Farming Today

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Farming Today: 21/02/20 - Natural flood management, tree planting, crab processing, salmon stocks

21/02/20 - Natural flood management, tree planting, crab processing, salmon stocks

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 21/02/20 - Natural flood management, tree planting, crab processing, salmon stocks

Could farmers be part of the solution to flooding?

At a time when so many farmers are battling the flood waters, we ask whether natural flood management schemes could be part of the solution.

After this week's unprecedented flooding in South Wales and the West Midlands, some parts of Cumbria have had more than a month's rain in the last 24 hours so it's a tense time for some riverside communities. The Eden Rivers Trust, in Cumbria, is working with farmers to try and 'slow the flow', keeping water in the hills for longer so that it doesn't flood villages downstream or the city of Carlisle. Whole catchment, or 'natural' flood management is increasingly seen as an important piece in the jigsaw of measures that can prevent homes and businesses from flooding. Caz Graham visits one of the farms involved.

Nestle, the multi-national food and drink company, has described as a 'mistake' the planting of trees on some wildflower rich grassland on a dairy farm in Cumbria. The company says tree planting is part of a programme it runs with its milk supplier, First Milk, to help its farmers build up their climate change resilience and reduce carbon emissions. But after an outcry on social media about this particular site, Nestle has said it is working to restore the meadow. So as farmers are under increasing pressure to plant more trees, we ask how they should work out where to put them.

Our focus on fishing continues with a trip to South Devon where locally-caught crab are cooked and prepared for an international market by the Blue Sea Food Company. 

And where have all the wild Atlantic Salmon gone? The population has been declining for decades and now some scientists say they could be extinct in just 20 years.

Presented by Caz Graham
Produced by Heather Simons

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Farming Today

21/02/20 - Natural flood management, tree planting, crab processing, salmon stocks

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