There is a well known saying, 'no pain, no gain' and that will be ringing true in the minds of Milk Link’s 1,600 producers, who are on the brink of reaping just reward for 12 years of loyalty and investment.Farmers Guardian
William Surman Editorial
I have been at Farmers Guardian for two and a half years. On leaving university I spent a year working on the family farm in the fantastic Worcestershire countryside in the shadow of the Malvern Hills. From there I went to Brussels – the central hub of agricultural and environmental legislation – where I worked with parliamentarians trying to develop the best policies to look after the countryside. From there I jumped the fence into journalism – with the aim to hold the policy makers (who I had just been working for!) to account, reporting on all the good things, and the bad, being done to the countryside.
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Chance opportunity makes Ellie face of the countryside
April 8, 2011
ELLIE Harrison recently joined the BBC Countryfile team and is fast becoming a household name among nature lovers. William Surman met her as part of our series looking at influential woman in the countryside.
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Rural focus groups rise from economic gloom
18 March 2011
GOVERNMENT spending cuts have been felt deeply across the countryside but out of the gloom new hope is rising.
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Demo AD plant to unlock potential
January 28, 2011
A CHESHIRE college has built a demonstration anaerobic digestion (AD) plant to help farmers realise the potential of the technology.
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Energy to power 1,000 homes from £3m farm project
January 28, 2011
CONSTRUCTION work has begun on a £3 million on-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in rural Cumbria which should create enough electricity to supply more than a 1,000 homes by the end of this year. PICTURE: Farmgen
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Never a better time to use wind power
January 28, 2011
There will never be a better time for farmers to diversify into wind power and take advantage of generous Government subsidies.
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Global food stocks must be re-built
20 January 2011
THE EU must help to re-build global food stocks which have reached ‘desperately low levels’, the European Parliament has warned.
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Dioxin scare brings BSE rules into question
20 January 2011
AN MEP has questioned EU food safety rules which were set up in the wake of the BSE crisis but failed to prevent the latest food scare.
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Agriculture in the national news - January 20
20 January 2011
A DAILY look at how agriculture has hit the headlines across the country (Thursday, January 20).
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Unilever chief attacks farm subsidies
20 January 2011
FARM subsidies must be abolished to save an ‘increasingly fragile’ global food system, the chief executive of one of the world’s largest food producers has warned.
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Pig farm lawyers threaten Soil Association
19 January 2011
LIBEL lawyers Carter and Ruck have threatened the Soil Association with legal action if it fails to withdraw objections to a planning application for one of the country’s largest pig units.
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£2 million organic promotion is 'unfair'
19 January 2011
A TWO million pound campaign using taxpayer money to highlight the benefits of organic food is unfair on conventional farmers, according to a leading industry commentator.
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FMD rampant in South Korea
18 January 2011
FOOT-and-mouth disease is rampant in South Korea where the Government has ordered the culling of almost two million livestock.
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New cloning rules under public scrutiny
18 January 2011
CONTROVERSIAL plans to allow products from the offspring of cloned cattle and pigs to enter into the food chain have been put to the public.
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Farmers consider major fuel protest
17 January 2011
FARMERS and hauliers are considering fuel price protests similar to those that brought parts of the country to a standstill in 2000 when petrol pumps ran dry.
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Farmers struggle as hay shortage continues
17 January 2011
ONE of the hardest winters on record continues to take its toll on farmers trying to find feed for their livestock.
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Dairy Event unveils New Smithfield
14 January 2011
THE Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers has today (Friday) unveiled a brand new strand to The Dairy Event and Livestock Show – New Smithfield – as a specialist event for beef farmers.
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Agriculture in the national news - January 14
14 January 2011
A DAILY look at how agriculture has hit the headlines across the country (Friday, January 14).
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Industry warns of egg shortage
13 January 2011
BRITISH consumers and food manufacturers could be left short of eggs next year when new welfare rules cut off supplies from Europe.
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Men arrested in Irish pork contamination scare
12 January 2011
FOUR men have been arrested in Northern Ireland as police investigate their role in the 2008 Irish pork contamination scare. Another man was arrested in the Irish Republic.
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E.coli farm admits liability for outbreak
12 January 2011
THE open farm at the centre of Britain’s largest outbreak of E.coli has admitted liability for the disaster which left 90 children and adults with serious health problems.
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Milk now cheaper than water
11 January 2011
MILK has become cheaper than water on Britain’s supermarket shelves as major retailers embark on their latest ‘cut-throat’ price war to win consumers over.
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Dioxin scare highlights need for traceability
11 January 2011
AN MEP has called for more effective traceability of food products after it was discovered German poultry farms exported thousands of eggs with illegally high levels of dioxins to the UK.
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Crop research given £20m boost
11 January 2011
A TWENTY million pound fund has been offered to the world’s top plant scientists to improve food security and increase sustainable crop yields in the developing world within the next 5-10 years.
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Kendall talks CAP with EU Commissioner
10 January 2011
EU farm commissioner Dacian Ciolos visited ‘the bedrock of UK farming’ last week at the invitation of NFU president Peter Kendall.
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Contaminated dioxin eggs imported into UK
7 January 2011
EGGS with illegal levels of dioxins have been exported to the UK from German farms where chickens were fed on contaminated feed.
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OFC 2011: Poultry genetically modified to resist avian flu
6 January 2011
BRITISH researchers are developing genetically modified poultry that are resistant to the avian flu virus in a bid to dramatically reduce the risk of a human pandemic.
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OFC 2011: GM key to future of CAP - Lyon
6 January 2011
SUSTAINABILITY must be the central theme of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and genetically modified (GM) crops must be used to achieve it, Liberal Democrat MEP George Lyon told Oxford Conference delegates today (Wednesday, January 5).
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OFC 2011: Defra’s vision of the CAP is flawed – NFUS
6 January 2011
DEFRA’S bid for a ‘fundamental reform’ of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is naïve and flawed according to NFU Scotland.
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US advised to initiate GM trade war - WikiLeaks
5 January 2011
THE United States was advised by its Embassy in Paris to initiate a trade war against members of the European Union that failed to support genetically modified (GM) crops, WikiLeaks cables have revealed.
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Six communities win BT’s rural broadband competition
5 January 2011
SIX rural communities have won BT’s Race to Infinity competition to receive a super-fast broadband connection.
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Police get snap-happy in crime crackdown
5 January 2011
POLICE in Northumberland are getting snap-happy with farmers as part of a new initiative to combat rural crime.
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Defra gets tough on rogue medicine traders
5 January 2011
DEFRA has introduced new controls to eradicate alternative medicines sold by rogue traders which could be dangerous to livestock.
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Oxford rebels attack 'pro-GM' conference
4 January 2011
OXFORD Farming Conference rebels have attacked the flagship agricultural event for adopting a pro-GM stance.
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EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos speaks to FG
30 December 2010
A WEEK before he appears at the Oxford Farming Conference Farmers Guardian caught up with EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos and asked exactly how he planned to reform the Common Agricultural Policy.
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Reformed CAP must appeal to taxpayers – Ciolos
30 December 2010
FARMERS will be required to deliver more public benefits in return for their single farm payment in the latest shake-up of EU farm policy, Europe’s agricultural chief has confirmed.
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Defra shelves controversial antibiotic rules
30 December 2010
DEFRA has agreed to shelve controversial plans to ban the advertising of antibiotics to farmers that would have starved them of vital information to keep their animals in good health.
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Health & Safety: Nutritionist, agronomist… health and safety expert
December 30, 2010
Farm accidents are increasing, but health and safety remains a pariah subject among farmers. However, Oliver Dale, a farm safety consultant, is trying to make safety as mainstream as nutrition or agronomy. William Surman reports.
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EU must stamp out battery egg ‘scandal’
22 December 2010
POULTRY farmers who fail to phase out battery cages by 2012 will face tough measures after the European Parliament backed a resolution tabled by British MEP George Lyon last week.
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Battle is on for NFU Scotland presidency
21 December 2010
TWO Scottish farmers will battle it out to become NFU Scotland president when Jim McLaren steps down in February 2011.
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Government GM stance could hit feed prices
December 17, 2010
THE Coalition Government’s failure to come up with a formal policy on genetically modified (GM) crops has left Defra officials rudderless during talks in Europe and unable to defend the interests of British farmers, according to a key industry body.
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Record food inflation puts spotlight on UK policy
16 December 2010
A RECORD rise in food prices last month should act as a wake-up call to policy makers about the importance of domestic food production, an industry expert has warned.
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Tuition fees will hit agricultural workforce
16 December 2010
THE Government’s controversial plan to increase university tuition fees will impact heavily on agricultural students and leave a serious gap in the rural workforce, students have warned.
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No need to change pesticide rules – Defra
15 December 2010
THERE is no compelling evidence to justify further regulations and voluntary controls to improve the safety of pesticide use in Britain, the Government has concluded.
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Government moves to overhaul planning rules
13 December 2010
THE Government has published its eagerly anticipated Localism Bill today (Monday, December 13) which contains measures to overhaul the planning system and give local people more influence over decisions.
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Super dairy campaigners meet Minister
10 December 2010
ANIMAL welfare campaigners have met with Farm Minister Jim Paice in a bid to stop Nocton Dairies’ proposal for a 3,770 dairy cow farm in Lincolnshire.
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Dairy farmers given new powers under EU plans
9 December 2010
MILK producer organisations in the EU will be allowed to control up to 33 per cent of the total milk volume in any one country under new proposals from the European Commission.
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FSA U-turn puts clones back on the menu
9 December 2010
BRITISH farmers could soon be permitted to sell meat and milk products from the offspring of cloned animals to consumers after a controversial U-turn by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) this week.
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HLS start dates announced
8 December 2010
NATURAL England will provide a start date to all farmers and landowners that have applied to join the HLS scheme within the next week.
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Farmers set to cash in on solar boom
8 December 2010
SOLAR energy could be the next major UK cash crop after a survey revealed eight out of ten farmers would consider installing solar photovoltaics on their roofs within the next three years.
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Profits soar on green livestock farms
7 December 2010
LIVESTOCK producers who cut their environmental footprints earn more than their more polluting counterparts, new industry research has revealed.
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Spelman wants farmers standing on ‘own two feet’
7 December 2010
DEFRA Secretary Caroline Spelman has criticised the European Commission’s ‘timid’ approach to CAP reform post 2013, arguing it will leave farmers too reliant on production subsidies.
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Farmers warned as buildings collapse under snow
6 December 2010
MORE than 50 farm buildings have collapsed under heavy snow as the big freeze continues to put Scottish farmers in danger, NFU Scotland has warned.
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UK farmers pay the price of high welfare standards
22 November 2010
BRITISH farming unions were in Brussels last week to convince legislators to bring the rest of Europe up to scratch on welfare regulations.
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Dolly creator urges Europe to back cloning
22 November 2010
THE creator of Dolly the sheep, the worlds most famous cloned animal, was in Brussels last week to convince EU policy that cloning technology offered EU farmers huge opportunities.
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On video: Industry reaction to CAP plans
20 November 2010
THE European Commission sparked a fierce debate about farm policy this week when it published a selection of options to reform the CAP. Farmers Guardian was first on the scene in Brussels to talk to farming leaders and MEPs. Watch their reactions here.
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Treasury gives Defra £100 million ‘bonus’
19 November 2010
THE Treasury has awarded Defra a £100 million ‘bonus’ for agreeing to an early settlement on its spending cuts during the Comprehensive Spending Review, it emerged this week.
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CAP plans could spark food crisis
18 November 2010
THE European Commission risks pushing the world into a food crisis if it tinkers with the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) to make farmers less competitive, an MEP has warned.
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Greener CAP set to be unveiled
17 November 2010
THE European Commission will reveal how it intends to reform the CAP post-2013 when it publishes its official communication tomorrow (Thursday, November 18).
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Defra lifts freeze on HLS start dates
17 November 2010
FARMERS who have applied to join the HLS scheme this year will be given a start date after Defra lifted the temporary suspension on the scheme this week.
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Calls for new laws after walker killed by bull
17 November 2010
THE Ramblers Association has called for a review of the legislation allowing certain bulls in fields with public footpaths after a couple were attacked while walking in the countryside last week.
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Paice 'regrets' new stewardship payment schedule
17 November 2010
PAYMENTS on Environmental Stewardship schemes will be made at two fixed times a year rather than the current rolling model, Defra has confirmed. Jim Paice, the farm minister, said he regretted the decision but added his hands were tied by the European Commission and a failure to comply would result in heavy fines.
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Sustainable Livestock Bill crashes to defeat
17 November 2010
A PRIVATE Member’s Bill designed to encourage farmers to graze their livestock outdoors and use home-grown feed rather than imported soya has crashed to defeat in the House of Commons.
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UK consumers eating GM-derived food ‘every day’
15 November 2010
BRITISH supermarkets have been urged to label products that have been reared on a diet of genetically modified (GM) feed so consumers can avoid GM products.
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Farmer 'devastated' after fatal bull attack
15 November 2010
A MAN has been killed and his wife critically injured after they were attacked by a bull while walking in the countryside.
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Lawyers question EU's GM plans
10 November 2010
PLANS to allow EU countries to unilaterally ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops in their own territory have been thrown into disarray by Europe’s legal experts.
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Slaughterhouses face £32 million bill
10 November 2010
CONTROVERSEY has erupted over Food Standards Agency (FSA) plans to pass the entire cost of meat hygiene inspections in slaughterhouses and cutting plants onto the industry.
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Organic farmers call for end to duplicate rules
10 November 2010
THE Soil Association has called on Defra to cut needless rules that duplicate measures already in place to meet organic certifications.
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National Parks get Big Society treatment
9 November 2010
THE GOVERNMENT has challenged the public to come up with ideas to improve the economic and environmental viability of England’s National Parks.
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Commission claws back misspent CAP millions
9 November 2010
THE European Commission is clawing back £500 million in misspent CAP money including £3.3 million from the UK.
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Pigs can fly to China under Cable’s export deal
9 November 2010
BUSINESS Secretary Vince Cable has signed a multi-million pound agreement to export British breeding pigs to China.
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Industry urged to collaborate to face food challenge
4 November 2010
FARMING and food businesses must change the way they operate to cope with a dramatic structural shift in the global food market, a food chain expert has warned.
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Spelman hails global biodiversity plan
4 November 2010
CAROLINE Spelman, the Defra Secretary, has hailed an historic agreement to protect the world’s most threatened animals and plants.
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Badger baiting men sentenced
4 November 2010
THREE men found guilty of disturbing a badger sett have been handed a 12-week suspended prison sentence and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
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Major farm injuries rise 40 per cent
3 November 2010
THERE has been a sharp increase in the number of people killed or seriously injured on British farms, new figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have revealed.
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HLS applicants suffer as Natural England runs out of cash
3 November 2010
ONE of Defra’s flagship agri-environment schemes has run out of money five months before the end of the financial year and a week after the Government announced an 83 per cent increase in its budget.
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Cost Sharing moves a step closer
28 October 2010
DEFRA will slash £12.5 million off its annual budget for animal health, British Waterways and its Marine Strategy, it has emerged this week.
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Natural England to shed 400 jobs
28 October 2010
NATURAL England will shed 400 staff by May next year, and that figure could rise to 800 within four years, cost-saving details have revealed this week.
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Forests could be sold off to balance Defra books
28 October 2010
SWATHES of England’s forest could be sold off to help Defra balance its books in one go.
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Defra defies climate warnings with £110m cut to flood defences
28 October 2010
SPENDING on flood defence projects will fall over the next four years, despite warnings from climate experts that extreme weather events are on the increase.
