0:00:04 > 0:00:06Hello and welcome to Inside Out Southwest.
0:00:06 > 0:00:10Stories and investigations from where you live.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14This is where we found Kate back in 1997.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17On the trail of his sister's killer, searching for new clues 20 years
0:00:18 > 0:00:22after Kate Bushell's murder.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25It's probably the last decent chance of getting that trigger or that bit
0:00:25 > 0:00:28of motivation where people might have remembered something or some
0:00:28 > 0:00:33detail that they could use to help the investigation.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37She was sitting...
0:00:37 > 0:00:43Also tonight, it's never too late, learning to read at 88.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46I do really want to read to the children and I've been
0:00:46 > 0:00:49practising very, very hard.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55And we all love a Jersey potato but who ordered the salad?
0:00:55 > 0:01:00A carpet of slimy, stinking sea lettuce.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02We investigate the impact of the island's multi-million
0:01:02 > 0:01:06pound potato industry.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10I'm Jemma Woodman and this is Inside Out Southwest.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25It's one of the Southwest's most notorious unsolved crimes.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30Kate Bushell was just 14 years old when she was brutally murdered
0:01:30 > 0:01:31near her home on the edge of Exeter.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34The case was never closed and, as Simon Hall reports,
0:01:34 > 0:01:3720 years on her family and friends still hope that someone or something
0:01:37 > 0:01:47can lead them to the killer.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52For 20 years, Tim Bushell has had to live with not knowing
0:01:52 > 0:01:54who murdered his sister.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58My parents obviously shielded me quite a bit and actually,
0:01:58 > 0:02:05looking back, I'm quite glad that they did.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11But at the same time, whoever did it is still out there.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13Today Tim is going to meet the detective leading
0:02:13 > 0:02:17the investigation.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23It's probably the last decent chance of getting that trigger or that bit
0:02:23 > 0:02:25of motivation where people might have remembered something or some
0:02:25 > 0:02:30detail that they could use to help the investigation.
0:02:30 > 0:02:35It's difficult in some ways because you kind of find out
0:02:36 > 0:02:40about the brutality of it and the horrible circumstances
0:02:40 > 0:02:46in which it happened.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Nicky Johns was Kate's best friend at school.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55I look at 14-year-olds now and I try and imagine them
0:02:55 > 0:02:58going through what I went through at 14.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01And at 14 I felt like I was really grown up and I felt
0:03:01 > 0:03:02like I was quite mature.
0:03:02 > 0:03:08But really you're still only 14 years old.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11At 4:30pm on the 15th of November 1997, Kate took her neighbour's
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Jack Russell dog for a walk.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19She was seen in Exwick Lane later but did not return home.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Me and my dad went out and drove around Exwick to try to find her.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27And we came home and we hadn't found her.
0:03:27 > 0:03:33And the phone downstairs was constantly ringing.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35The first time I realised that something was wrong,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39one of my friends' mum, she had brought us back and I just
0:03:39 > 0:03:42went, have they found Kate yet?
0:03:42 > 0:03:46And she was just really silent.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52I don't even think I remember crying at the time because,
0:03:52 > 0:03:59I kind of couldn't believe what I was being told.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03I think it was my mum who told me and it was just like, you won't be
0:04:03 > 0:04:05seeing your sister any more.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07And it was just like, oh, OK, and like, there
0:04:07 > 0:04:10was just so much going on, I didn't really know how
0:04:10 > 0:04:13to process it really.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16I think I kind of asked to be excused and went
0:04:16 > 0:04:17up to my room and...
0:04:17 > 0:04:20And started crying.
0:04:26 > 0:04:33Today we are taking Tim to visit the police incident room.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Paul Burgan is a detective superintendent who's
0:04:35 > 0:04:37come out of retirement to lead the investigation.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40What we've got, we've got a dedicated room to Kate's case.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42So what we'll do, I'll take you in there.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Just be warned that it's absolutely full of material relating to that
0:04:45 > 0:04:48incident so I'll pre-warn you with regards to it because I
0:04:48 > 0:04:49know you haven't seen it before.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50OK?
