Farming Today - 04/10/2010

Is lamb becoming a luxury item? Over the past five years the price of lamb has doubled, which has been good news for farmers but perhaps not so cheering for consumers. Its partly down to supply and demand as there are fewer sheep in Britain now. But there's also a growing export market. Around 30% of British lamb is now being exported, and around 80 per cent of it goes to France. The exchange rate means that British lamb is cheaper than French. Also on Farming Today, British egg producers are demanding EU protection so they can compete with European farmers. The British egg industry says it's invested 300 million pounds in new enriched cages which will replace battery systems when they are outlawed in 2012. But the producers of around 30% of European eggs say they won't make that deadline. British farmers argue that will put them at a huge disadvantage, because they have followed the rules. And there's still no resolution in sight to the dispute between Scottish mackerel fishermen and their Icelandic and Faroese counterparts. Aberdeenshire ports are still firmly closed to their foreign competitors' trawlers, in protest at the amount of mackerel they are catching. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Anna Varle.