Farming Today

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Farming Today: 04/12/20 - The opportunities of Brexit, export of pigs for breeding, avian flu and barn owls

04/12/20 - The opportunities of Brexit, export of pigs for breeding, avian flu and barn owls

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 04/12/20 - The opportunities of Brexit, export of pigs for breeding, avian flu and barn owls

Brexit is throwing up a lot of challenges for farming, but there could also be new opportunities.

After a week of focusing on the immediate impact of Brexit on food and farming, we look at the long term vision - what opportunities will arise in the future? 

There's good news for organic farmers as the European Commission has confirmed recognition for the UK’s organic certification bodies will continue for 12 months after the end of the transition period. Without it farmers in effect faced a ban on exporting organic produce to the EU. It isn’t the full mutual equivalence the UK has been pushing for but  one of the bodies, the Soil Association described the announcement as ‘a huge relief’. 

Pig farmers are warning that trade in breeding stock with Europe will come to a halt on the first of January. Around 11,000 breeding pigs have been exported from the UK to EU countries this year, but the National Pig Association says for that to continue after Brexit, ports need to have border control posts where the pigs can be inspected - but no seaports in France, Belgium or the Netherlands have set one up.

Chickens and other poultry will have to be kept inside from 14th December. The Chief Vets from England, Scotland and Wales are bringing in the new rule following more cases of avian flu. The regulation will cover anyone who keeps birds - from a few chickens in the garden to large free range flocks - and will mean all birds have to be inside or appropriate steps taken to keep them separate from wild birds to protect them from infection. 

And we visit a Victorian barn in Dorset which is being lovingly restored with special holes in the roof for barn owls! 

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

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Farming Today

04/12/20 - The opportunities of Brexit, export of pigs for breeding, avian flu and barn owls

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