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Bluetongue, the livestock disease that is transmitted by midges, is spreading, especially in the south west. It affects farm animals including sheep and cattle. It doesn鈥檛 affect people, but it can be very painful and fatal to livestock. Annual bluetongue statistics are counted from July to June, the so-called bluetongue season. Since the end of June this year, there have already been more cases than in the whole of the previous season. Hundreds of farmers in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset are coping with the virus in their sheep, in particular. We visit a farmer near Exeter whose flock is just beginning to emerge from a bout of bluetongue.

We import more than 80% of fresh tomatoes, and more than 50% of lettuce. However, new analysis from the environmental think-tank The Green Alliance suggests that if the UK replaced half of fruit and vegetable imports with homegrown produce, it would generate nearly 拢2 billion for the economy and make us more self-sufficient in food production than we鈥檝e been for the last 25 years.

Vitamin B12 is essential for our diets and is found in meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, but not in plants - until now. Scientists have developed a way of fortifying pea shoots with B12 and hope to get it in supermarket salad bags in the next year or two. After successful trials, agri-tech company Lettus Grow and the John Innes Centre believe it could work for other crops too. B12's very expensive, but growers say they've developed a super-efficient way of getting it into the pea shoots.

Presenter: Caz Graham
Producer: Rebecca Rooney