Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share 17/07/25 National Food Strategy, rural affordable housing, early soft fruit
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
17/07/25 National Food Strategy, rural affordable housing, early soft fruit
Has the Government’s Food Strategy been watered down? It wasn’t launched with a huge fanfare, but Defra has published its Food Strategy for England.
It aims to create what it calls a Good Food Cycle, a framework to make food production more sustainable, radically overhaul our relationship with food and prepare farmers and food producers for future challenges. The National Farmers' Union has welcomed the document though says it needs to be backed up by “joined-up and pragmatic policy measures”. But there are concerns the strategy’s been watered down and that a food white paper expected next year has been dropped.
Most rural councils have no targets for building the social housing that many people on the lowest incomes rely on, and the government now says they don’t need to set any; that’s according to a new study from the University of the West of England.
The soft fruit harvest is in full swing and the recent sweltering weather has proved something of a challenge for the thousands of seasonal workers labouring under polytunnels to bring in a crop which has ripened early this year. We’re exploring different aspects of the UK’s soft fruit sector all through this week. Today we visit a Nottinghamshire farm producing around 2500 tonnes of strawberries and raspberries each year.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
View all episodes
By BBC Radio 4
4.5
5454 ratings
Has the Government’s Food Strategy been watered down? It wasn’t launched with a huge fanfare, but Defra has published its Food Strategy for England.
It aims to create what it calls a Good Food Cycle, a framework to make food production more sustainable, radically overhaul our relationship with food and prepare farmers and food producers for future challenges. The National Farmers' Union has welcomed the document though says it needs to be backed up by “joined-up and pragmatic policy measures”. But there are concerns the strategy’s been watered down and that a food white paper expected next year has been dropped.
Most rural councils have no targets for building the social housing that many people on the lowest incomes rely on, and the government now says they don’t need to set any; that’s according to a new study from the University of the West of England.
The soft fruit harvest is in full swing and the recent sweltering weather has proved something of a challenge for the thousands of seasonal workers labouring under polytunnels to bring in a crop which has ripened early this year. We’re exploring different aspects of the UK’s soft fruit sector all through this week. Today we visit a Nottinghamshire farm producing around 2500 tonnes of strawberries and raspberries each year.
Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
More shows like Farming Today
View all
Global News Podcast
7,695 Listeners
The Archers Omnibus
390 Listeners
More or Less
884 Listeners
Newshour
1,042 Listeners
Money Box
42 Listeners
In Our Time
5,540 Listeners
In Our Time: History
1,883 Listeners
In Our Time: Culture
608 Listeners
In Our Time: Science
726 Listeners
6 Minute English
1,841 Listeners
Learning English Conversations
1,050 Listeners
Gardeners' Question Time
283 Listeners
The Food Programme
263 Listeners
Scotland Outdoors
247 Listeners
Ramblings
158 Listeners
The Plodcast
104 Listeners
Open Country
85 Listeners
Sliced Bread
149 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
3,153 Listeners
The Farmers Weekly Podcast
14 Listeners
The Knepp Wilding Podcast
19 Listeners
Cyber Hack
1,636 Listeners
The Rest Is Politics
3,105 Listeners
Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith
54 Listeners
FED by Farmers Podcast
31 Listeners