Farming Today

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Farming Today: 11/12/23 Sugar row; Minecraft and conservation; Rare breeds.

11/12/23 Sugar row; Minecraft and conservation; Rare breeds.

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 11/12/23 Sugar row; Minecraft and conservation; Rare breeds.

Sugar talks break down; Minecraft and conservation; Rare breeds and their future.

Sugar row continues. Learning about conservation through video games. Rare breeds.

British Sugar says it may put negotiations over the price it'll pay farmers next year into arbitration. The NFU says the costs of that would outstrip the cost of the issues they can't agree on.  There has been a long running row over prices for sugar beet next year. Talks broke down in the autumn and then British Sugar wrote directly to growers with an offer that hadn't been agreed by the NFU. The main issue causing the problem at the moment, is the futures price - while most sugar beet is sold on fixed price annual contracts, a small amount is sold on a futures contract and the two side can't agree on the details 

How do you get youngsters interested in conservation?  The property owner the Crown Estate, thinks one way is video games.  It has teamed up with Microsoft to make a version of Minecraft - a game of virtual worlds - based on Windsor Great Park.  

All week we're looking at rare breeds. It's 50 years since the Rare Breeds Survival Trust was set up, when traditional breeds of farm animal were being ousted by European or new commercial breeds. Things are looking much brighter for native varieties, but while their popularity has grown, there are concerns about the availability of local abattoirs and hopes that native breeds will attract payments in England's Environmental Land Management Schemes, and their counterparts being developed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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11/12/23 Sugar row; Minecraft and conservation; Rare breeds.

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