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Farming Today: 20/01/22 - Farmers tackling bathing water pollution, silage wrap tax, gene editing and urban goats

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20/01/22 - Farmers tackling bathing water pollution, silage wrap tax, gene editing and urban goats

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 20/01/22 - Farmers tackling bathing water pollution, silage wrap tax, gene editing and urban goats

How farmers in Scotland are tackling the pollution of bathing water sites.

Success for farmers in Scotland who've been trying to reduce pollution at bathing water sites.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has been working closely with farmers for the last 10 years to reduce pollution at bathing sites in Ayrshire - and it seems to be working. We visit one of the farms involved.

For the first time farmers are going to be taxed on the plastic they use to wrap their silage bales in and they’re not happy. The Plastic Packaging Tax comes into force on the 1st of April - designed to encourage the use of recycled plastic instead of new plastic packaging. But farmers says that silage wrap is a specialist material - strong and stretchy and able to keep out light and water - and can’t currently be replaced with recycled material.

And we hear about ‘Street Goat’ - an urban goat-farming cooperative in Bristol, which runs herds for both milking and meat. The goats have another function when it comes to preserving the city’s wartime heritage.

Presented by Caz Graham
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

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20/01/22 - Farmers tackling bathing water pollution, silage wrap tax, gene editing and urban goats

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