0:04:50 > 0:04:51Yeah.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Come on through.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55Inside are more than 40,000 documents and exhibits.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Paul's got something to show Tim.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Material left by the killer which hasn't been made public before
0:05:01 > 0:05:06and which could be crucial.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09On Kate, on her clothing there were in excess of 100 fibres.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13And what we've done is we've managed to identify that it comes from that
0:05:13 > 0:05:16type of orange garment.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20And that was predominantly used in workmen's clothing,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24boiler suits, gloves and aprons, that type of thing.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Because it may well have been that the offender was wearing it
0:05:28 > 0:05:31at the time or he could have been wearing it before and those
0:05:31 > 0:05:32fibres have transferred onto Kate's clothing.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34Paul Burgan worked on the investigation
0:05:34 > 0:05:36right from the start.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Now he has to give it a new impetus.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42You basically start at the beginning.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Did we miss anything in those first seven days?
0:05:45 > 0:05:50Some of the issues that were present in 1997 are still present now.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54The knife used to kill Kate has never been found but the police have
0:05:54 > 0:05:57been able to work out the size of the blade.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01The injuries to Kate were horrific.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05Probably the worst single injury I have seen in 30 years of policing.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09This is an example of the type of knife we would be looking at.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13You can see from the blade, it is at least six inches long,
0:06:13 > 0:06:14it is four centimetres deep.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17I don't want people to concentrate on the handle but it's just
0:06:17 > 0:06:20the size of the knife.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23The focus of the inquiry remains the lane where Kate was walking
0:06:23 > 0:06:27the dog and the path where her father found her body.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32It's going to be difficult but Tim has agreed to go there with Paul.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36It is revisiting kind of a very dark past.
0:06:36 > 0:06:42You've kind of got to sometimes lay some of your past ghosts to rest.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46This is one of the last points of interest, Tim, really.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49This was the lay-by that we know Kate was last seen in.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53She would have been stood around about this spot.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58The police think Kate now walked down the lane towards Exwick.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01A few yards further up witnesses say they saw a man
0:07:01 > 0:07:03standing behind a blue car.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Kate probably saw him too.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08That male has never been identified, he's never come forward.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11There an important unanswered question -
0:07:11 > 0:07:16why did Kate leave Exwick Lane and go down the path?
0:07:16 > 0:07:18Was it voluntary?
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Did she see something in the lane that worried her?
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Did an incident take place?
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Was she forcibly taken down there?
0:07:25 > 0:07:28A 14-year-old child, would she have gone down there voluntarily?
0:07:28 > 0:07:33That's the thing we always thought about in terms of the investigation.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Yeah, she was always confident and she was tall for her age
0:07:36 > 0:07:38which maybe would have given her false confidence,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41but at the same time it was getting dark so...
0:07:41 > 0:07:43You can see our concern in terms of, you know,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45why she would have gone down there.
0:07:45 > 0:07:46Definitely.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49This will be the worst bit I expect.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Very close to where Kate's body was found used to be a style.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55It has now been replaced by this gate.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57The police found an orange fibre on the style which matches
0:07:58 > 0:08:01the fibres found on her clothes.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04We're saying it's been deposited by the offender.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08Really relevant to the case for obvious reasons so this
0:08:08 > 0:08:10was a style and literally Kate's body was found just inside here
0:08:10 > 0:08:14to the left-hand side in the overgrown copse.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18And there's a further important piece of evidence here at the scene.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20A man who was seen running away towards the houses
0:08:20 > 0:08:23at the bottom of the hill.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25I know this is really difficult, Tim, this is probably
0:08:25 > 0:08:28the worst part of it for you.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33This is where, you know, we found Kate back in 1997.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36We've got the witnesses from the estate, two individual
0:08:36 > 0:08:38witnesses who see an individual running back down towards the estate
0:08:38 > 0:08:43between 5.10pm and 5.40pm.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45Again, really relevant to the investigation and it's
0:08:45 > 0:08:49something we still haven't been able to bottom out after all these years.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51She was just my annoying kid sister.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Despite towering over me for quite a few years.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58She would be the one who would often antagonise me, take something,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01pinch me and I would react and she would just scream
0:09:01 > 0:09:03and go straight to mum and dad and it would be,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06like, you annoying little...!
