20/05/20 - Institutional land ownership, county farms, EFRA committee on food supply and antibiotics for mastitis

Farming Today

• Episode: 20/05/20 - Institutional land ownership, county farms, EFRA committee on food supply and antibiotics for mastitis
• Website: Farming Today
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:13:35
• Published: 2020-05-20 07:00

Millions of hectares across the UK are owned by institutions and investment funds who need to make a return for their shareholders. So how will the way that land is managed change as we move away from a system of area-based farm subsidies, to the new Environmental Land Management Schemes, and ‘public money for public goods’ becomes the new system? Anna Hill hears from Ian Hodge, Professor of Rural Economy at the University of Cambridge, that profit from food production alone, may not always be reliable in future. Last week we heard concerns from the union Unite about a lack of social distancing and PPE for staff working in meat processing factories, to comply with Covid rules. Now, a committee of MPs has been told it took too long for guidance on staff safety to be given to meat plants by the Government. We find out more. And we hear out about trial that could reduce the use of anti-microbials on dairy farms. Currently, the most common use of antimicrobials on dairy farms is to treat mastitis - an infection in the cow’s udder .... But some forms of mastitis get better spontaneously, WITHOUT the use of antibiotic. A trial run by Innovative Farmers is looking at how a simple test can be used on farm to tell which type of mastitis a cow has, so antimicrobials are only used when totally necessary. Presented by Anna Hill Produced by Heather Simons