03/09/24 - Pharmacy deserts, Biodiversity Net Gain and freeze-dried strawberries

Farming Today

Rural areas across England are in danger of becoming 'pharmacy deserts', as medicine providers across the country continue to consolidate and close smaller branches. That's according to the National Pharmacy Association, which has published a study showing that over the last two years, nearly nine in ten council areas in England have lost pharmacies. It found that rural areas often rely on fewer providers, so are harder hit by closures.

We visit a farm in Essex which has signed up to a 32 year Biodiversity Net Gain agreement. Under BNG rules, the environmental impact caused by new developments has to be offset by creating equivalent nature enhancements, either around the site, or elsewhere. A one hectare plot at Spain’s Hall Estate will now be taken out of food production and managed for nature to compensate for the construction of a new battery storage facility elsewhere in the district, with the work funded by the electricity company.

And the waste campaign group WRAP estimates that 9% of the UK strawberry crop is thrown out every year. We visit a farm in Hampshire where they've invested £2million pounds in a freeze-drying facility to turn strawberries that don't meet supermarket grades into a snack product.

Presented by Anna Hill Produced by Heather Simons