Escaped salmon, agri-bashing and animal feed

Farming Today

• Episode: Escaped salmon, agri-bashing and animal feed
• Website: Farming Today
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:13:35
• Published: 2020-09-01 07:00

10 offshore fish pens containing more than half a million fish have been ripped from their moorings off the coast of Scotland. Nearly fifty thousand salmon escaped and thirty thousand died. Inshore salmon farming is criticised for polluting the coastal marine environment with chemicals and fish parasites. But this new farm - out in the open sea - was seen by many as the future for Scottish fish farming. So what does this escape mean for the industry and the environment? It appears that the Covid crisis has been an opportunity to re-set relations between farmers and shoppers. In France they call it ‘agri bashing’, and authorities there have now started a data bank of physical and verbal attacks on farmers. We hear from French farmers about the problems they've faced, but also hear how the Covid crisis seems to have prompted a thaw in the heated debate. And this week we're focusing on animal feed. We hear from the Agricultural Industries Confederation about what goes into feed, and how that might change in the future. Presenter by Sybil Ruscoe Produced by Heather Simons for BBC Audio in Bristol