Farming Today

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Magazines & Reviews

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

The latest news about food, farming and the countryside

BBC Radio 4 FM

Farming Today: 07/11/23 Raptor persecution, research in bird flu, high iron pea shoots

07/11/23 Raptor persecution, research in bird flu, high iron pea shoots

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 07/11/23 Raptor persecution, research in bird flu, high iron pea shoots

Police are afraid to investigate wild bird crimes for fear of being caught in the middle.

Culture wars in the countryside: how police are afraid to investigate wild bird crimes for fear of being caught in the middle.

Wildlife police officers are sometimes choosing not to investigate suspected bird of prey crimes because of a fear of complaints and online abuse.  That's according to Chief Inspector Kevin Kell, head of the UK's National Wildlife Crime Unit. The issue of tackling crimes against birds of prey can get tied up with the debate around legal game shooting, and Chief Inspector Kelly says the animosity surrounding the debate, puts some officers off getting involved.

All week we're taking stock of avian flu. Since 2021 the disease has hit wild and farmed birds very hard and it's still at large.  The situation so far this year is better than last year, and research carried out by a consortium of British universities and the Animal and Plant Health Agency under the FluMap Project, revealed that the virus doesn't spread between poultry farms in the air, and that spread from farm to farm has been very rare.  We ask Professor Ian Brown, Scientific Services Director at the APHA, what the group is looking at next.

Scientists are developing peas which will be at least ten times higher in iron, so vegetarian and vegan consumers can increase the iron in their diets, without eating meat. 
 The research was started more than 30 years ago, but with the sequencing of the pea genome in 2019 and the arrival of gene editing, scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have been able to find out how to make peas more iron-rich without damaging the plant itself.

Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Farming Today

07/11/23 Raptor persecution, research in bird flu, high iron pea shoots

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4