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Farming Today: 21/06/23 Sustainable Farm Incentive; Methane testing and Sheep

21/06/23 Sustainable Farm Incentive; Methane testing and Sheep

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 21/06/23 Sustainable Farm Incentive; Methane testing and Sheep

The long awaited detail of the new 'Sustainable Farming Incentive' is published.

The long awaited detail of the new 'Sustainable Farming Incentive' is published for farmers in England. Plus testing sheep for methane emissions in Scotland.

The Government has today published details of how farmers in England can make their industry more environmentally friendly, and claim taxpayers money for doing so.  On leaving the European Union, a new payment system for farmers was set up called the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMs), it aims to reward farmers for providing "public goods", such as improved soil health, and more wildlife habitats, rather than just for the amount of land they farm. One of the threads of this new system is the Sustainable Farming Incentive; it's the lowest rung of the environmental schemes and the one the government wants the majority of farmers to join. Today after much piloting and preparation the detail is being published in full- with a 150 page handbook being made available to farmers to guide them through their choices. Farm Minister Mark Spencer goes through the details with Anna Hill. 

All this week we're looking into sheep production - today we visit Scotland's Agricultural College to look at a new system for measuring how much methane sheep produce, and find out how that information can be used by farmers and breeders. 

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced in Bristol by Natalie Donovan

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