Farming Today

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Farming Today: 12/03/24 River pollution from poultry farming; Chicken litter used to generate power; Ramadan lamb

12/03/24 River pollution from poultry farming; Chicken litter used to generate power; Ramadan lamb

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 12/03/24 River pollution from poultry farming; Chicken litter used to generate power; Ramadan lamb

Soil Association report calls for a halt to any new intensive broiler farms.

Soil Association report Stop Killing Our Rivers calls for a halt to any new intensive broiler farms. It says the expansion of poultry production is destroying the environment.

The Soil Association, has called for a ban on any new intensive broiler farms being set up in the UK. The organic farming group has published a new report called "Stop Killing Our Rivers" which says it's impossible to manage chicken meat production without harming the environment, especially rivers. The report says the chicken meat sector has been expanding at a rate of one million birds per month, since 2014 and has now reached more than a billion birds per year. 

All week we're looking into the many - often imaginative - ways byproducts and waste from agriculture are turned into something useful. A renewable energy company is using poultry litter to generate electricity at their five power stations in England and Scotland.  We visit their station at Thetford, in the heart of chicken farming in East Anglia where every week 11 thousand tonnes of poultry waste are delivered and used to generate electricity.

Sheep farmers are benefiting from a spike in prices as Ramadan and Easter are both celebrated this month. Both events traditionally look to lamb as their meat of choice on these occasions, farmers, processors and retailers, have all geared up for a busy time. 

Presenter = Anna Hill
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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12/03/24 River pollution from poultry farming; Chicken litter used to generate power; Ramadan lamb

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