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Farming Today: 21/06/22 - Farming Rules for Water, legumes for cattle, red clover for sheep

21/06/22 - Farming Rules for Water, legumes for cattle, red clover for sheep

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 21/06/22 - Farming Rules for Water, legumes for cattle, red clover for sheep

The rules on muck spreading change again.

The rules on muck spreading change again - but will the Environment Agency enforce them?

Since last Autumn, there’s been confusion about the rules governing muck spreading - outlining when and how much farmers can spread on their land. In March, DEFRA released new guidance, allowing autumn spreading, and also allowing farmers to spread more muck than their soil or crop required. The Salmon and Trout Conservation group believed the guidance given to the Environment Agency was essentially encouraging farmers to break the law. It threatened to take DEFRA to judicial review. Now, the government has altered its guidance. The National Farmers Union says it’s “disappointed", saying the changes "seemingly prevent some farmers applying organic manures to certain fields.”

Red clover is a legume, which fixes nitrogen in the soil. Its flowers attract bees and its leafy growth provides calcium and protein-rich grazing, but fifty years ago research suggested the legume could reduce fertility in sheep. Now, a group of farmers in the Midlands and Wales have been testing these findings. The field trials are being run by the “Innovative Farmers” - a group that links up farmers with scientists - and the agricultural consultancy, ADAS. The conclusion is that the original findings were wrong and red clover can actually improve fertility rates. 

And a significant part of livestock feed is made of plant-based protein and while feed costs are rising sharply for farmers, a Welsh government funded scheme has been getting more farmers to grow their own cattle-feed ingredients - and that means growing pulses in their fields. We visit one of the farmers who has taken up the challenge.

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

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21/06/22 - Farming Rules for Water, legumes for cattle, red clover for sheep

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