Farming Today This Week

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Farming Today: 28/10/23 Farming Today This Week: Floods, Beavers, Welsh food producers, Bracken, Livestock marts, Food & Farming award winner.

28/10/23 Farming Today This Week: Floods, Beavers, Welsh food producers, Bracken, Livestock marts, Food & Farming award winner.

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 28/10/23 Farming Today This Week: Floods, Beavers, Welsh food producers, Bracken, Livestock marts, Food & Farming award winner.

Flooding, beavers, Welsh food & drink, bracken, livestock marts, farming award winner.

Farmers call for better flood management. Beavers. Welsh food and farming. Controlling bracken. Livestock marts. Winner of BBC Food & Farming award.

As communities across the UK recover after widespread flooding brought by Storm Babet, the National Farmers Union is calling on the government to set up a comprehensive water strategy for England to improve flood resilience. They want more investment to stop crops on fertile farmland being washed away.

Wildlife and conservation groups say the English government's approach to re-introducing native species is 'astonishing' after remarks made by the Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey earlier this week. She told MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee that management plans for species like beavers and eagles, were not a priority for Defra.

Farmers and food producers been showing off their produce at "Taste Wales", a big trade fair in Newport. We caught up with Lesley Griffiths, the Minister for Rural Affairs.

Farmers across the country say they're concerned by the withdrawal of a product used to control bracken. This year Asulox was not approved for use in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and allowed only under emergency authorisation in England. Government rules mean the herbicide would need additional health and safety testing work to be allowed for future use and the company that makes it has decided not to do that. We speak to an expert on bracken.

We visit livestock marts - great and small. Hereford Market is the outskirts of the city and sales have quadrupled since the mart moved to a purpose-built facility 12 years ago. In the Western Isles of Scotland, we visit a livestock mart that only operates a few times a year, but it's a lifeline for crofters.

The Green Farm Collective has been named winner of this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards Farming for the Future category. 

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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28/10/23 Farming Today This Week: Floods, Beavers, Welsh food producers, Bracken, Livestock marts, Food & Farming award winner.

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