麻豆社

Has the Government鈥檚 Food Strategy been watered down? It wasn鈥檛 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 鈥渏oined-up and pragmatic policy measures鈥�. But there are concerns the strategy鈥檚 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鈥檛 need to set any; that鈥檚 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鈥檙e exploring different aspects of the UK鈥檚 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.