09/05/2019 - DNA tracing meat, wild wheat and home grown flowers

Farming Today

• Episode: 09/05/2019 - DNA tracing meat, wild wheat and home grown flowers
• Website: Farming Today
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:13:32
• Published: 2019-05-09 07:00

A major supermarket has introduced a new scheme using DNA to trace meat products back to the exact animals they came from. But could this new idea help prevent a re-run of the horsemeat scandal? Back in 2013, beef products sold by a number of UK supermarket chains were found to contain horsemeat. We speak to the man who led the government inquiry into the scandal. Wild crops which were used thousands of years ago have proven to be a treasure trove of helpful genes, which could make modern varieties more resistant to disease and climate change. Anna Hill visits the John Innes Centre where researchers have unravelled the genome of wild wheat from the Middle East. And Britain's flower industry is benefiting as more consumers look for home grown. Opportunities are opening up for specialist small-scale growers across the UK - in Scotland more than 60 flower farming businesses have started in just six years. We meet a young horticulture graduate who is building up a flower farming business from scratch. Presented by Anna Hill Produced by Heather Simons