Farming Today - 15/06/26 Octopus bloom, Scottish organic farming
Download 15/06/26 Octopus bloom, Scottish organic farming
An emergency by-law has been passed in Cornwall, to restrict the number of boats coming in to take advantage of the ongoing bloom of octopus on the south coast.
It's been described as a 'gold rush' as huge sums are being made - Brixham fish market recently experienced a record catch of 103 tonnes - worth £400,000.
But the octopus are also causing problems - eating crab and lobster and devastating that industry locally. It's hoped the new by-law will help those stocks recover.
The latest Government figures show a 27% rise in the amount of Scottish land farmed organically in the year to June 2025 - that compares to a 7.3% rise across the UK as a whole. Over the past five years, the Scottish Government had the goal of doubling the area of land managed organically, and the organic certifiying and campaigning group The Soil Association says that political backing - along with scrapping an upper limit on farm size for organic grants - has helped.
Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Sally Challoner.
The programme has been edited since broadcast to correct a statistic on the amount of organic farmland in Scotland.
Published on Friday, 19th June 2026.
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