26/10/24 Farming Today This Week: greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, illegal meat imports, alpaca spit test, white maize

Farming Today

This week we are focusing on livestock and their impact on climate change. We hear about the concerns over the number of livestock here in the UK, and find out how farmers are reducing emissions by growing cattle faster or breeding sheep to burp less.

A BBC freedom of information request has revealed that the amount of illegal meat seized by border force officials has doubled in a year.

Charlotte Smith revisits a farmer growing white maize, a staple crop in his native Zimbabwe. Eleven years since her last visit, David Mwanaka now rents a council farm near Cambridgeshire and his farm selling exotic crops is going strong.

Alpaca breeders use something called a 'spit off' or a 'spit test' to see if their females are pregnant with a cria, or baby alpaca. We go along to see the test in action.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.