0:09:06 > 0:09:10But then the last couple of years, as we were starting to grow older,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13she was actually, instead of being my annoying kid
0:09:13 > 0:09:16sister, she was actually a pretty cool person.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18You could have conversations with her and we were starting
0:09:18 > 0:09:20to like some of the same things.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25Yeah, a cool little sister.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27Tim hopes confronting his dark memories of this place will help
0:09:27 > 0:09:31produce the lead that police are looking for.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34It's difficult.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38It's helping me piece together a bit of what happened on that day.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41They've obviously got a lot of information there,
0:09:41 > 0:09:46a hell of a lot from just that entire room covered in files.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48But they need that kind of, that clue, that thing that
0:09:48 > 0:09:51will point them in the right direction so they can
0:09:51 > 0:09:56use that information in the best way possible.
0:09:56 > 0:09:5920 years since Kate left her bedroom for the last time,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03and her family and friends are still fighting for her.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06It's really important and it's been really important
0:10:06 > 0:10:11for Tim as well as a sort of cathartic exercise.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Him sharing his thoughts on Kate as a little sister,
0:10:13 > 0:10:15it's been really helpful for the investigation and I think
0:10:15 > 0:10:16it's been helpful for him.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22But it shows how much he misses his sister.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24She was never a miserable person.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27She always would find the fun in everything.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31I can imagine she would have done something with her life.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Hello.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Having children and getting married would have been
0:10:38 > 0:10:41amazing to share with her, and to see her as a mum.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46It would have been lovely.
0:10:47 > 0:10:53It's difficult in some kinds of ways because you kind of find out
0:10:53 > 0:10:56about the brutality of it and at the end of this you've just
0:10:56 > 0:10:59got to be really thankful of having had a really good 14 years.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02We're lucky to have enjoyed the good times and I just wish
0:11:02 > 0:11:05there could have been a lot more.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10And if you have any information that you think may be helpful then
0:11:10 > 0:11:20you can call the police incident number on 0800 096 1233.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Still to come tonight, we investigate the environmental
0:11:22 > 0:11:27backlash from that most celebrated potato, the Jersey Royal.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30The more chemicals you put on the land, the more money Jersey
0:11:30 > 0:11:38has to spend clearing them up.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Learning a new skill is always a challenge but how
0:11:41 > 0:11:44about learning to read 70 years after you have left school?
0:11:44 > 0:11:45Meet Ursula Shepherd now, whose lifelong ambition
0:11:45 > 0:11:55is to enjoy a good book.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00At her home in Exmouth, Lesley Waller looks
0:12:00 > 0:12:07after Ursula Shepherd and Marjorie McMasters.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09We all seem to get on so well together, you know.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13It's just like one big family really.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Ursula has found care and compassion here but also the courage
0:12:16 > 0:12:22to fulfil a burning ambition.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Ursula told me that she couldn't read and she desperately
0:12:24 > 0:12:28wanted to learn.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Ursula wants to put a lifetime of illiteracy behind her.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37When I was young I was very, very nervous.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41I'm more confident now.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44She was obviously I think in the back row of the class
0:12:44 > 0:12:47and Ursula found it very difficult to learn to read.
0:12:47 > 0:12:54She was just missed in the class really.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59Ursula's journey starts here.
