15/03/24 - Welfare labelling, badger culling, cat gut strings and winter planting

Badger culling could continue indefinitely in England under new Government proposals which reverse earlier pledges to begin to phase out badger culls from next year. The Government says culls are working in helping to reduce TB in cattle - pointing to stats from the first 52 cull areas where there is an average reduction in TB breakdowns in cattle of 56% after 4 years of culling. Now ministers say that in high risk and edge areas, which covers much of southwest and central England, culling could continue until the Chief Veterinary Officer deems that the situation has improved, at which point badger vaccination would be introduced. A consultation on the proposals has just been launched.New rules on food labelling could be introduced to give more information about how and where its produced - but some farmers say it'll be costly and complex. The Government is consulting on plans to improve country of origin labelling and introduce 'method of production' labelling on pork, chicken and eggs. This would introduce a 5 tier labelling system to differentiate between those that fall below, meet or exceed basic British animal welfare standards. We visit a factory in Norfolk where cattle intestines are turned into harp strings.And it's expected that 79% more UK farmland will be left fallow this year than last - new figures from the AHDB suggest the impact of the weather and Government environmental schemes means that fewer crops will be planted. The AHDB is the levy board which traditionally surveys farmers on their cropping plans in the Autumn - because its been so wet they've gone back to them and found that the weather is still having a big impact.Presented by Charlotte Smith Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons