Qualifications, Technology Potatoes, China and Ireland

The Department of Education is overhauling the way that Btec qualifications are taught. Agricultural and land based courses are due to be reviewed in 2017, but until then they wont count towards a school's league tables , which discourages them from being taught. Vicky Davis is the vice principle of Brymore Academy in Somerset, which offers lots of agri and land based courses, as well as having a 45 hectare school farm. She told Sybil Ruscoe, that it puts school like Brymore at risk.

All this week Farming Today is taking a look at Innovation in Farming. Anna Hill visits a Norfolk potato farmers who is working with the John Innes centre to try and find a way to stop potatoes sprouting when they are being stored. They found that the answer is much less high tech than imagined.

Ireland have increased their trading relationship with China, which is good news for Irish Farmers. Darragh McCullough from the Irish Independent newspaper explains why Ireland has cracked the Chinese market while other countries, like the UK, are still trying to make inroads.

Presented by Anna Hill. Produced by Ruth Sanderson.