Farming Today

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Farming Today: 27/02/24 Pollack fishermen criticise government scheme to help. Pollution on the River Wye. Food systems.

27/02/24 Pollack fishermen criticise government scheme to help. Pollution on the River Wye. Food systems.

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 27/02/24 Pollack fishermen criticise government scheme to help. Pollution on the River Wye. Food systems.

Pollack fishermen in Cornwall say government package of help won't save their fishery.

Pollack fishermen in Cornwall are selling their boats after quotas of the species reduced to virtually zero. They say a package of help announced by Defra won't save their livelihoods.

Pollack fishermen are selling their boats after quotas for pollack were cut to zero. Defra says it's to safeguard fish stocks and have announced a £6 million scheme to help. However fishermen and the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation say the government announcements won't make any difference to fishing families who are losing their livelihoods.

All this week we’re talking about rivers. The River Wye has been badly polluted over the years. In 2020 phosphorous pollution from large-scale chicken farms along the Wye was blamed for algal blooms that appeared on the higher reaches of the river. So what’s the situation on the River Wye today? We speak to a campaigner who's striving to protect the waterway and a poultry farmer who's changed the way she farms to help keep the river clean.

Farmers have been protesting, on the Continent and in the UK, at changes to the way they are being encouraged to farm. However one academic is calling for the industry to focus on the positives, and work together to achieve both increased food production and environmental protection. We speak to Jack Bobo, Director of the Food Systems Institute at the University of Nottingham who believes more should be done to encourage farmers to take up the challenge of farming more sustainably - in a way that benefits their business and nature.

Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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27/02/24 Pollack fishermen criticise government scheme to help. Pollution on the River Wye. Food systems.

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