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GM debate must be science-led, says MEP
28 October 2010
AN MEP has urged the European Parliament to dismiss ‘dogmatic politics’ in favour of science when formulating policy for genetically modified (GM) technology.
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WSPA continues campaign against Nocton 'super dairy'
27 October 2010
MPs and campaigners gathered at a reception in the Houses of Parliament last night (Tuesday) to express their concerns at plans to build an 8,100-cow dairy unit in Lincolnshire.
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Lantern alert ahead of Fireworks Night and Halloween
26 October 2010
THE agricultural community has been put on red alert ahead of Fireworks Night and Halloween when thousands of Chinese Lanterns are expected to be released into the sky.
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Tesco war with Hovis over wheat price
26 October 2010
DESPITE a spike in the price of wheat Tesco has refused a request from Hovis to pay more for a loaf of its bread.
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Russia extends wheat export ban
25 October 2010
RUSSIA has extended its ban on wheat exports by six months to July 1 to continue the upward pressure on prices.
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Romanian children found working in farmer’s field
25 October 2010
SEVEN Romanian children between the ages of nine and fifteen have been found working on a farm in Worcestershire.
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Fury as farmers blockade Tesco depot
22 October 2010
FARMERS formed a blockade outside a Tesco depot near Southampton last night (Thursday, October 21) to protest against poor returns from all the major supermarkets.
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HLS still open for business says Natural England
22 October 2010
NATURAL England has reassured farmers that the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme is still open for business and urged them to apply to the scheme as normal.
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Defra to shed up to 8,000 jobs
21 October 2010
DEFRA and its arms length bodies will shed between five and eight thousands jobs over the next four years as the department attempts to make savings of £700 million by 2014.
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What the spending review means for farmers
21 October 2010
Defra has been criticised for a lack of detail on what its spending settlement will actually mean. Here is what we do know:
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Renewable heat scheme escapes budget cuts
20 October 2010
THE Government has committed £860 million to ensure farmers and other operators will be paid premium prices for every unit of renewable heat they produce.
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EU ministers oppose GM rule change
20 October 2010
A PLAN by the European Commission to allow member states to unilaterally restrict or authorise the cultivation of genetically modified crops in their own territory has been vehemently opposed by EU heavyweights France, Germany and Italy.
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PepsiCo to cut potato impact by 50 per cent
20 October 2010
PEPSICO has confirmed plans to halve carbon emissions and water usage across its core crops within five years.
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EU approves food from offspring of cloned animals
19 October 2010
THE European Commission has given the green light for member states to sell the offspring of cloned animals and their products into the food chain.
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Consumers told to cut meat consumption to save lives
19 October 2010
BRITISH consumers have been told to cut meat consumption to three meals per week to prevent 45,000 premature deaths per year.
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Defra spending cuts ‘will be bloody’
19 October 2010
DEFRA spending cuts of ‘at least’ 30 per cent are likely when Chancellor George Osborne announces the full burden of departmental savings tomorrow (Wednesday), farmers have been warned.
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Former Ag Commissioner issues stark warning on CAP
18 October 2010
THE man responsible for the most far-reaching reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has urged the current Brussels incumbents not to shirk further reform.
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WI lobby take labelling campaign to Europe
15 October 2010
MEMBERS of the WI have told MEPs to fight for mandatory country of origin labelling on meat to stop consumers from being duped into buying foreign food when all they want is domestic produce.
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RSPB blasted for ‘outdated prejudice’ against pesticides
14 October 2010
AN RSPB proposal to tax pesticides and other farm inputs to raise money to protect the environment has been rubbished by the crop protection industry.
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30% CAP budget cuts are ‘realistic’
14 October 2010
WHILE debate rages over exactly how CAP money will be spent after 2013, one thing is crystal clear – the current £48 billion budget will be reduced.
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Time ticking down on red tape review
13 October 2010
FARMERS have less than three weeks to put forward novel ideas and solutions to get rid of Government red tape.
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Image problem is holding agriculture back
13 October 2010
THE public perception of agriculture and the wider food industry as unfashionable and outdated is driving young people away from the sector and threatening Britain’s food security, politicians have been warned.
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Tax on pesticides could pay for cuts in wildlife budget
12 October 2010
A TAX on the use of pesticides and fertilizers are two controversial options being pushed by the RSPB to raise funds to protect wildlife when Government cuts take effect.
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Sheep graze Savile Row to kick off wool week
11 October 2010
LONDON’S Savile Row, home to some of the world’s finest tailors, looked more like Exmoor today (Monday, October 11) as two flocks of sheep took to grazing in the street.
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EBEC treats farmers to the best in bioenergy
8 October 2010
FARMERS from up and down the country travelled to EBEC – the UK’s largest bioenergy exhibition – this week to check out the latest in green technology.
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Barker test drives waste powered car
8 October 2010
GREG Barker, the Climate Change Minister, drove the UK’s first VW Beetle that runs on gas from sewage sludge this week.
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Home made biodiesel is cheap and easy
8 October 2010
BUY a litre of diesel today and it will cost you £1.20, but do it yourself and it can cost you as little as 20 pence per litre.
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Clone rules could be relaxed under Defra review
8 October 2010
DEFRA has confirmed it is looking at changing the rules surrounding clones which could allow British farmers to sell meat and milk products from the offspring cloned animals.
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Minister promises TLC for green farmers
7 October 2010
RENEWABLE energy incentives will continue to be rolled out by the Government to ensure farmers have confidence to invest and make money in the sector.
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Defra will 'claw back' lost markets
6 October 2010
CAROLINE Spelman used her maiden conference speech as Defra Secretary this week to blast ‘a legacy of neglect’ by the previous Labour Government and promised to ‘make up for lost time’ in her new role.
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Kendall urges Tories to protect single farm payments
6 October 2010
PETER Kendall, NFU president, has called on the Conservative Party to back single farm payments (SFP) in CAP reform discussions..
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Tories building ‘greenest ever’ Government
5 October 2010
THE Conservative Party is building the ‘greenest ever’ Government which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and bring in new income streams for farmers, Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office Minister, has said.
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Spelman will fight for Defra's frontline services
5 October 2010
DEFRA Secretary Caroline Spelman has vowed to protect her department’s frontline services against debilitating Government cuts and instead target quangos and wasteful bureaucracy.
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Minister to update farmers on green subsidies
4 October 2010
FARMERS and businesses keen to cash in on the renewable energy market will look expectantly to Greg Barker, the Climate Change Minister, this week.
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NVZ derogation applications open
1 October 2010
FARMERS of grazing livestock in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ) can apply for a derogation to spread up to 250kg of livestock nitrogen manure per hectare in 2011 from today (Friday, October 1).
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EU releases grain stocks to calm prices
1 October 2010
THE European Commission will release 3 million tonnes of intervention stocks onto the market to help calm rising food and feed costs across the continent.
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Don’t cut our green subsidies, says industry
30 September 2010
RENEWABLE energy producers have expressed their ‘deep concern’ that incentives put in place to encourage them into green energy schemes will be axed under Government cuts.
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Free bioenergy advice clinics for farmers
30 September 2010
IF you have a question about bioenergy on your farm, Farmers Guardian will provide the answers.
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83 million EU eggs will fail welfare standards
30 September 2010
MEPs have slammed European Commission officials for allowing member states to ‘ignore’ legislation meant to improve the welfare of millions of chickens.
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Farmers want answers on CAP
30 September 2010
THE European Commission’s failure to make clear statements on how the CAP will look after 2013 is threatening farmers’ ability to make key business decisions, an MEP has warned.
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Government told to create more space for nature
30 September 2010
ENGLAND’S collection of wildlife sites are too small, too isolated and their loss is leading to a severe decline in biodiversity, the author of an independent Government review has concluded.
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Major flood exercise will test emergency responses
30 September 2010
A MAJOR flooding exercise will take place across England and Wales to test national and regional responses to severe flooding.
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Local food scam rips off consumers
29 September 2010
CONSUMERS are being duped into buying food promoted as local or regional when it has been produced hundreds of miles away, a nationwide investigation has revealed.
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England gets a preview of cost sharing plans
29 September 2010
ENGLISH livestock farmers have been given a sneak preview of how responsibility and cost sharing regulations could work, should the Government decide to implement recommendations from its key advisory group.
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Uplands ELS reaches half a million hectares
29 September 2010
MORE than half a million hectares of England’s most cherished agricultural landscapes are now under Uplands Entry Level Stewardship (ELS).
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Feed costs spiral as GM ban hits poultry sector hard
28 September 2010
AN agreement between Britain’s major retailers to prohibit British poultry growers from using GM feed – a measure not imposed on other livestock sectors – has sent feed costs spiralling.
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Russian wheat ban will not spark food crisis, says US
28 September 2010
THERE are enough global food stocks to prevent a return to the 2008 food crisis, Barack Obama’s agriculture secretary has reassured world leaders.
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High Speed rail will ‘rape’ the countryside
27 September 2010
A CAMPAIGNER has walked the entire length of the proposed High Speed 2 (HS2) rail route between Birmingham and London to highlight the impact it will have on local people.
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English Winter Fair mops up after AgriLIVE demise
27 September 2010
ORGANISERS of the English Winter Fair have invited producers, sponsors and exhibitors disappointed by the demise of the AgriLIVE Smithfield show to attend their show instead.
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Olympic stars bring milk back into fashion
27 September 2010
TWO of Britain’s top tips for gold at the London 2012 Olympics have backed a campaign to get more youngsters to drink milk.
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Limousin pips Simmental to beef inter-breed at Berkshire
September 24, 2010
The Royal County of Berkshire Show, Newbury, pulled in near record crowds over the weekend for its 101st event – 25 of which have been on its current venue at Newbury showground. PICTURES: John Eveson
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Bio demand fuels vast new market
23 September 2010
WITH huge new biofuel plants coming online, including Ensus and Vivergo in the North East, and Government biofuel targets increasing, UK farmers have another new market for their crops.
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Pluses and minuses of growing miscanthus
23 September 2010
Also known as elephant grass, miscanthus is a tall biomass crop developed specifically for energy production. Planted using specialist planting equipment, it takes two years to become properly established, and then regrows every year after harvest in the spring, for 15-20 years.
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Cash-savvy Tim’s a green convert
23 September 2010
Miscanthus has waned in popularity over recent years, but new technology and revived interest from end consumers could thrust it back into the limelight. JANE BROWN reports.
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Farmers can cash-in on going green
23 September 2010
Farmers are starting to make real money from renewable energy. And the Government is supporting them. Read the latest on how to make the most from this exciting market.
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Huhne told to defend renewable energy incentives
23 September 2010
ENERGY Secretary Chris Huhne has been urged to protect renewable energy incentives from Treasury cuts.
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MEPs dismiss 'crazy' rat poison ban
23 September 2010
FEARS that rat poison could be banned under ‘crazy’ new EU legislation to protect the public from toxic substances have been allayed.
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Lib Dems challenge Defra on farm worker wages
22 September 2010
THE Liberal Democrat Party is set to challenge Farm Minister Jim Paice over Defra’s decision to scrap the Agriculture Wages Board (AWB).
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Slaughter-free milk will appeal to UK’s 4 million veggies
21 September 2010
A MASSIVE new market of four million vegetarians and millions more ‘welfare-conscious’ consumers could open up to dairy farmers willing to sell ‘slaughter-free’ milk, a Suffolk farmer has claimed.
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EU battle over GM potato continues
21 September 2010
LUXEMBOURG has joined Hungary and Austria in their legal challenge over the authorisation of BASF’s genetically modified (GM) potato Amflora.
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EU grants relief on EID breaches
21 September 2010
THE European Commission will not punish sheep farmers for EID errors that are out of their control, the executive has confirmed after heavy lobbying from Scottish MEP Alyn Smith.
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Police fire tear gas at French dairy farmers
21 September 2010
FRENCH police fired tear gas at hundreds of dairy farmers protesting against poor milk prices last week.
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Franco-German alliance backs strong CAP
17 September 2010
EUROPE’S two heavyweight nations, France and Germany, have backed a strong CAP and a continuation of direct payments to farmers after 2013.
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Caution urged over plans to lift meat and bonemeal ban
17 September 2010
THE ban on feeding meat and bonemeal (MBM) to pigs and poultry could be lifted under EU proposals to relax costly and time-consuming BSE controls.
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EFFP urges members to support new farm consultancy
17 September 2010
THE English Farming and Food Partnerships (EFFP), which helps farmers collaborate across the supply chain, is calling on members to back proposals to invest in a newly formed agri-food consultancy.
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High Speed Rail to bisect Stoneleigh Park
17 September 2010
THE National Agriculture Centre at Stoneleigh Park suffered a blow this week after the Government unveiled changes to the proposed high speed rail link from London to Birmingham which would see the new train line cut through the park.
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Farmers deserve right to choose on animal medicines
September 17, 2010
New rules being considered by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate could take key information away from farmers when it comes to making choices about health planning. William Surman and Jack Davies report.
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Government cuts could hit pesticide safety
16 September 2010
THE crop protection industry has urged the Government not to scrap two key committees responsible for providing independent advice on pesticide safety.
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Scientists discover cold weather crop gene
16 September 2010
BRITISH scientists have discovered a crop gene which could help develop plants more suited to cooler environments and help tackle global food shortages.
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Shoppers demand more ethical produce
14 September 2010
NEARLY one third of British shoppers want to buy food produced to higher animal welfare standards, a survey has revealed.
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Mapping update headache hits Northern Ireland
13 September 2010
NORTHERN Ireland must systematically review all 742,000 fields currently used to claim the Single Farm Payment if it is to avoid heavy EU fines.
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Government must not shirk 15% renewable energy target
13 September 2010
THE Government must press ahead with its efforts to ensure 15 per cent of all energy is produced from renewable sources by 2020, according to David Cameron’s climate change advisors.
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EU calls to prohibit supermarket loss leaders
10 September 2010
EURO-MPs have called on EU policy makers to prohibit the sale of agricultural produce below purchase price.
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Labour MEP calls for ban on clones
10 September 2010
LABOUR MEP Linda McAvan has called for a total ban on cloned meat and milk products until new laws are put in place to regulate the market.
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EU working with FSA to resolve cloning rules
8 September 2010
EUROPEAN Commission officials are talking with their counterparts at the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) to try to bring Britain into line with the rest of Europe on cloning rules.
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EU laws insufficient as MEPs go on supermarket attack
7 September 2010
EU law is insufficient to protect farmers from being bullied by supermarkets – a practice which happens throughout the European Union, according to MEPs.
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Rural England running at less than half capacity
7 September 2010
RURAL communities could contribute an extra £250 billion to the national economy if they had access to broadband internet connections and affordable housing, the Government’s Rural Advocate has revealed.
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First cattle arrive at Dairy Event and Livestock Show
6 September 2010
THE first of more than 200 cattle entries have arrived at the NEC in Birmingham for the Dairy Event and Livestock Show which begins tomorrow (Tuesday, September 7).
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UK beef farmers ‘question their future’
6 September 2010
UK beef farmers need ‘a clear price commitment’ from retailers if they are to remain in business, the NFU’s national livestock board chairman Alistair Mackintosh has warned.
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Farmers tag fuel to catch thieves
3 September 2010
FARMERS in Hampshire are mixing a ‘chemical tag’ into their diesel tanks to catch thieves red-handed after a steep rise in fuel thefts.
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Next generation solar energy receives £7M boost
2 September 2010
NANOTECHNOLOGY researchers and energy specialists have been invited to propose research projects that will compete for £7 million to help stimulate the next generation of solar energy harvesting technologies.
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Pig industry hails turnaround in fortunes
2 September 2010
THE British pig industry has hailed a dramatic turnaround in its fortunes exemplified by plans to build two new units in Lincolnshire and a huge unit in Derbyshire.
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Protesters rally against Nocton super-dairy
1 September 2010
OPPOSITION to the controversial 8,100-cow ‘super-dairy’ planned for Nocton in Lincolnshire gathered pace today (Wednesday, September 1) as protesters descended on Westminster.
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EC must bring FSA ‘into line’ on cloning
1 September 2010
A SCOTTISH MEP has told the European Commission to haul the Food Standards Agency (FSA) ‘into line’ over its interpretation of EU cloning rules.
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EU farmers set to flout battery egg ban
31 August 2010
UP to 30 per cent of eggs produced in continental Europe could still come from caged hens in 2012 despite an EU-wide ban on cages, an MEP has warned.
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Major scientific breakthrough will increase wheat yields
27 August 2010
A TEAM of British researchers has cracked one of the toughest genetic codes of any plant with the first mapping of a wheat genome – a genome five times larger than its human equivalent.
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Farmer would buy another cloned bull ‘tomorrow’
26 August 2010
THE Scottish farmer at the centre of the cloning controversy would buy another cloned bull tomorrow if he got the opportunity.
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UK growers get biofuel head start
25 August 2010
A NEW farm assurance scheme for biofuel crops will give UK arable farmers the edge in Europe’s rapidly growing bioenergy market.
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Doubts over high speed rail compensation
25 August 2010
FARMERS disrupted by the high speed rail link due to run between London and Birmingham may lose out on compensation due to a ‘restrictive definition’ of agricultural units, the NFU has warned.
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FSA Scotland accused of ‘draconian’ approach to meat inspection
25 August 2010
THE Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Scotland has been accused of a ‘draconian’ approach to meat inspection in an industry review.
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Young dairy farmer wins more awards
24 August 2010
YOUNG dairy farmer Jess Vaughan, 28, is celebrating after winning her eighth Great Taste Award gold medal in just three years with her Jess’s Ladies Organic Milk.
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Farm workers will strike over pay, TUC warns
23 August 2010
THE Government’s decision to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) could result in farm strikes and civil unrest, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has warned.
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Harper Adams to spread the green message
23 August 2010
ONE of Britain’s leading agricultural colleges has been awarded £75,000 to help spread its green message to other educational institutions.
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Pakistan flood farmers appeal for help
23 August 2010
MILLIONS of livestock are either dead or in danger in Pakistan as the severe flooding continues to cause havoc in the countryside.
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Blow to US sugar industry as GM beet is banned
19 August 2010
THE US sugar industry was rocked this week when a federal Judge banned the growth of genetically modified (GM) sugar beet which provides half of all US sugar.
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Major new disease threat to potatoes
19 August 2010
POTATO growers have been warned against importing seed from the Netherlands where a deadly new disease is decimating crops.
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Farmers braced for deep EU budget cuts
19 August 2010
FARMERS should brace themselves for a serious cut in CAP funding after 2013, a European Commission official has warned.
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Defra tells farmers to ‘go further’ on environment
18 August 2010
FARMERS must do more to protect the environment and stave off Government regulation, Jim Paice, Farm Minister, warned this week.
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British biofuels better than unsustainable imports
18 August 2010
MOST biofuels used by motorists in the UK are imported and meet no environmental standards, it has been revealed.
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Campaign launched to get wool into the 2012 Olympics
17 August 2010
FORGET gold, silver and bronze medals, competitors at the 2012 London Olympics could be awarded a commemorative wool badge if British sheep farmers get their way.
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Rural Coalition warns of countryside ghost towns
16 August 2010
RURAL villages will turn into ghost towns unless the Government takes radical action to empower local people, a newly formed group of rural experts has warned.
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Farmers quit in droves as milk price dives
11 August 2010
SCOTTISH dairy farmers are quitting the industry in their droves as supermarket price wars continue to eat into farmers’ returns, new data has revealed.
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Wedge Wellies rewarded in Dragons’ Den
10 August 2010
FASHIONABLE wellies got the nod from retail guru Theo Paphitis on BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den last night (Monday, August 10).
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GM crop ‘escapes into the wild’ in US
10 August 2010
US researchers have found new evidence to suggest genes from genetically modified crops are escaping into the wild to create new ‘super’ weeds.
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Further warnings over deadly Chinese lanterns
10 August 2010
A SHARP increase in the number of crop fires and dead livestock caused by Chinese lanterns has lead to renewed calls to stop party revellers from releasing them.
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School milk U-turn boost to dairy farmers
9 August 2010
PLANS to scrap the school milk scheme for under-fives have been quashed by Prime Minister David Cameron.
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Defra asks farmers for red-tape reduction ideas
6 August 2010
DEFRA’S red-tape task force, set up to root out unnecessary regulation, is asking farmers for their ideas on where paperwork can be ditched.
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Outstanding Charolais is crowned New Forest beef champion
August 6, 2010
Temperatures soared at the New Forest and Hampshire County Show on Wednesday (July 28) where the heat was on judge David Mills to pick a champion beef inter-breed winner from a superb line-up.
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Farmer tells of ‘distress’ as clone row rages
5 August 2010
THE Scottish farmer at the centre of the row over the sale of cloned meat and milk into the food chain has spoken of his ‘distress’ as the controversy continues to rage in the British media.
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Clone search reveals second bull in the food chain
4 August 2010
A SECOND bull born from a cloned mother has entered the food chain, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has confirmed, as its investigation into cloned livestock on British farms continues.
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Evidence needed to ban Chinese lanterns
4 August 2010
CHINESE lanterns are killing livestock, destroying crops and must be banned before more damage is done, the head of the Women’s Food and Farming Union has warned.
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FSA admits cloned meat entered food chain
4 August 2010
THE Food Standards Agency (FSA) has admitted meat from the offspring of a cloned cow has entered the food chain.
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Retailers rage against ‘supermarket quango’
3 August 2010
THE Government’s supermarket adjudicator will be nothing more than a costly new quango, retailers have warned today (Tuesday, August 3).
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Government unveils supermarket ‘adjudicator’ to protect farmers
3 August 2010
THE Government has announced groundbreaking plans to create a supermarket ‘adjudicator’ to investigate and solve supply disputes between farmers, suppliers and supermarkets.
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Wheat prices rocket to new high
3 August 2010
WHEAT prices have rocketed over the past month in what has been their steepest one month climb for three decades.
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Defra set to cut environment red-tape
3 August 2010
DEFRA has published plans to reduce the burden of environmental rules yesterday (Monday, August 2) as the department continues on its mission to cut red-tape from farming.
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Spending cuts hit coastal access rollout
3 August 2010
THE Government’s controversial £50 million plan to create a continuous, signed and managed route around Britain’s coastline has been hit by spending cuts.
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Scots told how to profit from sheep
2 August 2010
SCOTTISH sheep farmers will be given practical advice on how to profit from sheep at an open day organised by the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) next week.
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Defra warning over Ragwort danger
2 August 2010
IT may look like ‘a pretty yellow daisy’ but Farm Minister Jim Paice has warned Ragwort, currently in full bloom across the British countryside, can be fatal to livestock.
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GM feed gets EU green light
30 July 2010
EUROPEAN feed companies have been given the green light to import six genetically modified (GM) maize varieties to market to Europe’s livestock farmers.
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Defra could relax BSE and TSE controls
30 July 2010
DEFRA has launched an informal consultation to discuss European Commission proposals to relax costly and time-consuming BSE and TSE controls.
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Councils given £2 million flood prevention fund
29 July 2010
COUNCILS in flood-prone parts of Britain will be given £2 million to manage and prevent future flooding, Environment Minister Richard Benyon has announced today (Thursday, July 29).
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Compensation for farmers on high speed rail link
27 July 2010
FARMERS disrupted by the new high speed rail link due to run between London and Birmingham will be eligible for compensation, the Government has announced.
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RPA spends £1,000 a week on entertainment
27 July 2010
AN MP has slammed the Rural Payments Agency for spending almost £1,000 a week on ‘entertainment’ while many farmers have been left ‘counting their pennies’.
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Scotsman on badger poison charge
27 July 2010
A SCOTTISH man has appeared in court on charges of interfering with a badger sett.
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Animal feed cartel fined €175 million
27 July 2010
A CARTEL of feed companies has been fined €175 million (£146m) for fixing the price of animal feed phosphates for more than three decades.
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Cameron Diaz wants to be a farm girl
26 July 2010
HOLLYWOOD actress Cameron Diaz has become the latest film star to express her wish to hang up her blockbuster scripts for life on a farm.
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Injustice runs deep in Britain’s failing food system
23 July 2010
FARMERS, agricultural workers, the environment and consumers are all suffering under Britain’s failing food system, according to an influential report from cross-sector experts.
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NFU fears over ‘backward’ CAP talks
23 July 2010
EUROPE is in danger of turning the Common Agricultural Policy into a social and environmental scheme with little focus on productive agriculture, the NFU has cautioned.
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Rosecroft Dazzler takes inter-breed title at Kent
July 23, 2010
ON a bright and sunny Saturday at the Kent County Show, Rosecroft Dazzler, a two-year-old Limousin bull, dazzled the judges to be crowned beef inter-breed champion and supreme cattle champion.
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Record breaking sheepdog sold for £5,000
22 July 2010
A BORDER Collie has been sold for a record fee at an auction of working sheepdogs in Skipton, North Yorkshire.
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Defra sets out farm reform timetable
21 July 2010
DEFRA has published a timetable of milestones to reform British agriculture and encourage sustainable food production throughout the country.
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UK farmers can save the rainforests - FoE
21 July 2010
AN area of rainforest the size of the Yorkshire Dales could be saved each year if UK farmers fed their livestock on home-grown feed rather than imports from Brazil and Argentina, a new Friends of the Earth study has claimed.
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Driving limits would 'devastate' haulage industry
21 July 2010
PROPOSALS to extend the scope of the EU’s working time directive to include self-employed drivers could have a devastating impact on the haulage industry, an MEP has warned.
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Food Standards Agency survives the axe
20 July 2010
THE Government has announced a new streamlined Food Standards Agency (FSA) that will focus solely on food safety, allaying fears the body would be axed.
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Defra loses £25,000 worth of laptops
20 July 2010
FOURTY-ONE Defra laptops worth more than £25,000 have been either lost or stolen over the past 12 months, the Department has admitted.
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Liz Hurley ditches cat-walk for cattle-run
19 July 2010
BRITISH actress and model Liz Hurley will ditch the cat-walk for the cattle-run in a reality TV series set on her farm later this year.
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SPS failures cost taxpayer £161 million
19 July 2010
DEFRA’S failure to implement the Single Farm Payment properly in 2005 has cost the UK taxpayer £161 million, the European Commission has confirmed.
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GYS: Four-year-old wins pig young handlers
14 July 2010
HUNDREDS of spectators packed around the pig show ring to watch four-year-old Catherine Nicholas win the junior young handlers’ competition on Wednesday (July 14).
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GYS: Yorkshire farm workers honoured
14 July 2010
FARM workers, foresters, gamekeepers, journalists and wagon drivers have been rewarded for their long service to Yorkshire agriculture today (Wednesday, July 14).
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GYS: Celebrity chef kicks off work experience scheme
14 July 2010
CELEBRITY chef Ainsley Harriott has launched a new scheme to get young students work experience on working farms in Yorkshire.
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GYS: Make money from your muck
14 July 2010
THERE are more than 8,000 animals at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show and between them they will create quite a heap of muck.
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GYS: Government has forgotten tenant farmers
13 July 2010
TENANTS are responsible for more than one third of agricultural land in England and Wales but lawmakers still treat all farmers as landowners, according to the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA).
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GYS: NFU 'stunned' over plans to flood land
13 July 2010
THE NFU is ‘stunned’ by Environment Agency plans to abandon strategic water pumping stations in Yorkshire to leave thousands of acres of land unprotected from floods.
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Great Yorkshire Show 2010
13 July 2010
A RECORD number of cattle, sheep and pigs have entered the 152nd Great Yorkshire Show this year as the event lives up to its billing as England’s premier agricultural event.
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GYS: Localism agenda 'a threat' to rural economy
13 July 2010
THE Government’s localism agenda could stifle rural economic growth, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has warned.
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Animal clones could spark US trade war
12 July 2010
EURO-MPs are calling for a complete ban on US meat and semen imports until their authorities can prove the produce is not from a cloned animal.
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CAP vision adopted by MEPs
9 July 2010
THE European Parliament has adopted a Scottish MEP’s report on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy post 2013.
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Defra's red tape taskforce takes shape
9 July 2010
DEFRA has announced the members of its Task Force team which will scour the country to identify ways to reduce the regulatory burden on farmers.
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Falling EU farm subsidies buck world trend
8 July 2010
EU farm subsidies, as a percentage of income, fell last year while support across the rest of the world was on an upward trend, latest OECD figures have revealed.
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EU told to ban food from animal clones
8 July 2010
MEPs have called on the EU to ban all food from cloned animals and their descendants, despite widespread acceptance of the technology across many parts of the world.
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GM food labelling rejected by MEPs
8 July 2010
MEPs have rejected a proposal calling for compulsory labelling of food products that derive from animals raised on genetically-modified crops.
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Healthy camel milk could give cows the hump
7 July 2010
CAMEL milk could soon be competing with cow’s milk on British supermarket shelves if the UAE wins approval from the European Union to begin exports.
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Farmers battling driest spell since 1929
6 July 2010
UK farmers are experiencing the driest start to a year since 1929. Official figures from the Met Office reveal just 356.8mm of rain fell in the first six months of this year compared to a long-term average of 511.7mm.
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Prince Charles sets up rural charity
6 July 2010
THE Prince of Wales has launched a new charity to help support Britain’s most impoverished rural areas.
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MEPs want new legislation to fight bullying retailers
5 July 2010
MEPs have vowed to fight for a raft of new EU legislation to protect farmers from bullies and to give them a fair reward for their efforts.
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Scotland’s Chernobyl sheep no longer radioactive
5 July 2010
THE last Scottish sheep farm affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster has been released from movement restrictions imposed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
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Labour MPs shun Efra committee
2 July 2010
THE Labour Party has been accused of giving agriculture the cold shoulder after it failed to find a single MP willing to join the influential Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee.
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Brits get milk and cheese on the cheap
2 July 2010
BRITISH consumers pay less for their milk, cheese and eggs than their European counterparts, a new price comparison survey has revealed.
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Agri-food sector set for significant investment
1 July 2010
BRITAIN’S agri-food sector will benefit from significant investment over the next two years according some of the industry’s top executives.
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Data on 13,000 dairy farmers goes missing
30 June 2010
A LAPTOP containing the details of thousands of dairy farmers in England, Scotland and Wales has been stolen, it has emerged.
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Pesticide levels 'safe' claims report
30 June 2010
THE residue of pesticides left on everyday foods such as fruit and vegetables is said to pose little or no risk to public health, an investigation has revealed.
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Soil Association director steps down
30 June 2010
ONE of the country’s leading organic protagonists, Patrick Holden, is to step down from his role as director of the Soil Association after 20 years at the organisation.
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Primary school opens farmers market
29 June 2010
CHILDREN at a primary school in Plymouth have set up a farmers market selling their own branded produce alongside other locally-sourced and homemade foods.
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Slaughterhouse footage reveals ‘unbearable cruelty’
29 June 2010
AN Essex slaughterhouse is under investigation amid accusations of ‘unbearable cruelty and suffering’ to pigs.
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MP Bill to legislate against 'factory farms'
28 June 2010
A LABOUR MP wants to remove millions of pounds of EU money from ‘factory farms’ and limit livestock farmers’ access to animal feed grown in South America.
