Farming Today

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Farming Today: 17/11/21 - Pork staff shortages, lighting for fish, organic chicken and the CPTPP

US secretary of agriculture, EFRA Committee reports, haricot beans

17/11/21 - Pork staff shortages, lighting for fish, organic chicken and the CPTPP

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 17/11/21 - Pork staff shortages, lighting for fish, organic chicken and the CPTPP

Anna Hill finds out how switching the lights off could make farmed fish healthier.

New research suggests keeping young farmed fish under 24-hour lighting can disrupt their immune systems and make them more susceptible to parasites.

The DEFRA Secretary, George Eustice, has faced questions from MPs about the staff shortages in the pork supply chain. He says there’s only so much Government can do to help processors find staff, and businesses must "take some responsibility" for getting the staff they need. 

Young farmed fish like salmon and trout are often kept under 24 hour lights to make them grow faster. But new research by Bangor, Aberystwyth and Cardiff Universities suggests keeping young fish, known as fingerlings, under constant artificial light, can disrupt their immune systems and make them more susceptible to parasites. 

Food prices have been rising and now free-range egg producers are calling for a price hike to help cover the increased cost of inputs like feed, energy, and labour. This week, we’re focusing on chickens, and it seems those producing chickens for meat are also feeling the squeeze of escalating input costs. We visit Capestone Organic Poultry in Pembrokeshire - one of the largest producers of organic chicken in the UK, processing 30,000 birds a week.

The Government’s been busy setting up several trade deals over the last year, not without some misgivings from the farming community. It’s now set out how it is going to approach joining one of the big trading groups in the world, the CPTPP - the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership made up of 11 countries including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia and Mexico. Unlike other agreements, the UK will be joining a trading arrangement which has already been set up by other countries, so will it have less say on any arrangements?

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Heather Simons

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