Farming Today This Week

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Farming Today: 21/05/22 - Farming Today This Week: The vet shortage, dead shellfish, biodiversity and county shows.

21/05/22 - Farming Today This Week: The vet shortage, dead shellfish, biodiversity and county shows.

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 21/05/22 - Farming Today This Week: The vet shortage, dead shellfish, biodiversity and county shows.

There is a shortage of vets in the UK - what's the problem, and how do you fix it?

Charlotte Smith presents a round of the week's rural news.

There is a shortage of vets in the UK - a situation exacerbated by COVID, Brexit, and the increased workload caused by new paperwork and a surge in pet ownership. The UK's veterinary workforce is currently heavily reliant on vets from the EU - but data from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons show the annual number of registrants from the EU coming to work in the UK fell by 68% from over a thousand in 2019... to just 364 in 2021. 

Fishing boats have led a protest off England’s NE coast saying not enough is being done to help them – it’s the latest in the long running dispute over thousands of unexplained shellfish deaths in the area. As we reported - after crabs and lobsters began washing up along the Yorkshire coast last Autumn, Defra and the Environment Agency investigated and blamed an algal bloom. Fishermen disagree saying that the dumping of  contaminated sediment is a more likely cause. 

And it’s very rare  that a foreign species is introduced into the UK to fight off another which has taken hold. But after a decade of research, the Government’s decided it’s safe to release South American Weevils to chomp through the serious invasion of the floating pennywort plant, which is clogging up some of Britain’s waterways. 

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio Wales and West of England by Heather Simons

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this programme, there are details of organisations that offer advice and support at BBC Action Line:

Emotional Distress / Suicide
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/emotional-distress-information-and-support

Mental Health in the Farming Community
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/489tVhcXfvd98RmcH5CBmdj/information-and-support-mental-health-in-the-farming-community

Mental Health
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1NGvFrTqWChr03LrYlw2Hkk/information-and-support-mental-health-self-harm

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