Farming Today

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Farming Today: 12/01/24 Footpaths; Soy in animal feed; Three generations of female farmers.

12/01/24 Footpaths; Soy in animal feed; Three generations of female farmers.

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 12/01/24 Footpaths; Soy in animal feed; Three generations of female farmers.

Footpaths neglected in thousands of places; alternatives to soy; female farming family.

BBC investigation reveals footpaths neglected and blocked in more than 30,000 places. Alternatives to soy in animal feed. Three generations of a female farming family.

Walkers in England and Wales are being blocked or obstructed in nearly 32,000 places - and face what access campaigners call 'a shocking and growing abuse and neglect of footpaths'. A BBC investigation found that councils which have responsibility for footpaths had 4,000 more access issues last year than the year before. Councils say 'funding constraints' limit what they can do and the government says funding for local government has increased by 6.5% year on year and that local authorities are best placed to decide how that money is spent. The Ramblers say they're shocked at the number of obstructions and The Open Spaces Society says pleading austerity isn't good enough.

All this week we've been looking at animal feed. Soya is a high protein and relatively cheap ingredient in many feeds but it can come from areas where forests have been cut down to make room to grow it. We visit a feed supplier in Aberdeen which produces an alternative using oil seed rape, and we speak to an academic who's been working on a project to improve the traceability of soya.

Anna Hill meets three women from three different generations, working together to produce organic beef on a small farm in Suffolk. She hears how two of them are first-time farmers, brought into agriculture by circumstance. The farm manger, a single mother, used to work in a concrete factory, but took a job on the farm to make ends meet when she was out of work. She later recruited her niece. Meanwhile the farm owner, now in her 80s, still does the paperwork, pays the bills and runs the business. It's a tale of co-operation, compassionate animal welfare, and faith in the strength of women to get the job done.


Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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12/01/24 Footpaths; Soy in animal feed; Three generations of female farmers.

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