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G8 must back farmers to fight food security
24 June 2010
THE world’s richest eight nations are failing to act on their pledge to support farming and lift millions of people out of food poverty according to leading development workers.
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Defra to shift CAP balance away from environment
24 June 2010
THE proportion of CAP rural development funds going into environmental schemes is set to drop in favour of schemes to encourage farmers to be more competitive, Farm Minister Jim Paice has revealed.
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CAP payment register could be abolished
23 June 2010
THE public register revealing the exact amount of CAP money paid to each UK farmer could be breaching data protection rules, according to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
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Bees fitted with 'barcodes' to investigate decline
22 June 2010
THOUSANDS of bees will be fitted with tiny ‘barcode’ devices and scanned as they fly in and out of their hives as experts investigate the affect of pesticides on their health.
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Brazil launches green farm revolution
21 June 2010
BRAZIL’S farmers, often branded the bad environmental boys of global agriculture, have been given £750 million of government money to slash carbon emissions over the next decade.
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Walkers crisps pioneer water efficient potatoes
21 June 2010
THE makers of Britain’s favourite lunchtime snack, Walkers crisps, are pioneering water efficient technology to make their potato production process more environmentally friendly.
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Gloucester Old Spots join elite food club
18 June 2010
GLOUCESTER Old Spot pork has joined an elite club of fine European food which includes Melton Mowbray pork pies, Cornish clotted cream, Champagne and Parma Ham.
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Giant woman backs Red Tractor Week
18 June 2010
FARMERS up and down the country are finding weird and wonderful ways to get involved in Red Tractor Week to promote the high standards of British produce.
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GM debate rages as FSA blast 'anti-science culture'
18 June 2010
THE row over genetically modified food took a dramatic turn this week when the Government’s food safety watchdog said there was an ‘anti-science’ culture in the media and public life.
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Aphrodite’s holds form to claim beef inter-breed
June 18, 2010
THE beef inter-breed championship at the South of England Show at Ardingley, West Sussex, was won by the British Charolais cow, Mortimers Aphrodite.
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EU labelling law shake-up will boost British farmers
17 June 2010
LABELLING laws which allow imported meat to be passed off as British could be a thing of the past under measures agreed in the European Parliament this week.
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Red Tractor celebrates 10th birthday
16 June 2010
THE Red Tractor farm assurance logo, which is now carried on £10 billion worth of British food, has been celebrating its tenth birthday this week.
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Godstone Farm responds to e.coli criticism
16 June 2010
THE open farm at the centre of Britain’s largest outbreak of e.coli last year has responded to an investigation into the disaster.
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MEPs continue fight for strong CAP
16 June 2010
MEP efforts to maintain a strong CAP budget to support Europe’s farmers received a boost this week.
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Open farm shake-up after e.coli outbreak
15 June 2010
BRITAIN’S open farms will have to adhere to a tough new code of practice to protect the public from another devastating E. coli outbreak.
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Report slams ‘inadequate’ support for hill farmers
15 June 2010
SUPPORT for hill farmers is inadequate and must be increased if uplands communities are to survive, according to the Government’s chief advisor on rural issues.
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Policy shake-up will open door to GM
10 June 2010
THE European Union is considering a drastic shake-up of its policy on genetically modified crops which could pave the way to their wide-spread cultivation in Europe.
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GM lobby defends national debate
8 June 2010
A ROW has erupted after anti-GM campaigners called on the Government to scrap plans for a national GM debate which they said would be ‘biased’ and a waste of time and public money.
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Spelman shuts down food lobby firm
8 June 2010
THE food and biotechnology lobbying firm set up by Caroline Spelman, the Defra Secretary, has been closed down by her husband amid criticism over a possible conflict of interest.
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NFU exposes 'The Great Milk Robbery'
7 June 2010
DAIRY farmers are missing out on tens of millions of pounds because processors are failing to filter increased profits back down the supply chain, the NFU has claimed.
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Hertfordshire Show's inter-breed joy
June 4, 2010
The wet and windy conditions at Hertfordshire Show on Saturday did not dampen the enjoyment of Boomer Birch who won the inter-breed beef championship with his three-year-old Simmental cow with calf at foot.
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Benn grills Spelman on badger cull
3 June 2010
SHADOW Defra Secretary Hilary Benn turned the tables on the Tories last week when he grilled new Defra Secretary Caroline Spelman on a badger cull.
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Kendall vows to fight supermarket abuse
2 June 2010
NFU president Peter Kendall will lead his European counterparts in the fight against supermarket abuse after his election to an important EU food chain body last week.
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Planning laws are strangling the countryside
2 June 2010
BRITAIN’S planning laws are strangling the economic development of the countryside and leaving many villages to die a sorry death, according to the Country Land and Business Association (CLA).
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Novelist Ian McEwan wins Gloucester Old Spot pig
2 June 2010
CELEBRATED novelist Ian McEwan was awarded a Gloucestershire Old Spot pig at the Hay Literary festival last week for his comic novel about climate change.
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Farmers warned over rise in fake pesticides
May 28, 2010
BRITISH farmers are being duped into buying fake pesticides as the counterfeit industry booms across the world, a fraud expert has warned.
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Lib Dems will have influence at Defra - Farron
27 May 2010
THE Conservative Party has completed its stranglehold on agricultural positions in the coalition Government, adding the chairmanship of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee to its clean sweep of Defra ministerial seats.
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Red Tractor going from strength to strength
26 May 2010
THE Red Tractor farm assurance scheme is ‘a huge success’ and going ‘from strength-to-strength’ according to its deliver body.
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Sainsbury’s launches cow welfare code
26 May 2010
SAINSBURY’S has launched a new welfare code of practice to raise the standards of dairy production across its dedicated supply group.
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Alex James hails ‘party time’ for British agriculture
26 May 2010
IT is ‘party time’ for British agriculture according to Alex James, the rock’n’roll Blur bassist turned cheese maker.
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Organic naysayers talk 'nonsense' says Prince Charles
25 May 2010
PEOPLE who say organic farming cannot feed the world are talking nonsense, according to Prince Charles.
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British farmers out-muscled in CAP debate
24 May 2010
BRITISH farmers are being out-muscled by their French and German counterparts in the debate on the future of the CAP.
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Hill farmers can cash in on hydro-power
24 May 2010
HILL farmers can save up to 10 per cent on their core costs by harnessing the power of water, a new study has revealed.
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Budget cuts loom over Defra
20 May 2010
CHANCELLOR George Osborne will spell out how he intends to make billions of pounds worth of Government spending cuts next Monday (May 24).
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Locally sourced food saves hospital £6M per year
19 May 2010
NOTTINGHAM City Hospital and the Queen’s Medical Centre claim to save more than £6 million per year by catering with fresh and locally sourced ingredients.
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MEP wins vote for a simpler CAP
19 May 2010
FARMERS could be given the power of self-regulation under new proposals to cut unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy out of EU farm policy.
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McDonalds promotes British food for London 2012 Olympics
18 May 2010
MCDONALDS has teamed up with the London Olympic committee to lead the charge on delivering British farmed food to participants and spectators during the 2012 games.
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MEP warns of ‘disastrous cuts’ in CAP budget
18 May 2010
EUROPE’S top agriculture chief must ‘show some political mettle’ to stave off ‘disastrous cuts’ in the CAP budget, a prominent Scottish MEP has warned.
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NFUS angered by farm wage increase
18 May 2010
A PROPOSAL to increase the minimum wage paid to Scottish farmers by more than the national minimum wage has angered NFU Scotland.
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Open day will explore farmers’ carbon footprint
18 May 2010
AN open day for farmers to explore how to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions will take place in Wiltshire next month.
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EU pesticide rules threaten African exports
17 May 2010
NEW laws to restrict the use of pesticides in Europe could impact heavily on developing world exports, a leading British expert has warned.
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Government looks for common ground on farm policy
14 May 2010
TACKLING TB could emerge as a top agricultural priority under the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.
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More farm subsidy millionaires than ever
12 May 2010
THE number of UK farm businesses receiving more than one million pounds in European subsidies almost doubled from 16 to 29 last year.
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Feed merchant fined over BSE risk
12 May 2010
A FEED merchant has been fined for distributing wheat pellets containing meat and bone meal twelve years after those substances were banned due to the risk of BSE contamination.
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French learn from English farmers
11 May 2010
A DELEGATION of French cereal growers has visited East Anglia to learn about British farming and to discuss the forthcoming reform of the CAP.
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Agricultural employment down but incomes soar
11 May 2010
THERE are 13 per cent fewer people employed in UK agriculture today than there were in 2000 according to official Eurostat figures from the European Union.
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New Defra map exempts thousands from NVZ rules
10 May 2010
FARMERS across the country are urged to check whether they still remain in a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) after Defra reduced the zoned area by nine per cent last week.
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Grain hauliers wasting £42 million a year
10 May 2010
THE grain supply chain is wasting £42 million a year in haulage inefficiencies, an industry study has revealed.
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New study finds organic could be worse for biodiversity
5 May 2010
CONVENTIONAL farming is better for the environment than organic farming when food yields are taken into account, according to a controversial new study released today (Wednesday, May 5).
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NFU defends direct payments in CAP paper
4 May 2010
THE NFU launched a staunch defence of the CAP and warned against moving too much money from direct payments into environmental schemes as it delivered its CAP vision paper to politicians in Brussels today (Tuesday, May 4).
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Farmers turn their back on energy crops
30 April 2010
FARMERS growing crops for biomass are threatening to turn their back on renewable energy production after more than a decade of poor prices.
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'Crazy' EU proposal to ban rat poison
30 April 2010
THE European Union is considering a ban on rat poison that could lead to an infestation of rodents not seen since the bubonic plague hundreds of years ago, an MEP has warned.
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UK pig farmers take welfare message to Brussels
30 April 2010
THE UK pig industry sought to win the affection of Europe’s top policy makers in Brussels this week by hosting a breakfast of British bacon.
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Supermarket ombudsman must protect farmer identity
28 April 2010
THE proposed supermarket ombudsman must keep the identity of all dairy farm complainants anonymous to avoid retaliation from the retailers.
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Organic sector ‘wrong’ to downplay food security fears
27 April 2010
THE organic sector has been criticised for downplaying the need to dramatically increase food production by 2050.
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Dairy processor to cut emissions by 65 per cent
27 April 2010
A DORSET dairy processor will use pioneering renewable energy technology to convert its liquid waste products into biogas and cut carbon emissions by 65 per cent.
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YFC AGM 2010 on video: Young Farmers on Safari (part one)
25 April 2010
YOUNG farmers joined Farmers Guardian’s resident safari expert Safari Steve on the second day of the NFYFC AGM in Torquay as thousands poured through the doors in their fancy dress costumes.
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RSPCA plan to improve Freedom Food welfare
21 April 2010
THE welfare of farm animals will improve dramatically under RSPCA plans to revamp their farm assurance scheme – Freedom Foods.
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UN sheds light on dairy cow emissions
20 April 2010
DAIRY cows are not the environmental villains they are often portrayed to be, according to a comprehensive UN study into dairy emissions.
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'Woolly pigs' return to the UK
20 April 2010
IT may sound like a big porkie or a baa-d joke but woolly pigs are making a comeback in the UK after years of exile.
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MEP chases Euro millions for Scottish farmers
19 April 2010
A SCOTTISH MEP has made a plea for emergency European funds to help Scottish sheep farmers still suffering from the harsh winter.
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Lib Dems will not dodge badger cull
19 April 2010
THE Liberal Democrat Party has reaffirmed its commitment to a badger cull despite failing to make a formal pledge in its manifesto.
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Vets welcome ‘essential’ badger cull
16 April 2010
THE British Veterinary Association has welcomed the green light to implement a badger cull in Wales as an essential tool to control bovine TB.
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Badger cull ‘a tragedy’ for farmers – Brian May
16 April 2010
THE decision to press ahead with a badger cull is ‘a tragedy’ for farmers according to wildlife campaigner and legendary Queen guitarist Brian May.
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Fears for SPS delivery as RPA mapping chaos continues
16 April 2010
THOUSANDS of farmers are struggling to fill in their 2010 single payment forms after the Rural Payment Agency failed to send out correct RLR maps.
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Direct subsidies won't last forever, warns Paice
15 April 2010
EUROPEAN leaders have been told to develop a fair and common market across country borders because direct subsidy support will not help farmers succeed in the long term.
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Lib Dems promise farm industry shake-up
14 April 2010
LIBERAL Democrat leader Nick Clegg has announced ambitious plans to shake-up farm payments and redistribute money to Britain’s most vulnerable farmers.
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Conservative manifesto tackles badgers and foxes
13 April 2010
A CONSERVATIVE Government would introduce a comprehensive package of measures to tackle TB in cattle and badgers and give MPs a free vote to repeal the fox hunting ban, it has been confirmed.
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EU launches public debate over CAP
12 April 2010
A PUBLIC debate has been launched over the future of the European Union’s £50 billion-a-year farm policy.
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Organic sales slump 12.9 per cent
12 April 2010
ORGANIC food sales slumped by 12.9 per cent to £1.84 billion in 2009 as the recession hit the sector hard, but the area of land dedicated to organic farming grew by 9 per cent.
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Skills needed as rural unemployment soars
9 April 2010
THE Government has been urged to invest in agricultural skills and jobs after official figures showed rural unemployment to be soaring.
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Lionel joins young farmers to raise RABI money
9 April 2010
THOUSANDS of young farmers will be joined by national president and rural legend Lionel Hill over the coming weeks to raise money for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI).
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Lib Dem agriculture team faces tough battle in marginal seats
April 9, 2010
TO illustrate the importance of the farming vote in the election the NFU has put together a table of the UK’s top marginal rural seats (right).
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Defra approves GM potato trial
8 April 2010
THE Government has approved a second application from British scientists to plant GM potatoes in a field trial at the University of Leeds.
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Sheep help to promote General Election
8 April 2010
RURAL councils will use sheep in a novel campaign to get voters flocking to the polling booths this year.
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David Cameron woos rural voters with hunt pledge
2 April 2010
DAVID Cameron wooed rural voters yesterday (Thursday, April 1) describing himself as a ‘country boy’ who grew up fishing and shooting.
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Farm subsidies get public thumbs up
1 April 2010
AN overwhelming majority of the British public are in favour of continued income support for farmers, a new survey has found.
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RPA to cut claim costs by 15 per cent
1 April 2010
THE Rural Payments Agency will cut the cost of processing single farm payments by 15 per cent within a year.
-
MEP launches defence of CAP budget
31 March 2010
FARMERS will not be able to tackle food security and climate change if the CAP budget is weakened, the European Parliament’s agriculture committee has warned.
-
Farmers praised as stewardship boosts economy
31 March 2010
DEFRA has heaped praise on farmers engaged in environmental stewardship schemes for the knock-on economic boost they provide to local communities.
-
EU approves £20m crisis aid option for UK farmers
30 March 2010
THE European Commission has approved a temporary scheme which could give British farmers access to state aid of just over £13,000 per farm to cope with the effects of the economic crisis.
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European farmers demand urgent action
30 March 2010
EU farm leaders have called for urgent intervention in the markets to prevent a ‘complete collapse’ of Europe’s farm sector.
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Agriculture lacks significance and skills
29 March 2010
A GOVERNMENT report has ranked agriculture a lowly 26 out of 27 industry groups in a table charting economic significance across England.
-
Former Dairy UK chair breached Parliamentary rules
26 March 2010
DAVID Curry MP has been found in ‘serious breach’ of Parliament rules for failing to agree to ‘non-advocacy’ terms during his time as chairman of Dairy UK.
-
Controversial Bill takes on ‘factory-farmed' meat
26 March 2010
A CONSERVATIVE MP has launched a controversial Parliamentary Bill demanding an ambitious strategy to tackle ‘factory-farmed’ meat.
