Farming Today - 14/11/26 Farming Today This Week: organic salmon; bluetongue and midges; COP31 and food waste; root veg; school milk.
The organic certification body, the Soil Association, is withdrawing from the farmed salmon sector. They cite high fish mortality and welfare and environmental standards. The farms can still be certified, but not to the higher standards The Soil Association says it represents.
Great Britain has seen its worst ever outbreak of the livestock disease bluetongue this year. It can kill sheep and cattle and lead to birth defects and infertility, though it's not harmful to humans. It's spread by midges, we speak to a scientist who's trapping and monitoring midges to study how the disease is spread.
Tens of thousands of delegates are discussing ways to reduce the impact of waste agree new targets at COP31 in Turkey. The Waste and Resources Action Programme, or WRAP, is calling on the COP to commit to global policies to tackle it.
All this week we are looking at root crops. It's been another difficult and expensive year for carrot growers. The trade body estimating yields are likely to be 15-30% below expectation. We speak to one of the country's biggest carrot producers.
Traditionally carrots, celeriac and beetroot are grown in fertile soils, ploughed and tilled, to create a fine tilth or bed, for sowing seeds and producing consistent crops. One market garden in Gloucestershire is doing the complete opposite, growing 50 types of vegetables in an organic regenerative system. How do you produce root veg in the stony soils of the Cotswolds, without digging?
School milk has been on the menu for generations of pupils, and free or subsidised milk depends on their age and where in the UK they go to school. Now children in Wales may be about to lose the option of their 'free morning milk'.
Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney
Published on Saturday, 14th November 2026.
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