0:12:59 > 0:13:06She has enrolled in lessons at the local adult education centre.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08When Ursula first came she didn't know any letter sounds
0:13:08 > 0:13:12and she couldn't read any words.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15So we have taught her not just the names of letters but the sounds,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18because you only learn to read if you know the sounds.
0:13:18 > 0:13:19Pat.
0:13:19 > 0:13:20Fantastic.
0:13:20 > 0:13:21H...
0:13:21 > 0:13:22It...
0:13:22 > 0:13:23Hit.
0:13:23 > 0:13:24Good, that was good.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Even mastering basic words is going to be tough.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30W...
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Children get reading lessons every day at school.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35They get a lot of input so they can progress quite quickly.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38With Ursula, I only see her once a week so it's really up
0:13:38 > 0:13:43to her to do the work at home.
0:13:43 > 0:13:44Can...
0:13:44 > 0:13:45Yes, fantastic.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Kit.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50As an adult, you need to be much more self-motivated than a child.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53So in that respect I think it is much more challenging.
0:13:53 > 0:13:54H...
0:13:54 > 0:13:55E...
0:13:55 > 0:13:56N, hen.
0:13:56 > 0:13:57Good, brilliant.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Hard it might be but Ursula has a goal.
0:14:00 > 0:14:01L...
0:14:01 > 0:14:02E...
0:14:02 > 0:14:03Let.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Fantastic, that's really good, that one gets a tick.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11I want to read like, like a library book.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16You know, you go to the library and get a book and anything like that.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20Read the big letters.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Ursula grew up in Somerset in the 1930s.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26At the outbreak of war, she left school, and that was
0:14:26 > 0:14:29the end of her education.
0:14:29 > 0:14:35She worked in local factories and then as a carer for her father.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38An individual who can't read and write is restricted in the kind
0:14:38 > 0:14:42of employment they can take up and these are people who have
0:14:42 > 0:14:45often got many things they could have offered to society.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48They often feel that they are not as good as everybody else,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51that they have failed, and that is a very difficult thing
0:14:51 > 0:14:55to carry through your life.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58It's Janet Kipling with you and I'm really looking forward
0:14:58 > 0:15:00to meeting our next guest...
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Word about Ursula's story is spreading.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Was school hard?
0:15:05 > 0:15:10Yes, it was so hard, I couldn't read one word.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15I was sitting, sitting at the back, with another person,
0:15:15 > 0:15:22and they had a book that they opened out and I had to turn the pages.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25They could read...
0:15:25 > 0:15:27But you couldn't read.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32I couldn't read any of the words there.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Education in the 1930s would have been very traditional,
0:15:35 > 0:15:36focused almost exclusively around reading, writing and arithmetic.
0:15:36 > 0:15:42There would have been almost no recognition even that if you've got
0:15:42 > 0:15:44a class of 30-40 children, that within that class some
0:15:44 > 0:15:48of them were not coping.
0:15:48 > 0:15:54I watched the people just turn the pages over and that's all I did.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59If you weren't keeping up, you were the problem as the child,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02not the system, and no help was provided at all.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04I think it's inevitable that there will be older people
0:16:04 > 0:16:09who did just slip through that net.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Some of them will have caught up later but some of them
0:16:12 > 0:16:14would probably just have been hiding it throughout their lives.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16What do you think this is here?
0:16:16 > 0:16:17What does that look like?
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Back home, Ursula's new skills are helping
0:16:19 > 0:16:20with her favourite hobby.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25I'm knitting a jumper.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35Knit one and knit two last...
0:16:35 > 0:16:39One stitch and pass the stitch over.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41Is it nice to be able to read that?
0:16:41 > 0:16:42Yes!
0:16:42 > 0:16:43Yes.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48Yes, I'm coming on with this a bit.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Sam is at home.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Well done, that's really good.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58In the classroom, Ursula's doing well and has joined
0:16:58 > 0:17:02other adult learners.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04She's gone from learning the individual sounds of letters
0:17:04 > 0:17:07to reading words and sentences and now she's starting
0:17:07 > 0:17:10to read simple stories.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14The M 5 motor way...