-
Defra launches plan to increase AD uptake
26 March 2010
DEFRA has launched an ambitious plan to increase on-farm uptake of Anaerobic Digestion plants in England.
-
Sarkozy would spark EU crisis to save CAP
25 March 2010
FRENCH president Nicolas Sarkozy would provoke a crisis in the Europe Union rather than see the Common Agricultural Policy weakened.
-
UN ‘exaggerated’ meat impact on climate change
25 March 2010
A LEADING scientist has accused the UN of exaggerating the impact of meat and dairy production on climate change.
-
Farmers need EU cash to face ‘mind-boggling demands’
25 March 2010
THE former head of European agriculture, Franz Fischler, has urged EU member states to resist agricultural budget cuts against the ‘mind-boggling demands’ faced by farmers.
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RPA mapping update 90 per cent complete
25 March 2010
ALMOST 90 per cent of farmers have now agreed and confirmed their maps as part of the Rural Land Register mapping update.
-
Cider tax provokes anger from producers and drinkers
24 March 2010
ALISTAIR Darling’s decision to raise cider duty by 10 per cent above inflation has sparked anger among apple growers, cider producers and drinkers.
-
RPA copes with second staff strike
24 March 2010
ONE thousand staff at the Rural Payments Agency are on strike today (Wednesday, March 24) in a dispute over cuts to redundancy terms.
-
Don’t forget your Crop Protection Management Plan
24 March 2010
THE NFU is reminding farmers and growers that they have until the end of March to complete their Crop Protection Management Plan (CPMP) – one of the key elements of The Voluntary Initiative.
-
Increased payments for HLS measures
24 March 2010
FARMERS who start their Higher Level Stewardship after July this year will receive increased payment rates on a number of measures.
-
CFE boosted by ELS renewals
23 March 2010
NINE out of ten farmers whose Entry Level Stewardship agreement is due to expire in July have indicated their desire to continue, according to Natural England.
-
CLA’s three-point plan on fly-tipping
22 March 2010
THE CLA has launched a three-point plan to combat fly-tipping.
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Westminster could bankrupt Scottish farming – SNP
22 March 2010
SCOTTISH agriculture is in danger of going bankrupt if Westminster continues to ignore the devolved nations, the Scottish rural affairs secretary has warned.
-
MPs sign up to oppose 'super dairy'
19 March 2010
FORTY MPs have signed an Early Day Motion (EDM) opposing the proposed 8,100 cow super-dairy in Lincolnshire.
-
EU considers CAP name change
18 March 2010
THE CAP could be re-branded as the Common Agricultural and Environmental Policy to reflect the importance of green farming and secure public backing of the budget.
-
Tory MEP tackles EU red-tape
18 March 2010
A CONSERVATIVE MEP has drawn up measures to simplify the CAP.
-
Country of origin labelling a step closer
17 March 2010
MEPs pushed country of origin food labelling laws a step closer to reality yesterday (Tuesday, March 16).
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Natural England pumps £16m into traditional grazing
17 March 2010
NATURAL England will aim to safeguard the unique beauty of the New Forest with a £16 million scheme to maintain traditional grazing of cattle, ponies and pigs in the area.
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UK fined £15.9m for CAP failures
17 March 2010
THE UK Government has been ordered to pay £15.9 million back to the European Commission for its failure to comply with CAP rules.
-
Call for mandatory standards in public sector food
17 March 2010
THE procurement of all public sector food in England should be subject to mandatory standards covering health, environmental impact and animal welfare, Government advisors have concluded.
-
Countryside Alliance attacks game welfare code
16 March 2010
LAST minute changes to a new welfare code for game birds have caused controversy across the shooting industry.
-
McCain backs Scottish potato students
16 March 2010
FROZEN food giant McCain Foods has established a new bursary scheme at the Scottish Agricultural College.
-
Farm celebrity Jimmy Doherty expects first child
16 March 2010
BRITAIN’S favourite celebrity farmer Jimmy Doherty and his wife Michaela are expecting their first child.
-
High speed rail a ‘major concern’ for countryside
15 March 2010
A NEW high speed rail link between London and Birmingham is ‘a major concern’ for the open countryside, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has warned.
-
TB eradicator gets Royal approval
15 March 2010
PROFESSOR Christianne Glossop has won a Royal award for her efforts to eradicate bovine TB from the UK cattle herd.
-
New research club to tackle crop genetics
15 March 2010
A group of British scientists has been handed £6 million to develop crop genetics to sustainably increase yields.
-
Farmers could pay levy on saved seed
11 March 2010
FARMERS could be forced to pay royalties on farm saved seed under new EU proposals, the Soil Association has warned.
-
Government launches food security project
11 March 2010
THE Government has announced a joined-up approach between public bodies to tackle global food shortages.
-
Tory plan to boost farm productivity
9 March 2010
THE Conservative Party has announced ambitious plans to boost UK agricultural productivity with a renewed focus on research and development.
-
MPs back supermarket ombudsman Bill
9 March 2010
A PRIVATE Members Bill calling for an independent supermarket ombudsman to police the grocery market has passed its first hurdle in the House of Commons.
-
Sarkozy ready to accept CAP budget cuts
8 March 2010
FRENCH president Nicolas Sarkozy is ready to accept cuts in EU farm spending - but only if Europe’s farmers are given more protection against imports.
-
RPA services down as staff strike
8 March 2010
HUNDREDS of staff at the Rural Payments Agency are expected to strike today (Monday, March 8) as part of a 48 hour dispute over cuts to redundancy terms.
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Farmer defeats Tesco in supermarket battle
5 March 2010
A NORFOLK farmer has persuaded local councillors to reject a bid from supermarket giant Tesco in favour of his own application to a build a store in his local town.
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MPs urged to support supermarket ombudsman Bill
5 March 2010
A PRIVATE Members Bill to establish a grocery market ombudsman will be discussed by MPs today (Friday, March 5).
-
Farmers can save £260 on pesticide disposals
4 March 2010
FARMERS can save more than £260 by making an application for Groundwater Authorisation for the disposal of pesticide washings before April 1, The Voluntary Initiative has advised.
-
Meat Hygiene Service dissolves into FSA
3 March 2010
THE Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) will be dissolved and its staff and functions will form part of a new Food Standards Agency (FSA) Operations Group from April 1, it has been confirmed.
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Bioethanol plant major boost to UK farmers
3 March 2010
THE first tanker of sustainably produced bioethanol was dispatched from Europe’s largest wheat bio-refinery on Teeside this week.
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New head for John Innes Centre
2 March 2010
ONE of the world’s leading centres of excellence in plant science, the John Innes Centre, has announced Professor Dale Sanders as its new Director and Chief Executive.
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Meditate with cows for £800
2 March 2010
STRESSED Dutch businessmen are paying up to £800 to lie on a bed of straw and meditate with cows.
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MEP vows to defend CAP budget
2 March 2010
A SCOTTISH MEP will battle against CAP budget cuts ahead of crucial talks to decide future agricultural policy.
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RPA beats latest Single Payment target
26 February 2010
OVER 98,000 farmers in England have now received a full Single Payment, the latest Rural Payments Agency figures revealed.
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Profile: Lady Caroline Cranbrook
February 26, 2010
William Surman meets Lady Caroline Cranbrook - the lady who used to have tigers in her garden, counts Prince Charles as a friend ,and almost single-handedly defeated a supermarket giant wanting to build nearby.
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NFU 2010: Environment Agency chief backs GM
24 February 2010
THE Environment Agency chief has backed genetically modified crops to help British farmers cope with climate change.
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Video - Peter Kendall at NFU 2010
24 February 2010
NFU president Peter Kendall sets out his priorities for the next Government as talk of an impending General Election dominates the opening day of the NFU conference in Birmingham.
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NFU 2010: Tories pledge RPA ‘shake-up’
24 February 2010
THE Rural Payments Agency would face a fundamental shake-up if the Conservative Party came to power.
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NFU 2010: Lib Dems slam 'impotent' ombudsman plans
23 February 2010
THE Liberal Democrats have slammed the Labour and Tory proposals for a supermarket ombudsman as ‘impotent’ and ‘sedentary’.
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NFU 2010: Direct subsidies 'vital' says EU Commissioner
23 February 2010
THE subsidy system must be adjusted but direct payments will remain a vital component of EU agriculture policy, the new EU agriculture chief told NFU conference delegates today (Tuesday, February 23).
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NFU 2010: Benn ends 'nonsense' pig labelling
23 February 2010
BRITISH pig producers will be rewarded for their high standards of production with a new code of practice on the labelling of pork and pork products.
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Biofuel breakthrough on non-food crops
23 February 2010
MOTORISTS could soon be running their cars on affordable ethanol produced from wheat straw or woodchips after a biofuel breakthrough.
-
France leads fight to defend farm incomes
22 February 2010
FRANCE will fight Europe’s free market supporters to ensure its farmers get a sustainable price for their produce.
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Countryfile star turns into 'Dairy Fairy'
22 February 2010
COUNTRYFILE star Julia Bradbury dressed up as a Dairy Fairy and waved her magic wand to promote the dairy industry at the launch of a nationwide Smile for Dairy Campaign this week.
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Leicestershire becomes the latest show to close
19 February 2010
LEICESTERSHIRE County Show has been forced to cancel its 2010 event, adding to a growing list of agricultural shows that are struggling to survive.
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AHDB's green HQ gets the nod
18 February 2010
THE Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has been given the nod to build a futuristic, ultra-green and energy efficient office building in Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire.
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Defra considers GM potato trial
17 February 2010
THE Government is considering an application from British scientists to plant GM potatoes in a field trial in Norwich.
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Buffer zones could cost farmers £46.2 million a year
17 February 2010
THE Defra consultation on how to implement new EU rules on pesticides has caused an almighty stir within the farming industry.
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UK dairy prospects 2010
17 February 2010
As part of our series of online seminars, Farming Prospects 2010, NFU dairy board chairman as Sussex dairy farmer Gwyn Jones sets out the major challenges for the UK dairy industry and the biggest challenges facing his business.
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Britain lacks influence in Europe
17 February 2010
BRITAIN is the second least influential nation in the European Commission behind Romania, it has been the revealed.
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Benn praises bakers' commitment to British farmers
16 February 2010
DEFRA Secretary Hilary Benn has praised companies like Hovis for making it easier for the British public to support local farmers.
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RSPB thanks farmers for return of rare bird
16 February 2010
FARMERS have been praised by the RSPB for helping one of Britain’s most threatened songbirds return to the countryside.
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Agriculture in the national news - February 16
16 February 2010
A DAILY look at how agriculture has caught the headlines across the nation (Tuesday, February 16).
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NFU demands fair animal welfare rules
16 February 2010
SPARE our farmers strict new animal welfare rules at least until other EU members states have fully enforced the current regulations, the NFU has told Brussels’ policy makers.
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Historic agreement on sugar price
13 February 2010
THE annual squabbling match between British Sugar and the NFU over sugar beet prices could be a thing of the past.
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Romanian ‘reformer’ confirmed as EU agriculture chief
12 February 2010
ROMANIAN politician Dacian Ciolos has been confirmed as the new European Commissioner for Agriculture and will lead reform of the CAP after 2013.
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New payment scheme for hill farmers
9 February 2010
HILL farmers in some of England’s most cherished landscapes will be rewarded for looking after wildlife and biodiversity under a new payment scheme, Defra announced today (Tuesday, February 9).
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Consultation launched on controversial pesticide rules
9 February 2010
A CONSULTATION on how best to implement controversial EU rules on pesticides that could cost farmers between £13 million and £176 million, has been launched by Defra today (Tuesday, February 9).
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EU unveils ‘compulsory’ organic logo
8 February 2010
ALL organic food produced in Europe will be obliged to carry a new logo from July this year.
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No room for complacency on bluetongue
8 February 2010
THERE is no room for complacency in the mission to keep British livestock free from the bluetongue disease, farmers have been warned.
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Global debate over maize centres on GM and biofuels
February 5, 2010
As plantings increase debate turns to the crop’s future
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Costly soil directive must be buried – Ashworth
4 February 2010
ATTEMPTS to resurrect controversial EU proposals to regulate the way farmers look after their soil must be buried, Richard Ashworth MEP has warned.
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Defra spends £4.7m on empty office space
4 February 2010
THE revelation that Defra spends nearly £5 million on empty office space every year has prompted outrage from Liberal Democrat agricultural spokesman Tim Farron.
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Farmers must face up to world without nitrogen fertiliser
3 February 2010
FARMERS must face up to a world without nitrogen fertilisers, the Soil Association warned at its annual conference this morning (Wednesday, February 3).
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Soil Association rejects elitist image
3 February 2010
THE image of organic food as a luxury commodity only affordable to the privileged few has been rejected by the Soil Association.
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Farming is on the threshold of crisis - Soil Association
3 February 2010
SIXTY years of farm intensification has put the UK food system on the threshold of crisis, the UK’s leading organic lobby has warned at its annual conference today (Wednesday, February 3).
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Oscar nominated Food Inc attacks industrial farming
3 February 2010
US documentary film Food Inc, which attacks the morality of industrial farming in the US, will hit British cinema screens next week (February 12).
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9 out of 10 consumers 'confused by GM'
2 February 2010
MOST consumers are confused by genetically modified food and want the Food Standards Agency to educate them.
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Food security central to £2 billion bioscience plan
2 February 2010
THE Government will pump more than £2 billion of taxpayers’ money into biological research as part of a new strategy to meet global challenges such as food security and fossil fuel depletion.
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Defra set to miss red tape reduction target
29 January 2010
DEFRA is on course to miss its own target to cut farm regulation by a quarter.
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Pig castration drug sparks debate
28 January 2010
A DRUG used to ‘chemically castrate’ male pigs has gone on sale in the UK sparking debate across the sector.
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‘I have not refused to tackle TB in badgers’ – Benn
28 January 2010
ENVIRONMENT Secretary Hilary Benn has fiercely rejected accusations that he has refused to tackle bovine TB in badgers.
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Government 'must step in' to save dairy farmers
28 January 2010
THE Government must rescue dairy farmers from their terminal decline before it’s too late, MPs warned during a high-level debate in Westminster yesterday (Wednesday, January 27).
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'Illegal pig farming' caught on film
28 January 2010
ILLEGAL methods are ‘often used’ to produce the 1.3 million tonnes of pig meat consumed annually in the UK, according to animal welfare campaigner Tracy Worcester.
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CLA and RSPB join forces to lobby on CAP
27 January 2010
LANDOWNERS and conservationists have united to deliver a strong message for CAP reform.
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Prince of Wales launches wool project
26 January 2010
THE Prince of Wales has launched a major initiative to help increase the value of wool to thousands of English sheep farmers today (Tuesday, January 26).
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Scots launch CAP road-show
22 January 2010
SCOTTISH farmers will have a chance to directly influence future CAP policy with a series of public discussions around the country.
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Multi-storey farms 'are the future'
21 January 2010
MULTI-STOREY farms in city centres could be the future for British agriculture, at least according to a futuristic survey.
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Most British men carry farmer gene
20 January 2010
MOST of Britain’s men carry a ‘farmer gene’, a new study has revealed.
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TB epidemic could end dairy farming
20 January 2010
ENGLAND’S bovine TB epidemic could put an end to dairy farming unless the Government takes decisive action on badgers, a leading scientist has warned.
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Dairy farmers asked how to spend £25m rescue package
20 January 2010
DAIRY farmers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are being asked how best to distribute a £25 million EU rescue package.
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Eating habits must change to cut emissions – WWF
19 January 2010
BRITISH eating habits contribute far more to global warming than originally thought, a new study has warned.
