News that land is expected to reach almost £50,000/hectare (£20,000/acre) by 2020 is a double-edged sword for the farming industry – and for our PR beyond it.
Agriculture in the news - November 24
A round-up of farming news from today’s newspapers.
Council invests in snow ploughs
STIRLING Council has invested £100,000 to combat severe winter weather, with nearly half the funds being spent on 20 new snowploughs that can be fitted to farm tractors.
The tractors and ploughs will assist Stirling Council to clear roads during severe winter weather conditions.
Stirling Observer
New EU egg rules could be a ‘disaster’
CORNISH egg producers are being forced to pay six-figure sums to comply with a cage ban or quitting the business amid claims many European countries are sidestepping the rules.
The new EU chicken-keeping standards, due to be implemented on January 1, 2012, will outlaw conventional cages and see bigger pens for egg-laying hens include a nesting and perching space and scratching area, allowing them to exhibit their natural behaviour.
Plymouth Evening Herald
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/story-13940617-detail/story.html
Countryside Alliance survey finds rural areas hit hardest by soaring cost of motoring
Dundee commuters have some of the lowest fuel costs in the country, a new survey has found.
Research carried out by the Countryside Alliance found people living in rural local authority areas pay around 25% more each month for fuel than those living in urban areas.
On average, those in rural areas will pay around £67.45 a month — £16.50 more than urban dwellers.
Dundee Courier
Blundering farm pay agency under attack again
Taxpayers could be hit with further multi-million pound bills while farmers are left out of pocket because of a Government agency failures to make payments on time.
Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said that £1.3bn had been spent so far on tackling the crisis at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), the body charged with processing Single Farm Payment subsidies to farmers, and warned that a new scheme to remedy shortcomings could not be ready for as much as another six years.
Yorkshire Post
Isle is the Wight spot for juicy plums
WHEN the Isle of Wight parted company with the UK mainland millions of years ago it took with it unique genetic plant material from which developed a distinctive range of stone fruit.
Island farmer Tommy Bevis, now in his 80s, selected two “different” varieties he found growing in a hedge near his farm cottages and decided to grow these on to determine their potential.
Now, several years later, seed and plant specialist DT Brown is so impressed with both varieties it is introducing Tommy’s Greengage and Tommy Island Blue Plum exclusively to its customers in the Fruit & Vegetables 2012 Catalogue.
North Devon Journal
http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/story-13939476-detail/story.html
Mystery over Leeds Temple Newsam farm blaze
An investigation is under way after a blaze ripped through a 200-year-old building at Temple Newsam’s historic Home Farm, killing a number of baby animals.
The fire, which took hold early yesterday morning (November 23) is the second time part of the popular Leeds attraction has been in flames in less than a year.
Around a dozen pigs and piglets were killed in the incident, which was reported just before 5am yesterday.
Yorkshire Evening Post
Farmers call for beer-brewing aid
VITAL links between farming and brewing in East Yorkshire need to be supported and protected, it is claimed.
Farmers are diversifying and turning to brewing beer instead of the usual crops to make money.
Farming, brewing and pubs in rural Yorkshire are responsible for as many as 19,000 jobs and more than £252 million in wages, a new report claims.
Hull Daily Mail
http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/story-13938420-detail/story.html
Sales up at Hereford’s new livestock market
HEREFORD livestock market’s new edge-of-town home looks to have beefed up animal sales, figures show.
Like-for-like sales compared with numbers from last year show the Roman Road site has shifted more animals since moving from the cattle market off Edgar Street in June than at the same stage of 2010.
Hereford Times
Groups unite in opposition to warn Government against budget cuts
MAINTAINING farming’s existing funding levels and rectifying the sector’s age imbalance are two critical positions that must be supported by the imminent budget, warn farmer groups.
IFA rural development chairman Tom Turley warned Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney farmers on low incomes will not tolerate any cuts in vital farm schemes, particularly Disadvantaged Areas payments or REPS 4 payments.
Irish Examiner
Rising costs dent Welsh sheep farming optimism
COSTS are rising so sharply they are out- stripping the improved market returns for lamb producers, according to a survey of Welsh sheep farming.
Despite marketplace bouyancy, which has prompted a 5% growth in the Welsh sheep flock, red meat body Hybu Cig Cymru has identified worrying signs of a fall-off in profits.
Daily Post
Dingwall farmers market shuts as interest drops
DINGWALL Farmers Market, which in its day has seen a visit from Holywood star Ewan McGregor and a streaker, is pulling out of the town after nearly a decade of trading because of lack of support from shoppers.
North Star
http://www.north-star-news.co.uk/News/Dingwall-farmers-market-shuts-as-interest-drops-7400160.htm
Swift payout of SFP
Scottish farmers can look forward to a £300 million windfall before Christmas.
The Scottish Government announced yesterday that 70 per cent of the annual single farm payment of £430m paid to farmers will be in bank accounts within the first 15 days of December, with payments starting on the first day of the month.
The Scotsman
http://www.scotsman.com/business/food-drink-and-agriculture/swift_payout_of_sfp_1_1980957
Farmer’s girl is official sprout tester for farm near Beverley
SHE may not be the man from Del Monte, but her opinion is still vital when it comes to a humble vegetable.
Yasmin Clappison is the official sprout tester on her father’s farm in Risby, near Beverley.
Hull Daily Mail
http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/story-13938430-detail/story.html
Veteran poultry man becomes ‘face’ of free range eggs
POULTRY veteran Tony Kynaston has become the face of free range eggs after appearing in a snappy poster campaign.
Mr Kynaston, of Nant Ucha Farm, Garth, Llangollen, is pictured holding a chicken on the poster.
Daily Post
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