0:17:14 > 0:17:15Yes.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19And things are getting trickier.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21We're doing some simple reading comprehensions at the moment
0:17:21 > 0:17:24and Ursula is finding those quite challenging.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29That is when you have a short piece, a short text to read,
0:17:29 > 0:17:31and then answer some questions about it and write the answers down.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33In...
0:17:33 > 0:17:34In August.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Did you like reading this book?
0:17:36 > 0:17:41Yeah, I do, yeah.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46A few weeks later and Fiona takes Ursula to the local library.
0:17:46 > 0:17:47That one.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Fantastic, well done.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51I love it here.
0:17:51 > 0:17:57You know, to look at all the children's books.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00But Ursula's not here to browse.
0:18:00 > 0:18:06A very special audience is turning up.
0:18:08 > 0:18:14I do really want to read to the children.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17I'm afraid I might make, you know, sort of mistakes
0:18:17 > 0:18:21and I've been practising very, very hard.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26I will...
0:18:26 > 0:18:28Not ever...
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Never.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Never eat a tomato.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37OK.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42I have this little sister, Lola.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44She hates to...
0:18:44 > 0:18:45Tomatoes.
0:18:45 > 0:18:46Tomatoes.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49That was very good.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51What did you think about Ursula's reading?
0:18:51 > 0:18:52Really clever.
0:18:52 > 0:18:53Thank you.
0:18:53 > 0:18:54What do you think?
0:18:54 > 0:18:55Infinity clever.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Infinity clever!
0:18:57 > 0:19:01That's a really good one.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04What would you say to Ursula if you were going to give some
0:19:04 > 0:19:06advice about learning to read?
0:19:06 > 0:19:07Read every day.
0:19:07 > 0:19:08Read every day.
0:19:08 > 0:19:09Do you do that, Ursula?
0:19:09 > 0:19:10Yes.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11She does it every day.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13I thought it went really well.
0:19:13 > 0:19:14Ursula read really confidently.
0:19:14 > 0:19:15Really clearly.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18And I think the children obviously enjoyed it which was fantastic.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23We had a great time, it was really, really good.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25I enjoyed the children, the way they crossed their legs
0:19:25 > 0:19:27and sat down and listened to me.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32She was sitting at the table.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35Ursula can really go as far as she wants with her reading,
0:19:35 > 0:19:36it's really up to her.
0:19:36 > 0:19:43But if she carries on the way she is, you know, who knows?
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Here's to a wonderful first chapter in Ursula's very own story.
0:19:47 > 0:19:48It will change her life.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51It's amazing.
0:19:51 > 0:19:57Jersey has plenty of things to shout about, one of them
0:19:57 > 0:20:02being of course that famous spud, the Jersey Royal.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05As an export crop, its value is no small potato but after 130 years
0:20:05 > 0:20:07of farming, what has been the environmental cost?
0:20:07 > 0:20:17Robert Hall investigates.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27It's a lovely summer's day, a bit breezy but just the sort
0:20:27 > 0:20:30of weather to attract much-needed visitors to Jersey's sandy beaches
0:20:30 > 0:20:33but this weather also brings an unwelcome visitor.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36This is it, a carpet of slimy, stinking sea lettuce.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Sea lettuce is a type of seaweed.
0:20:40 > 0:20:47It is common on beaches across the south-west but now,
0:20:47 > 0:20:53every summer, it chokes Jersey's St Aubin's Bay.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Sea lettuce needs chemicals called nitrates to survive and to thrive
0:20:55 > 0:20:57and one source of those on the island is
0:20:57 > 0:21:03artificial fertilisers.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05They are used in agriculture and in particular in the cultivation
0:21:05 > 0:21:11of the Jersey Royal.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13There are plenty more sources of nitrates but there is no
0:21:13 > 0:21:18disputing that at least some of the fertiliser used on this
0:21:18 > 0:21:20popular spud eventually makes its way to those unpopular
0:21:20 > 0:21:25layers of sea lettuce.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Ironically, a different kind of seaweed used to be
0:21:27 > 0:21:29the farmer's friend.
