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Farming Today: 13/09/19 Salmon farming, ash dieback, election and environment

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13/09/19 Salmon farming, ash dieback, election and environment

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 13/09/19 Salmon farming, ash dieback, election and environment

Can salmon farming be sustainable? Ash trees resistant to disease. The environmental vote.

Salmon farming at sea, but one marine biologist says the only sustainable way to farm salmon is to bring it on shore.
Trees develop resistance to ash die-back. 
The "green" vote.

All week we're looking at farming the sea. Salmon is the UK's biggest aquaculture industry, and the biggest company operating in Scottish waters is Mowi, formerly known  as Marine Harvest. Nancy Nicolson visits one of their salmon farms off The Isle of Rum. 
The industry may be providing affordable fish for consumers but it is coming under increasing fire for the impact it is having on the marine environment,  its use of chemicals to control parasites and disease, and its impact on wild salmon stocks.  
The Scottish Parliament's environment, climate change and land use committee  said in a recent report on the industry, that the status quo was "not acceptable" and made 65 recommendations for improvement, including a call for the sector to explore offshore sites in deeper waters .  
We speak to marine biologist, Dr Sally Campbell who says salmon farming is damaging the sea with its waste. 

New research has found European Ash is more resistant than thought to a dangerous beetle -  the Emerald Ash Borer - which has devastated trees throughout North America.  Trees in the UK are already being killed by the fungus-borne ash dieback, but some trees are showing a natural resistance. Professor James Brown from the John Innes Centre in Norwich says if trees are resistant to ash dieback, they're better able to resist the beetle.

Continuing our election coverage we look at environmental issues and farming. We ask voters at a wildlife reserve on the North Norfolk Coast what pledges they want to hear.

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13/09/19 Salmon farming, ash dieback, election and environment

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