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TB tops Kendall election pledge
19 January 2010
THE fight to eradicate bovine TB from British farms will top Peter Kendall’s agenda if he is re-elected as NFU president.
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Scots survey damage to snow-hit farmers
18 January 2010
THE Scottish Government is surveying the damage to snow-hit farmers before coming up with a plan to assist those worst affected.
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Scientists hatch plan to produce more food
18 January 2010
BRITAIN’S leading scientists will hatch a plan to increase food production without impacting on the environment when they meet later today (Monday, January 18).
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Commissioner-elect vows to reform CAP
15 January 2010
THE future of the Common Agricultural Policy looks set to fall into the hands of a CAP reformer, the Romanian commissioner-elect Dacian Ciolos.
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Meat labelling 'confuses shoppers'
15 January 2010
EIGHT out of ten meat and meat products carry a country of origin label but consumers still don’t know what it means, the Government’s food safety watchdog has revealed.
-
JCB donates diggers to Haiti disaster
15 January 2010
FARM machinery giant JCB is donating diggers worth more than £90,000 to help the disaster relief effort in Haiti.
-
Major report focuses on food chain emissions
15 January 2010
A MAJOR new report on UK food chain emissions will be published on Monday (January 18).
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Food 2030 strategy is not empty rhetoric - Benn
14 January 2010
HILARY Benn defended the Government’s blueprint for food policy up to 2030 in front of a high profile Commons committee yesterday (Wednesday, January 13).
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Clearer labelling starts with Red Tractor
14 January 2010
A MAJOR project to deliver clearer labelling to the Red Tractor farm assurance scheme was launched today (Thursday, January 14).
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Farmers count cost of cold weather
13 January 2010
FARMERS across frozen Britain are counting the cost of the longest sustained period of cold weather for more than 30 years.
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Mandelson must give more to rural broadband
12 January 2010
LORD Mandelson’s commitment to provide £1 billion of investment into next-generation-access broadband does not go far enough, a leading farm lobby has warned.
-
British researchers develop GM potato
12 January 2010
A TRIAL to develop genetically modified potatoes that would save British growers more than £40 million a year has been successful, initial results have revealed.
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Georgina Downs to take pesticide case to Europe
12 January 2010
ANTI-PESTICIDE campaigner Georgina Downs has pledged to fight the Government’s ‘inadequate’ policy on crop spraying in Europe after she failed to win her case in the domestic courts.
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McDonalds on hunt for climate-friendly beef
11 January 2010
FAST-food chain McDonalds is on the hunt for new methods to produce a climate-friendly beef burger.
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New pesticide advice to stop decline in birdlife
11 January 2010
FARMERS are being offered new advice on pesticide use to help reverse the decline in important native bird species across Britain.
-
Cow muck saves farmer from snow death
8 January 2010
A THICK layer of cow muck saved a Scottish farmer from certain death yesterday after the roof of his barn, weighed down with several feet of snow, collapsed on top of him.
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Government is 'dangerously deluded' on GM
8 January 2010
THE Government is ‘dangerously deluded’ if it believes genetically modified crops will solve the world’s food security issues, members of the breakaway Oxford Real Farming Conference warned.
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Big freeze Britain - how farmers are facing up
January 8, 2010
AS Britons look forward to another fortnight of freezing temperatures and heavy snow, we wil be bringing you all the latest news on how farmers have been coping with the worst winter in 30 years.
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Grass - the future of sustainable agriculture
7 January 2010
WITH food security and climate change now on top of the Government’s list of priorities, there is a growing band of farmers talking up the virtues of grassland farming.
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OFC '10: UK research 'not good enough'
7 January 2010
EXPERTS from across the food chain have valued agricultural research in the UK at a lowly five out of ten, delegates were shocked to learn at the Oxford Farming Conference this week.
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OFC '10: Farmers must double livestock production
6 January 2010
FARMERS will need to double livestock production by 2050 if they are to keep up with growing demand for meat across the globe.
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Farmers 'must give up nitrogen fertiliser'
6 January 2010
FARMERS must give up nitrogen fertilisers to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture, the country’s leading organic lobby has warned.
-
OFC '10: Farm subsidies must be redirected to world’s poor
5 January 2010
AGRICULTURAL subsidies paid to Europe’s most wealthy landowners should be redirected to help the world’s poor.
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Rival conference kicks off in Oxford
5 January 2010
JUST two minutes down the road from agriculture’s traditional yearly curtain raiser at the Oxford Farming Conference, a rival farm conference will also kick off later today (Tuesday).
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One in five RPA staff quit every year
4 January 2010
STAFF members are quitting the Rural Payments Agency at a rate of 20 per cent every year.
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What will farming look like in 2020?
28 December 2009
AS the decade rapidly draws to a close, William Surman asks the experts what we can expect from farming in the next decade.
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Farmers must be centre of policy decisions
23 December 2009
A GLOBAL coalition of 125 organisations representing the world’s farmers, agronomists and scientists has developed a policy framework to help agriculture adapt to climate change while increasing agricultural productivity to meet growing food needs.
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UK bucks trend as EU farm incomes plummet
23 December 2009
UK farm income has risen in 2009 despite a dramatic fall in returns across the rest of Europe.
-
Campaign for Farmed Environment goes local
23 December 2009
THE industry-led initiative to retain the environmental benefits formerly provided by set-aside is stepping up a gear.
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Farmers to help improve 9,500 miles of river
22 December 2009
FARMERS have a major role to play in Government plans to improve the water quality of over 9,500 miles of rivers across England and Wales.
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Miniature pigs not just for Christmas
22 December 2009
MINIATURE pigs that are so small they can fit into a tea-cup need expert attention and must not be bought on a whim, animal welfare experts have warned this Christmas.
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Birds Eye drops 'British' label off imported meat
21 December 2009
HONEST labelling campaigners have welcomed the decision by food giant Birds Eye to drop the words ‘Great British Menu’ from a meal that uses imported meat.
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Defra offers farmers £20k interest-free loans to go green
21 December 2009
DEFRA is offering British farmers unsecured, interest-free loans of up to £20,000 to invest in energy efficient equipment.
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US to slash dairy cow emissions by 25%
18 December 2009
THE US dairy industry has committed to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent over the next decade.
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Farmers profit from Sainsbury’s carbon efficiencies
18 December 2009
BRITAIN’S third largest supermarket, Sainsbury’s, has joined agriculture’s fight against climate change with an announcement to help thousands of farmers cut their emissions.
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Labelling laws make a turkey out of consumers
17 December 2009
BRITAIN’S second largest supermarket, Asda, is under fire for ‘hiding’ the origin of thousands of turkeys imported from Brazil this Christmas.
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Flooded Cumbrian farmers get £500k aid package
16 December 2009
DEFRA has announced a £500,000 aid package to help farmers in Cumbria get their land back in working order after the recent devastating floods.
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Oxford Conference gets new rival
16 December 2009
AGRICULTURE’S traditional curtain raiser to the New Year – the Oxford Farming Conference – is being challenged by a new rival.
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Go easy on meat and dairy – a recipe to save the planet
16 December 2009
REDUCING meat and dairy consumption, eliminating waste and cutting fatty and sugary foods from your diet will make the biggest impact on human and environmental health, another Government-backed report has found.
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Skills strategy to ensure farming futures
16 December 2009
FARMERS, growers and industry leaders have joined together to develop a major new skills strategy to ensure the long term future of agriculture.
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Herbert attacks Government on food labelling
15 December 2009
THE Government has been accused of neglecting British farming interests after it ‘argued against’ mandatory country-of-origin labelling of food products in European talks.
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James Fanshawe, Northamptonshire beef and sheep farmer
15 December 2009
James Fanshawe, an Eblex director, farms 150 hectares of grassland near Naseby in Northampton. He has 130 suckler cows and 200 breeding sheep.
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Agriculture suffers as Copenhagen talks stall
15 December 2009
CLIMATE change talks have stalled in Copenhagen prompting fears that agriculture will miss a golden opportunity to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.
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New Holland drives bee campaign forward
14 December 2009
ONE of the UK’s leading tractor manufacturers has joined the battle to save Britain’s bees.
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Europe rallies behind France on CAP calls
11 December 2009
TWENTY-ONE European nations – with the notable exception of Britain – have rallied behind a French-led initiative to defend direct farm subsidies beyond 2013.
-
Chancellor's budget fails farmers
9 December 2009
THE Chancellor’s pre-Budget report has failed to introduce the fiscal measures necessary to stimulate new investment and innovation in farming, according to farm experts.
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Defra attacked over ‘extravagant’ wages
9 December 2009
DEFRA has been attacked for handing out ‘extravagant’ wages while the hill farmers it is supposed to support are struggling to make a living.
-
BBC accused of climate change 'bias'
9 December 2009
THE English meat industry has blasted the BBC for allowing ‘anti-meat eating lobbies’ to ‘hijack’ the climate change agenda.
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French snub Britain in CAP talks
8 December 2009
FRANCE has attempted to freeze Britain out of key talks on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), it has emerged.
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London 2012 to get ‘best of British’
8 December 2009
THE London Olympic committee has pledged to serve up ‘the Best of British’ food during the 2012 games.
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Agriculture on the agenda at Copenhagen climate talks
7 December 2009
AGRICULTURE will be the hot topic of discussion over the next two weeks as negotiations to secure a new global deal on climate change begin today (Monday, December 7) in Copenhagen.
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Organic lobby 'must keep open mind’ over GM
4 December 2009
A LEADING proponent of genetically modified crops has urged the organic lobby to keep an open mind over the benefits of new crop technologies to avoid a global food crisis.
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Scots horrified at single payment fines
4 December 2009
SCOTTISH farmers have expressed their horror after small errors on their Single Farm Payments have led to ‘disproportionately big financial penalties’.
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Campaign to banish misleading food labels
2 December 2009
A CAMPAIGN to name and shame food producers who mislead consumers by labelling imported food as British kicked off today (Wednesday, December 2).
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Pig industry tackles carbon footprint
2 December 2009
THE pig industry expressed its desire to ‘fully participate’ in the environmental debate with the launch of two reports to tackle its carbon footprint today (Wednesday, December 2).
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Farmers tell McCartney to ‘let it be’
2 December 2009
SIR Paul McCartney’s campaign to boycott meat products once a week to combat climate change has been branded ‘simplistic’, ‘opportunistic’ and ‘counter-productive’ by political and industrial leaders.
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Scots hail unexpected EID victory
1 December 2009
SCOTTISH sheep farmers won an unlikely victory in Brussels after Euro-MPs recommended an urgent review of the controversial new EID regulations.
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Farmers welcome water bill limit
1 December 2009
WATER industry regulator Ofwat has pledged to limit water bills for farmers and growers.
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Livestock farmers on climate change front line
30 November 2009
THE English Beef and Lamb Executive has launched an ambitious climate change strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector.
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County councils ‘selling off family silver’
23 November 2009
Selling off county council farms was ‘akin to selling off the family silver’ and must be stopped, delegates were told at the NFU Tenant Farming Conference.
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FBT lengths must increase - NFU
23 November 2009
LANDLORDS have been urged to ‘significantly increase’ the length of their tenancy agreements to give tenants the confidence to invest in their future.
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Tenants accuse land agents of ‘terror tactics'
23 November 2009
Land agents had been using ‘terror tactics’ rather than facts and figures to pile pressure on tenants, said the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA).
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Government to investigate options for further tenancy reform
20 November 2009
THE Government has agreed to meet with tenant farmers to discuss options to safeguard the future of the sector and encourage more new entrants into farming.
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Farm income to fall 8 per cent in 2010
19 November 2009
FARM incomes could plummet by 8 per cent in 2010 despite soaring profits this year, Defra forecasts have revealed.
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Strong tenant farm sector vital
19 November 2009
THE vital importance of tenant farms to the future of British agriculture will be highlighted at a major conference today (Thursday, November 19).
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Clock ticking on mapping updates
19 November 2009
THE clock is ticking down for all farmers and growers to return their updated Rural Land Register maps to the Rural Payment Agency (RPA).
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Sugar beet is sweet investment
19 November 2009
A RAPID uptake of sugar beet contracts and a buoyant market for leased tonnage among growers has proved beet to be a sweet investment for 2010/11.
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Agriculture must feature in Copenhagen
18 November 2009
SIXTY of the world’s most prominent agricultural thinkers have told policy makers agriculture must feature in global climate change talks to avoid widespread famine and food shortages.
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Defra rejects bonus accusation
18 November 2009
MORE than 1,800 Defra staff received performance-related bonus payments in 2008, and the Department’s top civil servant pocketed more than £15,000 in rewards.
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Paul McCartney 'undermines' climate change talks
17 November 2009
SIR Paul McCartney has been accused of undermining climate change talks with his ‘meat-free Monday’ campaign.
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Agricultural emissions targets are ‘pathetic’
17 November 2009
A GOVERNMENT target to reduce agricultural emissions by 11 per cent by 2020 has been branded ‘pathetic’ by a leading organic activist.
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Importers warn of feed shortage
17 November 2009
EUROPE’S livestock farmers will face a shortage of high-protein animal feed this winter if the EU fails to approve a new variety of GM maize, feed importers have warned.
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BBC accused of organic bias
16 November 2009
COUNTRYFILE, the BBC’s flagship rural programme, has been accused of a bias towards organic farming.
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‘Business as usual’ not an option for farmers
13 November 2009
FARMERS must commit to a massive reduction in carbon emissions to avoid global food shortages, the Soil Association has warned.
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Landowners anger over coastal access
12 November 2009
THE highly controversial Marine and Coastal Access Bill, which aims to open hundreds of miles of coastal farmland to walkers, is expected to become law later today (Thursday, November 12).
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Organic lobby wants intellectual debate on food security
6 November 2009
BRITAIN’S most influential organic lobby has called on proponents of all farming systems to forget emotional debate and work in partnership to feed the nation sustainably.
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Kendall highlights world of opportunity for agriculture
5 November 2009
THE global challenge to tackle food security and climate change is also a world of opportunity for Britain’s farmers and growers.
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Lisbon Treaty gives MEPs more power over agriculture
4 November 2009
THE ratification of the Lisbon Treaty will give British MEPs newfound powers to influence the future of European agricultural policy.
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Benn acknowledges ‘devastating’ impact of TB
4 November 2009
HILARY Benn acknowledged the ‘devastating’ impact of bTB on farming families last week and said the TB eradication group would find better ways to support affected farmers.
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Benn offers alternative to going vegetarian
3 November 2009
THE British public should buy seasonal fruit, vegetables and meat and stop binning good food if they are serious about tackling climate change.
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Pesticides not a serious threat to bees - Defra
2 November 2009
DEFRA has angered anti-pesticide campaigners after it claimed chemical sprays were not to blame for the sharp decline in British bee numbers.
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Industry hits back over call to eat less meat to save planet
29 October 2009
FURIOUS livestock farmers have hit back at one of Britain’s leading authorities on climate change after he called on the public to eat less meat to save the planet.
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British farmers can deliver green transport targets
26 October 2009
A EUROPEAN obligation to ensure 10 per cent of all transport fuel is from a renewable source by 2020 can be met almost entirely through domestic production.
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£50 million coastal access bill a waste of money - CLA
26 October 2009
GOVERNMENT proposals to open hundreds of miles of coastal farmland to walkers will cost the taxpayer £50 million for almost no benefit, according to Country Land and Business Association.
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Help solve mystery of ‘blood sweating’ in young calves
October 23, 2009
CATTLE farmers should be on the look-out for a ‘mystifying’ disease after a rise in young calve fatalities.
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Severe shortage of skilled farm workers is threat to food security
22 October 2009
FARMERS’ ability to increase food production is being severely hampered by a shortage of skilled workers.