0:21:29 > 0:21:30What the islanders called wrack.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Here it is, tonnes of it.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35They used it to fertilise their fields and help
0:21:35 > 0:21:37feed their families.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41But these days it's all a bit more high-tech.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43This time of year in the mornings, first thing,
0:21:43 > 0:21:45I'm looking at the weather.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Paul Carre is one of the island's biggest potato growers.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51The chemicals he uses don't just come with a cost
0:21:51 > 0:21:53to the local environment, they make a severe
0:21:53 > 0:21:58dent in his profits.
0:21:58 > 0:22:0023 units of nitrogen, four units of phosphate
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and 13 units of potassium.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05And how much is this costing you to put this out?
0:22:05 > 0:22:08That is about, I think it's £150, £160...
0:22:08 > 0:22:09Per bag?
0:22:09 > 0:22:10Per bag.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13And how many bags would you use in a season?
0:22:13 > 0:22:14300.
0:22:14 > 0:22:15Right.
0:22:15 > 0:22:16So it's a big investment.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19Yes.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Paul says he has no option but to use chemicals if he's
0:22:22 > 0:22:25going to stay competitive.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28That's the only way we can make the business profitable, is by using
0:22:28 > 0:22:30these artificial fertilisers.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35The supermarkets won't pay, if we go totally organic you get
0:22:35 > 0:22:38half the crop and they won't pay any extra for it.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41But all that fertiliser has to end up somewhere.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45And a big problem for Jersey is that some of it finds its way
0:22:45 > 0:22:49into the water supply.
0:22:49 > 0:22:50The nitrate problem stems largely from agricultural
0:22:50 > 0:22:52activity in the island.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54There is a very intensive growing, potato-growing season
0:22:54 > 0:22:57which is generally between January and May where we see large
0:22:57 > 0:22:59spikes of nitrates coming into the watercourses in the island
0:22:59 > 0:23:04and then into the reservoirs.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12It's pretty easy to see instantly what the nitrate levels
0:23:13 > 0:23:14are in Jersey's water supply.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19Jersey Water and the government here produce this online map
0:23:19 > 0:23:22and the red areas and the yellow areas show where nitrate levels
0:23:22 > 0:23:23are at their highest.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27So if I was to zoom the map in and we look at an area feeding
0:23:27 > 0:23:30into a reservoir here in the east of the island, we can look
0:23:30 > 0:23:31at a particular stream.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34So I'm going to choose the Queens Valley side stream down here.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37We can see that the nitrate reading in that stream is more than double
0:23:37 > 0:23:39the recommended maximum.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42And that recommended maximum is 50 mg per litre.
0:23:42 > 0:23:50Above this, say experts, nitrates can be harmful to health.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52It is possible, by putting in a very expensive plant,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55to remove the nitrates from the drinking water,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58but then we would have a stream of high nitrate to be disposed
0:23:58 > 0:24:00of from the water treatment plant which presumably
0:24:00 > 0:24:01would go out into the ocean.
0:24:01 > 0:24:07It's always better not to have the problem to deal with.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10A recent review carried out by Jersey's government suggests
0:24:10 > 0:24:13that the amount of nitrates leaking into the water supply needs
0:24:13 > 0:24:16to be cut by around 30%.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18Since then they have said they will offer financial incentives
0:24:18 > 0:24:23to farmers to comply.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Happily, nitrate levels have come down in the past year
0:24:26 > 0:24:27after farmers trialed applying their fertilisers
0:24:27 > 0:24:32more precisely.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36They are very open to ideas and they would be delighted
0:24:36 > 0:24:39if they had to spend less money on fertiliser, less money
0:24:39 > 0:24:41on nitrates, less money on phosphates, and were still able
0:24:42 > 0:24:47to grow the crop.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49And could there be a solution that not only saves money
0:24:49 > 0:24:50but is 100% natural?
