Farming Today

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Farming Today: 08/05/24 - Coast path, carbon sequestration and selling fruit direct

08/05/24 - Coast path, carbon sequestration and selling fruit direct

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 08/05/24 - Coast path, carbon sequestration and selling fruit direct

Walkers protest on the Isle of Wight over a coast path that doesn't follow the coastline.

Walkers protest on the Isle of Wight that a coastal path on land given to the country by the Royal Family is being closed off to them.

The King Charles III England Coast Path was named to celebrate the coronation last year - and the plan was to make 2,700 miles of coastal path available to walkers. But, on the Isle of Wight, the Ramblers Association says some landowners won't allow access for the path, so it will have to detour away from the coast. One of those is the Osbourne House Estate - the former home of Queen Victoria, which was given to the nation in 1902.

A bio-tech company has developed a new technique to enhance carbon capture in the soil. Crushed basalt rock can added to soil to capture carbon in a process called "enhanced rock weathering". Now, FabricNano has developed a protein powder made of enzymes which are already found naturally in the soil, which speeds it up. 

And for farmers struggling with low prices, selling produce direct to the consumer can be a solution. But platforms to access markets large enough to sell entire crops, have been thin on the ground. We hear from farmers in Southern Spain who are now selling hundreds of tonnes of their fruit directly to consumers across Europe every year through a website called Crowdfarming.

Presented by Anna Hill
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

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