07/11/24 - Inheritance tax details, mobile sheep dips and salt-marsh plants

Farming Today

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14d ago 14:00

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Many farming families are extremely concerned about the future of their farms, after the Government introduced inheritance tax on farmland in the Budget. But there’s a lot of confusion about how much inheritance tax farmers will have to pay. We invite a tax expert to dig into the details.

One of the sheep industry's most enduring health and welfare challenges is scab - an itchy condition caused by mites. It’s controlled by either injecting a dose of medicine or the traditional dipping of sheep. But increasing resistance to the injection method means more and more farmers are moving back to sheep-dip. Organophosphate dip is toxic and can harm human health and pollute waterways, and anyone buying or using sheep-dip needs a certificate of competency. Because of that, professional, mobile dipping contractors are becoming more common. We see one in action.

And plants that live in coastal salt-marshes have adapted to their inhospitable environment by producing high levels of an anti-stress molecule that protects them. Now, scientists at the University of East Anglia have identified the genes that help produce the molecule and say one day it could be used to help crops cope in stressful conditions like drought.

Presented by Caz Graham Produced by Heather Simons

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