0:24:50 > 0:25:00Glyn Mitchell certainly thinks so.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02Once we've taken the soil sample from a farmer's field,
0:25:02 > 0:25:06we will then take a bit and put it on to the slide which then goes
0:25:06 > 0:25:08under the microscope and we are literally
0:25:08 > 0:25:09counting the biology.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Glyn believes the answer lies in protecting tiny soil organisms
0:25:12 > 0:25:17which recycle vital nutrients.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21That's a protozoa and what it's doing is it's gobbling up
0:25:21 > 0:25:24all these tiny little things which are bacteria.
0:25:24 > 0:25:32The more we have of these in the soil, obviously the better
0:25:32 > 0:25:34nutrients are recycled, the more nutrients are available
0:25:34 > 0:25:36to the plant, the less we have to apply synthetic foods
0:25:36 > 0:25:39to the plant because mother nature is doing it for us.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42And to provide a natural boost to mother nature,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Glyn is using tea bag techniques to make his own home-made compost.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52So the compost is full of microbes.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55All we're doing here is we are blowing air
0:25:55 > 0:26:00through the net and extracting those microbes into liquid,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04which then can be applied into the soil or as a foliar feed
0:26:04 > 0:26:06to protect it from disease.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11Glyn has convinced Paul Carre to help him prove his theory.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17We've got a field right next door to his farmer's house and his farmer
0:26:17 > 0:26:19was growing some of his potatoes with this compost tea
0:26:19 > 0:26:22in his greenhouse and I went to have a look at them
0:26:22 > 0:26:27and I was quite surprised at how they looked.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29So I thought, we'll have an experiment with this field,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33to see if we can make a go of it like that.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43It's March and the early warm spring days mean it's time to go to work.
0:26:43 > 0:26:49Glyn sprays his compost tea onto the seed potatoes.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53You might say I'm mad but you've got to try something!
0:26:54 > 0:26:57And in they go.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08Three months later and the compost tea crop is ready for harvesting.
0:27:08 > 0:27:13Paul checks the plants for disease.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17At the moment I don't see any so they're pretty clean.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20For the first time, Paul has produced a crop without the help
0:27:20 > 0:27:30of man-made fertiliser.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35So the microbes are doing the job for us which saves
0:27:35 > 0:27:38So the microbes are doing the job for us which saves the farmer
0:27:38 > 0:27:40obviously quite a lot of expense.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42As you can see, the potatoes are pretty good.
0:27:42 > 0:27:43No complaints there.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46The test field is packed with spuds and they are looking pretty good.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48I'm very impressed, the crop we're getting out
0:27:48 > 0:27:50of here and the quality of potato, it's impressive.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54I didn't expect to get half the crop that we are getting.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58Getting farmers like Paul on board is just one step
0:27:58 > 0:28:04in a long journey to sort out Jersey's nitrate problem.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06The message you get here is really very clear -
0:28:06 > 0:28:09islanders are finally working together to try to find a new
0:28:09 > 0:28:10solution to a very old problem.
0:28:10 > 0:28:16But the clock is ticking.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20The more chemicals you put on the land, the more money Jersey
0:28:20 > 0:28:23has to spend clearing them up, and unless that solution is agreed,
0:28:23 > 0:28:25everyone is a loser.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29And that's all from me for now.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32We are taking a break until after the New Year
0:28:32 > 0:28:35but we will be back in 2018 with plenty more stories
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and investigations.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41But from all of us here at Inside Out, bye bye for now
0:28:41 > 0:28:43and we will see you soon.