Rural economy report, wildlife on colliery sites, soil health, floating pennywort

Farming Today

• Episode: Rural economy report, wildlife on colliery sites, soil health, floating pennywort
• Website: Farming Today
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:13:35
• Published: 2019-04-30 12:48

A report by the House of Lords says there must be a cross-government approach to enable a thriving rural economy, but can Defra be given enough powers to ensure that? We hear reaction from ACRE, Action with Communities in Rural England. Old colliery spoil sites across South Wales have become a refuge for rare insects. A three year study identified over nine hundred species living on the tips, including almost two hundred bugs considered to be a priority for conservation. Soil health is one of the keys to halting climate change - that's the conclusion of a new report which is due to be published next week. The IPBES, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, aims to get all the world’s governments working together to protect natural systems. Here in the UK some farmers are changing their practices to improve soils and their ability to store carbon. As part of our week looking at invasive species, we visit the river Kennet in Reading. Pennywort was imported as an oxygenating plant for ponds and aquariums, but it's now out in the wild, and choking rivers. Presented by Anna Hill and produced by Beatrice Fenton.