Farming Today

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Farming Today: 26/01/2024 Sustainable beef premium; Four Nations farm policy; Family farms

26/01/2024 Sustainable beef premium; Four Nations farm policy; Family farms

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 26/01/2024 Sustainable beef premium; Four Nations farm policy; Family farms

Supermarket offers a sustainability premium to beef farmers who reduce their emissions.

The Co-op has launched a new scheme to reward beef producers who cut their emissions by paying an annual sustainability premium.

The Co-op is launching a new scheme to encourage its beef producers to cut emissions. The Beef Sustainability Pilot, which will run for two years, will pay farmers who reduce the carbon footprint of the beef they rear. It'll initially cover up to10% of the beef supplied and could mean an extra payment to farmers of  between 6 and 12p per kilo. The supermarket says the data will form part of its plans to be net zero by 2040.

Since we left the EU, different agricultural policies are being developed and introduced at different speeds in all four nations of the UK. They are all, in their own ways, shifting towards rewarding farmers for benefiting the environment, rather than the old EU system which largely paid farmers based on the amount of land they farmed. We speak to four farmers from around the UK who are all part of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, a group "working to mainstream nature-friendly farming as the most sustainable way of producing food" to hear their views on the current policy landscape, and whether they're able to have an influence on the new schemes.  

All week we've been talking about family farms - the joys and the challenges of running a business with your closest relatives. For the younger generation taking over the business can be tricky, doubly so when it happens suddenly and unexpectedly, which is what happened to the Pollock family who farm in Fife. Claire Pollock now runs the farm while her mum and sister run the on site farm shop. 

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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26/01/2024 Sustainable beef premium; Four Nations farm policy; Family farms

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