Farming Today This Week

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Farming Today: 17/12/2022 Farming Today This Week; Visas for seasonal labour; Glyphosate; Cheese.

17/12/2022 Farming Today This Week; Visas for seasonal labour; Glyphosate; Cheese.

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 17/12/2022 Farming Today This Week; Visas for seasonal labour; Glyphosate; Cheese.

45,000 visas for seasonal workers; Plans to ban Glyphosate on Guernsey; cheese industry.

Government makes 45,000 visas available for seasonal workers. Guernsey plans to ban glyphosate. Cheese:  exports, the environment and cheese makers great and small

45,000 visas will be made available for seasonal agricultural workers to come to the UK next year - that’s 5,000 more than this year, but short of the 55,000 the National Farmers Union says are needed.  The visas allow people to come to the UK for six months  and the government says the number will be kept under review with the possibility of a further 10,000 visas if necessary. 

The Government has announced what it describes as an ambitious suite of environmental targets.  Under the Environment Act they should have been announced by the end of October. The coalition group Wildlife and Countryside link, which represents more than 60 organisations, has welcomed the announcement, but says that without targets for protected spaces and overall water quality ‘it's a job half done’.

Guernsey could become the first part of the British Isles to ban farmers using the herbicide glyphosate. The plan to completely ban the product from the island is facing  opposition from some politicians and farmers. However Bayer, the company which makes glyphosate, says it fully stands behind its glyphosate-based products which, it says, pose no hazard to health and are one of the most thoroughly studied products of their kind. 

Nearly a third of all the milk produced in the UK goes in to making cheese and according to the latest figures from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), so far this year, we have imported £1.3 billion  worth of cheese but we've also exported more than half a billion pounds worth. We talk about cheese makers great and small, from big dairies which export around the world, to small artisan producers who've overcome adversity to win medals for their cheese.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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17/12/2022 Farming Today This Week; Visas for seasonal labour; Glyphosate; Cheese.

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