By unlocking the export potential China offers the pig industry, not to mention the red meat sector as a whole, we could gain entry into a marketplace which comprises a fifth of the world’s population.Agriculture in the national news
A DAILY look at how agriculture has hit the headlines across the country (Monday, October 12).
How will climate change affect Britain’s crops?
Olives, kiwi fruit, almonds – as the climate gets hotter in the UK, we may well be producing our own exotic crops.
Far from the failed harvests, droughts and floods of Asia, Mark Diacono is expecting some good to come of climate change.
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/11/climate-change-britain-crops
Save our countryside: Why we are all killing off our rural idyll
Personal View: Our countryside is threatened as never before - and even supermarkets must now take notice, says Waitrose managing director Mark Price.
The long-term future for many of Britain’s smaller, family farmers, especially in our uplands, is very gloomy indeed. Does this matter?
Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/6292032/Save-our-countryside-Why-we-are-all-killing-off-our-rural-idyll.html
Bank rate to ‘stay frozen’ for 5 years
Interest rates in Britain are to stay low for years to compensate for a severe fiscal squeeze on the economy, a report to be published this week says.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research, in its latest UK Prospects, to be published tomorrow, predicts that Bank rate will remain at 0.5% until 2011 and not reach 2% until 2014.
LisbonTreaty moves a step closer
UK FARMERS should welcome the 67% ‘Yes’ vote in the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty – it will make changes to the Common Agricultural Policy difficult and payments to farmers are likely to continue at least until 2020.
Though the Treaty cannot come into force until all 27 member states have ratified it, only two have yet to do so – Poland and the Czech Republic – in each case because the President has not signed the instrument of ratification.
Nestle probed after Mugabe milk deal sours
Zimbabwe’s central bank chief says the government has frozen Nestle’s local accounts and ordered an audit after Nestle stopped buying milk from a farm owned by President Robert Mugabe’s wife.
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono told the weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper Saturday that two possible “irregular” transactions were found in the company’s accounts.
Nestle’s finance director Farai Munestsi told The Associated Press that access to funds at five banks had been blocked.
Associated Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6ViZ7RgW_nszwQdZg8kK3rSNlOAD9B8V1UO1
Spain’s organic farmers dodge recession
Looking out over their cider apple trees towards the Picos de Europa mountain peaks beyond, Nigel and Joann Burch take a break from the harvest.
The only sound is the swish of a light breeze gently sweeping the early morning mist out of the valley below, birdsong, and from out-of-sight in the sheep-field, an occasional deep woof from their reassuringly huge sheepdog.
BBC Online
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8290958.stm
Superstores turning back the organic clock
BRITAIN’S struggling organic food industry has been dealt a blow as the country’s two biggest supermarket chains have axed large numbers of products from their shelves, a new report showed yesterday.
Plummeting sales in the sector have led Tesco and Asda to slash the number of organic lines they stock by at least a third, according to data compiled for trade magazine The Grocer.
The Scotsman
http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Superstores-turning-back-the-organic.5723296.jp
Countryside groups call for better broadband access
A coalition of leading countryside groups have called for better internet access in rural areas after the Prince of Wales expressed concerns about “broadband deserts”.
The Rural Coalition is bringing together six national organisations including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Country Land and Business Association, the Local Government Association and the Royal Town Planning Institute.
The new group will be putting pressure on politicians to put the countryside first in the run up to the general election.
Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/broadband/6299847/Countryside-groups-call-for-better-broadband-access.html
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