Trump and trade, Cheese-eating pigs, Green building

Farming Today

• Episode: Trump and trade, Cheese-eating pigs, Green building
• Website: Farming Today
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:13:43
• Published: 2018-01-11 07:00

US President Donald Trump has addressed farmers at the American Farm Bureau's annual convention in Nashville - and reiterated his respect for and commitment to US farmers and ranchers; particularly, he said, when it came to fair trade deals. His speech follows comments from Ted McKinney, an Under Secretary at the US Department of Agriculture, at the Oxford Farming Conference last week - when he said he was "sick and tired" of hearing questions about chlorinated chicken, as the practice hadn't been used in the States for a long time; and stressed that America could hold its food safety and animal welfare standards up against the UK "any day of the week". So with renewed backing from the top, is the USA gearing up to play hard-ball with the UK in post-Brexit trade negotiations? Sybil Ruscoe puts the question to agricultural analyst Cedric Porter, in Florida. In winter the cost of feeding livestock can rise sharply, so at Penlan Farm in Carmarthenshire they've come up with a novel 'whey' to keep costs down. Farmer Katherine Brookes is feeding her Mangalitsa pigs with by-products from local food producers, including a cheese-maker. As Farming Today turns a spotlight on wintering livestock this week, Mariclare Carey-Jones visited the dairy-scoffing swine to find out more about their seasonal diet. The Wildlife Trusts have today released a new housing strategy that they say could reverse the decline of wildlife. The proposal details how developers can build greener homes and communities, in a move the Trusts say could have a huge impact on the environment. Stephanie Hilborne, the Trusts' chief executive, explains the proposal.