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Benn backs British fruit and veg
21 October 2009
ENGLISH farmers will be encouraged to grow more of fruit and vegetables under ambitious new plans drawn up by Defra today (Wednesday, October 21).
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Government cautions against increased self-sufficiency in food
20 October 2009
THE Government has cautioned against increasing the country’s self-sufficiency in indigenous food because of the threat of crop failure and disease outbreaks.
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Experts will recommend British farmers to grow GM
19 October 2009
A MAJOR new policy report will recommend UK farmers grow genetically modified crops to avert a food crisis, it has been claimed.
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Damning report casts future of RPA into doubt
15 October 2009
THE future of the Rural Payments Agency has been thrown into doubt, after a damning report revealed huge errors in judgement had been made in its delivery of the Single Payment Scheme in England.
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Organic farmers do support non-organic produce – Melchett
14 October 2009
THE organic movement happily promotes the purchase of non-organic food produced by British farmers, leading environmentalist and organic protagonist Peter Melchett claimed this week.
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Eat local food to tackle climate change - Archbishop
14 October 2009
THE Archbishop of Canterbury has urged the public to eat more local and seasonal food in a bid to tackle climate change.
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Finding money to diversify into renewables
12 October 2009
COUNTLESS farmers are desperate to diversify their business but have no money to invest.
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Bioenergy event is ‘huge success’
12 October 2009
FARMERS journeyed from all four corners of the UK to Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, to find out how they could develop their business using green energy last week.
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Supermarket ombudsman must be cost-effective - Conservatives
7 October 2009
JIM Paice, Shadow Farming Minister, said he would back a code of practice to control the power of supermarkets but added a freestanding supermarket ombudsman ‘could be too bureaucratic’.
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Former Environment Secretary attacks organic lobby
7 October 2009
FORMER Secretary of State for the Environment, John Gummer, launched an extraordinary attack on the organic farm lobby at the Conservative Party conference yesterday (Tuesday, October 6).
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Conservative Party risk losing agenda in Europe – Kendall
6 October 2009
PETER Kendall, NFU president, has challenged the Conservative Party to reconcile their perceived anti-EU stance with the need to engage constructively in Brussels to develop agricultural policy to suit British interests.
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Market place is the key to prosperity - Conservatives
6 October 2009
THE Conservative Party’s principle job will be to design a market place to enable farmers to ‘compete and prosper’ after the ‘inevitable’ loss of direct farm payments.
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A Conservative Government would buy British
6 October 2009
THE Conservative Party will announce new measures to boost public procurement of food produced by British farmers this afternoon (Tuesday, October 6).
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Fly-tipping down but Defra ignores landowners
2 October 2009
FLY-tipping has dropped by 9.3 per cent across England in the last year according to Defra figures released yesterday (Thursday, October 1).
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Bees receive £1 million funding boost
2 October 2009
BRITAIN’S top bee experts have been awarded £1 million of public money to arrest the decline of honeybees.
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French re-couple subsidy payments
1 October 2009
FRENCH farmers growing protein crops, such as peas and beans, will be able to undercut British farmers by at least £30/tonne next year before a seed is even sown.
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Tories adopt carrot approach to the environment
30 September 2009
THE Conservative Party has decided the carrot of reward rather than the stick of regulation will best encourage farmers to protect the environment and its natural resources.
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Date set for dairy crisis talks
28 September 2009
EU ministers will hold crisis talks in Brussels next Monday (October 5), to discuss measures to improve the future for Europe’s beleaguered dairy farmers.
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European Bioenergy Expo and Conference
25 September 2009
THE European Bioenergy Expo and Conference takes place at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, (October 8-10), and will showcase the best technology, the latest thinking and the hottest debates surrounding bioenergy.
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Sterling Viking 2 victory ends show season in style
25 September 2009
THE Royal County of Berkshire Show pulled in near record crowds over the weekend for its centenary event.
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MPs criticise Defra flood Bill
23 September 2009
MPs have branded the Government’s planned Bill to avert future flooding disasters as ‘confusing’ and ‘poorly drafted’ and criticised it for giving too much power to the Environment Agency.
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£1 billion expansion plan for organics
23 September 2009
THE UK’s organic market can grow by £1 billion over the next five years in spite of the economic downturn, according to industry experts.
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Lib Dems would ‘enforce’ fair trade for British farmers
22 September 2009
TIM Farron, Lib Dem agriculture spokesman, has delivered a fierce attack on Britain’s supermarkets for paying farmers ‘a pittance’ for their produce.
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Lib Dems can heal rural wounds - Farron
22 September 2009
THE Liberal Democrats have made an ambitious bid to become the party of choice for rural Britain.
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Slaughter tag concessions won in sheep EID battle
18 September 2009
INDUSTRY leaders have finally agreed a workable solution for the implementation of electronic identification (EID) of sheep from January next year.
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E.coli fears close second farm
17 September 2009
A SECOND farm has been closed after authorities expressed fears of another E.coli outbreak.
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Natural England powers could be clipped by Tories
17 September 2009
A CONSERVATIVE Government would cut unnecessary Defra spending on quangos and executive agencies such as Natural England.
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NFU spells out General Election wish list
17 September 2009
WITH the General Election looming around the corner the NFU has told the next Government to put productive agriculture at the centre of its political agenda.
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Animal transport proposals dropped
16 September 2009
PROPOSALS to introduce controversial new animal transport regulations have been dropped by the European Commission.
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HPA delays let E.coli outbreak spread
16 September 2009
THE Health Protection Agency has admitted it should have put safety measures in place earlier to prevent an outbreak of E.coli on a public farm in Surrey which has left four children critically ill.
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Benn’s food policy advisers target fruit and veg
15 September 2009
ENVIRONMENT Secretary Hilary Benn’s team of food policy advisers have told him to encourage the production and consumption of more home-grown fruit and vegetables.
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Head of EU agriculture steps down
14 September 2009
MARIANN Fischer Boel, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, has announced her retirement from politics.
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Anger after E.coli farm remained open to public
14 September 2009
A FARM in Surrey has become embroiled in controversy after it remained open to the public despite warnings of an E.coli outbreak.
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Make your own fuel and feed – it’s easy
11 September 2009
Rapidly diminishing oil reserves, the rising price of transport fuel and the drive for environmentally-friendly technology mean one thing - vehicles need green fuel.
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Thousands of farmers could be spared NVZ rules
9 September 2009
AROUND 5,000 farmers could be spared new NVZ slurry storage rules after Defra hinted it may postpone the regulation.
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Landlords urged to stop pushing rent
9 September 2009
THE NFU has warned landlords to stop pushing for rent increases at a time when returns from farming are in decline.
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Scots retain wages board
4 September 2009
THE Scottish Agricultural Wages Board (SAWB) will be retained to ensure vulnerable workers are protected, following the introduction of a new apprenticeship rate.
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Scottish MEP pushes for EID relief fund
3 September 2009
A SCOTTISH MEP has passed the first hurdle in his attempt to create a €125 million (£109m) ‘EID relief fund’ to help sheep farmers pay for the EU’s controversial new electronic identification regulation.
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Supermarkets struggle to keep GM off the shelves
3 September 2009
BRITAIN’S major food retailers have warned the Government they may soon need to stock genetically modified foods to avoid shortages and price hikes.
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Romania's bid to head European agriculture
2 September 2009
ROMANIA could be calling the shots in European agriculture by the end of this year after the country’s Foreign Minister confirmed it would put a candidate forward for the top position.
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Natural England announces £4m flood project
2 September 2009
NATURAL England will spend £4 million to flood large swathes of England, including some productive arable land, in a bid to restore lost wetlands and prevent urban flooding.
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RPA under scrutiny as Government announces review
2 September 2009
THE future of the Rural Payments Agency is under scrutiny after the Government announced a root-and-branch review of the much maligned body today (Wednesday, September 2).
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Farm costs decline but long term pressures remain
1 September 2009
OVERALL farm costs have fallen by more than 6 per cent in a year but long term cash flow pressures remain at large, latest figures from the Anglia Farmers Agricultural Inflation Index have revealed.
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Wood fuel offers huge potential
August 28th 2009
Farmers take note: wood is a fuel, it can be grown for free, it is renewable, it is environmentally friendly, it is easy to use and politicians are backing it.
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Continental farmers gain from UK’s rebate surrender
27 August 2009
BRITAIN’S net contribution to the European Union will shoot up next year as its budget rebate slips away but subsidies to French farmers will not decrease as had been agreed.
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Waitrose commits 100 per cent of own-label to British dairy
26 August 2009
WAITROSE has committed to using only British dairy farmers for all its own-label dairy products.
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Jimmy Doherty marries farm sweetheart
25 August 2009
BRITIAN’S favourite celebrity farmer Jimmy Doherty married his long term girlfriend on Saturday (August 22).
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Sugar negotiations in disarray
19 August 2009
SUGAR beet price negotiations for 2010 are in disarray after the NFU said talks with British Sugar had collapsed.
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£16M for flood protection
19 August 2009
LOCAL communities across England will benefit from £16 million funding to help them tackle surface water flooding, Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, announced yesterday (Tuesday, August 18).
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Consumer attitude to GM softens
18 August 2009
LAST week Hilary Benn, environment secretary, said ‘all the evidence’ suggested GM food was safe to eat.
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EID roadshow for Scottish sheep farmers
18 August 2009
SCOTTISH sheep farmers will have a chance to discuss the controversial new electronic identification (EID) proposals at a series of roadshows organised by NFU Scotland and the National Sheep Association’s Scottish region over the next six weeks.
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EU stance on GM could decimate UK livestock production
17 August 2009
EUROPE’S stance on GM crops could lead to a 300 per cent spike in feed costs and decimate Britain’s pig and poultry sectors, a Defra report has warned.
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RASE chairman quits
17 August 2009
HUGH Oliver-Bellasis has quit as chairman of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE).
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Farm girls strip off for charity
14 August 2009
ONLY the wellies stayed on when eleven young farmers decided to pose naked for a 2010 calendar to raise money for charity.
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Human cases highlight need for action on bovine TB - CLA
14 August 2009
THERE are refreshed calls for Ministers to set politics aside and tackle bovine TB after a Government research centre confirmed a member of staff could have caught the disease from an infected badger.
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GM could help tackle food security says Benn
13 August 2009
HILARY Benn, Environment Secretary, has backed GM food as safe to eat, reminding the public that most beef eaten in Britain is GM fed.
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NFU members back a voluntary spraying move
13 August 2009
AN NFU survey has revealed strong support for a voluntary code of practice to reassure neighbours when they spray their crops.
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Government should ‘lead by example’ on British food
11 August 2009
KEY Government departments have no idea how much British produce is served at official functions despite calls from Defra Secretary Hilary Benn to support British farmers.
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Regional drainage plans could increase flood risk
11 August 2009
GOVERNMENT plans to regionalise water management could increase the risk of lowland flooding, experts have warned.
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Future of Women’s Food and Farming Union in doubt
11 August 2009
THE future of the Women’s Food and Farming Union (WFU) has been left in doubt after the resignation of its president, vice-president and several other key office holders today (Tuesday, August 11).
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Defra's food strategy receives mixed industry reaction
11 August 2009
LAST year the United Nations warned world leaders that food production would need to increase by 70 per cent by 2050 to meet the demands of a world population of 9 billion.
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Buy one tractor get one AK-47 assault rifle free
10 August 2009
PRIZES for the most extraordinary promotional offer of recent times go to a US tractor dealer who is offering a free AK-47 assault rifle with every tractor purchase.
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Benn urges 'radical rethink' on food security
10 August 2009
THERE must be a ‘radical rethink’ of the way we produce our food if British farmers are to feed a growing population into the future, Hilary Benn, Defra Secretary announced today (Monday, August 10).
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Be more like the French - Minister tells producers
7 August 2009
UK producers should be more like the French and apply for protected status on iconic foods, Farming Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said today (Friday, August 7).
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Dozens of bTB researchers tested for disease
7 August 2009
A GOVERNMENT lab worker is suspected of having contracted bovine TB from an infected badger.
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Rain hampers harvest as progress is slow
7 August 2009
HARVEST has been slow across the country this week as rains have continued to hamper growers’ progress.
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Vets urged to unlock their potential
6 August 2009
VETS have welcomed a report challenging the profession to rethink its relationship with farmers and the Government.
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Fuel poverty scheme is failing rural areas
6 August 2009
A GOVERNMENT scheme to help tackle fuel poverty is failing rural areas, according to an influential committee of MPs.
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Organic farmers fight back over benefits
6 August 2009
THE organic lobby has rallied together this week after the Food Standards Agency said its produce was no more nutritionally beneficial than conventional food.
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Spoiled meat packs cost millions
5 August 2009
A BACTERIUM that spoils vacuum-packed beef, lamb and venison is costing the meat industry millions of pounds and must be tackled, experts have warned.
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Wheat price down as world production soars
5 August 2009
A COMBINATION of good wheat crops around the world, record reserves of grain carried over from last year and an expected bumper US crop have put downward pressure on the price of wheat.
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Kendall voices discontent over Single Payment Scheme
4 August 2009
PETER Kendall, NFU president, met with Defra on Monday (August 4) to express his discontent over the way the Single Payment Scheme is being managed.
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Minister does his good deed for the day
4 August 2009
SCOUTS and Girl Guides got a new recruit today (Tuesday, August 4) in the form of Farm Minister Jim Fitzpatrick.
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Farmers urged to report all fly-tipping
4 August 2009
MORE than 94 per cent of private landowners have suffered from the illegal dumping of waste, or fly-tipping, the Environment Agency has revealed.
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Fresh calls to revive Britain's apple industry
3 August 2009
THERE have been fresh calls to revive the British apple industry after a study revealed New Zealand apples exported to Britain generated their own weight in carbon emissions.
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One third of England’s coast is inaccessible
3 August 2009
ONE third of England’s coastline is inaccessible to walkers according to an audit from the Government’s environmental advisors, Natural England.
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New TB movement rules to help farmers in England
31 July 2009
THE TB Eradication Group for England has endorsed new measures on cattle movements to help farmers under TB restriction.
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Defra told to focus on science
30 July 2009
MINISTERS should be exposed if they ignore science when making key decisions on animal diseases, food security and climate change, according to an influential committee of MPs.
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Fertiliser industry lays out plan to tackle climate change
29 July 2009
THE fertiliser industry has come up with a detailed plan to meet burgeoning global food demand while limiting the impact fertilisers have on climate change.
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GM potato trial back on track
28 July 2009
A TRIAL to develop genetically modified potatoes has re-commenced in defiance against activists who vandalised the crop this time last year.
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Reduce flood risk to regain farmer confidence, EA told
28 July 2009
REDUCING the risk of flooding must be one of the Environment Agency’s key strategic aims if it is to win the confidence of the farming community.
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Agreement on wholesale cull…of grey squirrels
27 July 2009
THE grey squirrel must be eradicated to stop the damage to woodlands and save the threatened red squirrel, conservationists and landowners agreed at the CLA Game Fair this weekend.
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Tories will have biggest say in EU agriculture
8 June 2009
THE Tories will continue to have the biggest say in EU agricultural policy after they consolidated their place as Britain’s strongest party in Brussels last night (Sunday, June 7), - the Conservatives now have 25 MEPs.
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NFU Scotland calls to abolish agricultural wages board
5 June 2009
NFU Scotland has called to abolish the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board (SAWB) after its decision to implement the highest minimum wage in the UK.
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Benn calls for softer EID tagging rules
4 June 2009
HILARY Benn, Defra secretary, has promised to call on his European counterparts to soften electronic tagging regulations before they come into force next January.
