She says even though much of our cod's imported, it's still an important catch for Scottish fishermen.

A new report questions whether large-scale afforestation is the panacea when it comes to improving environments. Scientists from South Africa and Scotland have been examining the impact of mass tree planting. Dr Caroline Lehman is a botanist from The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and one of the authors. She says not every ecosystem is based on trees, most landscapes are a patchwork of habitats and it's important to value eco-systems like grasslands. The report says planting trees isn't always the right thing to do, and it's key to plant the right trees in the right place. 

As part of our week-long look at livestock markets we meet the livestock agent who enables farmers to sell direct to the abbatoir.

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