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Benn calls for softer EID tagging rules
4 June 2009
HILARY Benn, Defra secretary, has promised to call on his European counterparts to soften electronic tagging regulations before they come into force next January.
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Bumblebee rescue mission to help maintain food supplies
4 June 2009
THE short-haired bumblebee is to be re-introduced to the British countryside a decade after it became extinct, Natural England has announced.
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Hill farmers will be £1000 worse off - Paice
3 June 2009
SHADOW Agriculture Minister Jim Paice has worked out the average hill farm in England will be £1000 worse off due to ‘unnecessary’ Government regulation.
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Hill farmers will be £1000 worse off - Paice
3 June 2009
SHADOW Agriculture Minister Jim Paice has worked out the average hill farm in England will be £1000 worse off due to ‘unnecessary’ Government regulation.
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Farm payments will remain post 2013, but in what format?
3 June 2009
EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has told farmers to prepare for further reform of the CAP after 2013.
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Cattle rustlers' night raid on Royal estate
3 June 2009
THIEVES have stolen 19 prized Red Poll cattle from the Queen’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.
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Government back plan to give farmers right to appeal coastal access
2 June 2009
THE UK farm lobby, led by the CLA and NFU, has claimed victory after a Government U-turn on the right to appeal procedure for farmers affected by proposed new coastal access rules.
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Protected labelling to help reconnect farmers with consumers
2 June 2009
NEW European labelling plans could pave the way for a flood of protected food names to help British farmers reconnect with the consumer.
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French buck the trend as organic sales rocket
2 June 2009
SALES of organic food in France rocketed by 25 per cent last year despite the economic downturn hitting markets elsewhere.
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800 million birds need better slaughter treatment, Defra told
1 June 2009
DEFRA has been urged to implement a range of new measures to improve the welfare of millions of poultry before they are slaughtered.
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Mystery substance leaves man dead on Surrey farm
28 May 2009
A MAN has died after being exposed to a mystery ‘noxious substance’ at a rare breeds farm in Surrey.
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Cameron pledges to fight dishonest food labelling
27 May 2009
David Cameron has pledged to fight ‘dishonest’ food labelling laws in Brussels.
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Arable farmers can achieve huge production gains
27 May 2009
BRITISH arable farmers have the potential to more than double production of wheat and oilseed rape to help meet food security concerns, a new report has concluded.
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Arable farmers can achieve huge production gains
27 May 2009
BRITISH arable farmers have the potential to more than double production of wheat and oilseed rape to help meet food security concerns, a new report has concluded.
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Government told to ditch GM support and grow organic veggies
27 May 2009
ORGANIC producers have urged Environment Secretary Hilary Benn to stop his pro-GM stance in Europe on environmental and health grounds.
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Unintended consequences of healthy eating
27 May 2009
THE British countryside would change dramatically if Britons followed the Government’s healthy eating guidelines, according to new research from Reading University.
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GM policy is ‘crippling’ livestock sector
26 May 2009
EUROPE’S policy to prohibit feed imports that show any trace of non-authorised GM is crippling the livestock industry and should be softened, the Commission has been told.
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GM policy is ‘crippling’ livestock sector
26 May 2009
EUROPE’S policy to prohibit feed imports that show any trace of non-authorised GM is crippling the livestock industry and should be softened, the Commission has been told.
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Small-scale farmers can avert the food crisis
5 May 2009
AFTER decades of chronic underinvestment, the international community is finally waking up to the vital importance of small-scale farmers to secure food supplies.
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Young farmers call for better education
1 May 2009
YOUNG farmers have urged the Government to put agriculture back on the national curriculum.
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‘Tesco Sucks’ sign must be removed, council tells farmer
30 April 2009
A FARMER has been ordered to remove a 40 foot-long ‘Tesco Sucks’ sign from his land.
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Scottish dairy farmers in protest
30 April 2009
ANGRY Scottish dairy farmers descended on the Scottish parliament yesterday (Wednesday, April 29), to urge their politicians to rescue the dairy sector from crisis.
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Boost for wool and sheepmeat
29 April 2009
THE British Wool Marketing Board has praised an ambitious new venture to increase the value of the wool clip to thousands of English sheep farmers.
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Farmers to benefit from new fallen stock rules
29 April 2009
EURO-MPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of improved measures for farmers to deal with animal by-products not intended for human consumption.
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Farmers to benefit from new fallen stock rules
29 April 2009
EURO-MPs have voted overwhelmingly in favour of improved measures for farmers to deal with animal by-products not intended for human consumption.
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National Trust out to save traditional orchards
28 April 2009
MORE than 60 per cent of traditional orchards have vanished since 1950 prompting a National Trust project to stop the rot.
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Competition to design new EU organic logo
28 April 2009
ART students from across Europe have been invited to design a new EU organic logo.
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Farm incomes set for dramatic fall in 2009
27 April 2009
CEREAL and dairy farmers face a dramatic drop in their incomes this year.
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Farm incomes set for dramatic fall in 2009
27 April 2009
CEREAL and dairy farmers face a dramatic drop their income this year.
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Kendall re-elected to EU farm body
27 April 2009
PETER Kendall, NFU president, has been re-elected vice-president of COPA, the organisation representing European farmers.
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Mixed response to Chancellor’s budget
22 April 2009
THE farming community gave a mixed reaction to Alistair Darling’s Budget today (Wednesday, April 22).
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UK enters worst recession since World War II
22 April 2009
CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling has admitted Britain is facing its worst recession since 1945.
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Defra accused of ‘dragging its heels’ over flood strategy
22 April 2009
DEFRA has been accused of leaving millions of people at risk of flooding after ‘dragging its heels’ over new flood legislation.
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British Sugar aghast as NFU sets ‘unrealistic’ 2010 sugar price target
22 April 2009
THE battle for a 2010 sugar price agreement began this week under controversial circumstances.
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British Sugar aghast as NFU sets ‘unrealistic’ 2010 sugar price target
22 April 2009
THE battle for a 2010 sugar price agreement began this week under controversial circumstances.
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Farmers wait for Chancellor’s budget
22 April 2009
CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling will unveil his plans to rescue the economy from recession when he delivers his budget later today (Wednesday, April 22).
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EU plans could strip money from Britain’s upland farmers
21 April 2009
FARMERS in disadvantaged areas of Britain could lose financial aid under plans to overhaul the EU's Less Favoured Area (LFA) scheme.
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Defra announces £10m bee plan to boost agriculture
21 April 2009
DEFRA will spend £10 million to protect bees and other insect pollinators, under new plans announced today (Tuesday, April 21).
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EU plans could strip money from Britain’s upland farmers
21 April 2009
FARMERS in disadvantaged areas of Britain could lose financial aid under plans to overhaul the EU's Less Favoured Area (LFA) scheme.
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British farmers urged to 'take advantage' of venison market
20 April 2009
DESPITE the fact deer farming is profitable and there is a growing domestic market to exploit, British farmers are being outmuscled by their New Zealand counterparts.
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British farmers urged to 'take advantage' of venison market
20 April 2009
DESPITE the fact deer farming is profitable and there is a growing domestic market to exploit, British farmers are being outmuscled by their New Zealand counterparts.
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Tories bemoan ‘decade of decline’ in British agriculture
17 April 2009
DOMESTIC food production has fallen across nearly all agricultural sectors, according to Government figures.
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Trust me, I’m a farmer
16 April 2009
FARMERS are more trustworthy than the police, judges and priests, according to a Reader’s Digest survey.
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Wheat exports could power British cars
15 April 2009
IF the UK retained all of its wheat exports and fed the crop into bioethanol refineries, it would meet its 5 per cent renewable fuel target.
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Wheat exports could power British cars
15 April 2009
IF the UK retained all of its wheat exports and fed the crop into bioethanol refineries, it would meet its 5 per cent renewable fuel target.
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Farm leaders tell Euro MPs to work for the farming vote
15 April 2009
EURO MPs must pledge to shape a better future for UK agriculture if they want to count on the farming vote at the upcoming elections in June.
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Less land could deliver the same environmental benefits
10 April 2009
ENGLAND’S farmers may only have to remove 62,000 hectares (153,140 acres) of farmland from production in order to recapture the environmental benefits delivered by set-aside land.
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Positive moves to make rural housing more affordable
10 April 2009
THE Government has announced new measures to make rural housing more affordable, but it controversially stopped short of a crackdown on second homes.
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Positive outlook for the meat industry
9 April 2009
IF England’s livestock farmers can ride out the current economic storm, they will benefit in the long-term.
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Positive outlook for the meat industry
9 April 2009
IF England’s livestock farmers can ride out the current economic storm, they will benefit in the long-term.
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Pesticides not a threat to honey bees - Benn
8 April 2009
HILARY Benn, Defra Secretary, has rejected calls from the organic lobby to ban insecticides they say damage the health of honey bees.
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Pesticides not a threat to honey bees - Benn
8 April 2009
HILARY Benn, Defra Secretary, has rejected calls from the organic lobby to ban insecticides they say damage the health of honey bees.
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Family farms need help to survive
7 April 2009
THE survival of the family farm, the traditional lifeblood of the British countryside, is under threat.
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Organic sales slip as recession bites
6 April 2009
SALES of organic produce slowed drastically in 2008 as consumers sought cheaper alternatives.
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Sugar drilling on for record despite seed delivery debacle
2 April 2009
SUGAR growers are on target for a record early finish to their drilling season despite delays on their seed deliveries.
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Sugar drilling on for record despite seed delivery debacle
2 April 2009
SUGAR growers are on target for a record early finish to their drilling season despite delays on their seed deliveries.
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NFU rejects claim that British families waste £400 a year on CAP
1 April 2009
A ROW has broken out after a study claimed every British household wasted £400 a year to pay for the Common Agricultural Policy.
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Join environmental schemes or face ‘dead hand of cross-compliance’
31 March 2009
FARMERS have been warned to join environmental schemes and back the industry’s voluntary set-aside plans or face the ‘dead hand of cross-compliance’.
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Monty Don warns of food crisis unless Britain goes organic
31 March 2009
MONTY Don, the BBC television presenter, has warned food supplies in Britain are ‘superficially robust’ and could tumble just as quickly as the world’s financial markets.
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Test failures a threat for organic pesticides
26 March 2009
NEARLY half of the pesticides specially approved for use in organic farming have failed EU safety tests and more could follow as the rules are tightened, according to the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA).
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GM can safeguard the environment
25 March 2009
WORLDWIDE use of pest-resistant genetically modified crops (GM) has reduced pesticide use by nearly 300 million kg - equivalent to the EU's entire yearly usage of sprays.
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GM can safeguard the environment
25 March 2009
WORLDWIDE use of pest-resistant genetically modified crops (GM) has reduced pesticide use by nearly 300 million kg - equivalent to the EU's entire yearly usage of sprays.
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Progress made with CAP but MEPs want more
20 March 2009
THE European Commission is well on the way to reducing CAP paperwork by 25 per cent by 2012, according to its agriculture chief.
-
Industry guide to offer farmers money saving tips
19 March 2009
A NEW guide has been launched offering tips to help farmers save money through more efficient fertiliser use and better farming practices.
-
Farm subsidies essential after deregulation 'backfires'
19 March 2009
EUROPEAN farmers will need subsidies well beyond 2013 because the market has ‘lost its magic’ and deregulation has ‘backfired’, former Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler has admitted.
-
Creating a ‘sustainable’ pig industry
19 March 2009
A NEW pig industry task force must deliver a sustainable and profitable English pig sector, said Farming Minister Jane Kennedy.
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NFU urges FSA to win GM debate
18 March 2009
THE NFU has called on the Food Standards Agency to win the debate over genetically modified food.
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NFU urges FSA to win GM debate
18 March 2009
THE NFU has called on the Food Standards Agency to win the debate over genetically modified food.
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Conservatives launch food labelling Bill in the Commons
18 March 2009
TORY attempts to improve the transparency of supermarket food labelling took a step forward with the launch of a Bill in the House of Commons yesterday (Tuesday, March 18).
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Europe to accept new pesticide rules despite UK protestations
17 March 2009
DEFRA Secretary Hilary Benn is disappointed new EU pesticide regulations will be implemented without any idea of how it might impact on food production.
-
National Trust project boosts farm skills, economy and environment
17 March 2009
A NATIONAL Trust project to improve farmers’ skills base has helped boost the rural economy and protect the environment, says the charity.
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Waitrose suppliers asked to cut their prices by 2pc
16 March 2009
WAITROSE suppliers have been asked by the supermarket to cut their prices by 2 per cent to help the retailer ride out the economic downturn.
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Farmers must submit crop protection plans or risk more regulation
16 March 2009
FARMERS and growers have been urged to submit their Crop Protection Management Plans before the end of March or risk more regulation.
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Farmers must submit crop protection plans or risk more regulation
16 March 2009
FARMERS and growers have been urged to submit their Crop Protection Management Plans before the end of March or risk more regulation.
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Waitrose suppliers asked to cut prices by 2pc
12 March 2009
WAITROSE suppliers have been asked to cut their prices by 2 per cent to help the supermarket ride out the economic downturn.
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Waitrose suppliers asked to cut prices by 2pc
12 March 2009
WAITROSE suppliers have been asked to cut their prices by 2 per cent to help the supermarket ride out the economic downturn.
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Labour failing British farmers as Lib Dems announce food strategy
12 March 2009
THE Liberal Democrats have accused the Government of failing British farmers after figures revealed Britons are eating less domestically produced food than when Labour came to power.
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Climate change group to tackle northern flooding
12 March 2009
THE Environment Agency has formed a new climate change group in Northumberland to tackle flooding and other extreme weather events.
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Lib Dems call to strip farm subsidies from rich landowners
11 March 2009
TIM Farron, the Liberal Democrat agricultural spokesman, has lambasted the Government for handing multi-million pound subsidies to some of Britain’s richest men.
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Bioenergy exhibition moves to Stoneleigh
10 March 2009
BRITAIN’S largest dedicated bioenergy exhibition will move to Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire this year to reflect farmers’ growing interest in green technologies.
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Mixed result for pig and poultry farmers after IPPC vote
10 March 2009
Around 300 pig farmers could each face an initial bill of £25,000 to comply with new EU pollution rules after a controversial vote in the European Parliament today.
-
Defra bee plan to boost agriculture
9 March 2009
A NEW strategy to protect honey bees will help safeguard crop yields and put food on the table, Defra has announced today (Monday, March 9).
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MEPs have a chance to water down IPPC rules after lobby success
6 March 2009
MEPs will have a chance to water down new pollution rules that would impact heavily on British farmers when they vote in Strasbourg next Tuesday (March 10).
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Geographic isolation threatens the survival of heritage breeds
March 6th 2009
THE concentration of ‘heritage’ sheep breeds in certain areas of the British Isles means they could be wiped out by a single disease outbreak, the authors of a new report have warned.
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NFU fury as supermarket body blames farmers for food inflation
5 March 2009
THE NFU has rubbished accusations from the retail sector that livestock farmers are to blame for a sharp rise in the price of fresh meat.
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Hunting Act ‘in a mess’ say Countryside Alliance
5 March 2009
HUNT supporters say the Hunting Act has failed and must now be scrapped after it received another legal blow this week.
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FSA defends progress on meat hygiene reform
4 March 2009
THE Food Standards Agency has dismissed criticism for ‘slow progress’ in its reform of the Meat Hygiene Service.
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FSA defends progress on meat hygiene reform
4 March 2009
THE Food Standards Agency has dismissed criticism for ‘slow progress’ in its reform of the Meat Hygiene Service.
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Farm Minister to fight IPPC rules in Brussels
3 March 2009
JANE Kennedy, Food and Farming Minister, will urge MEPs to throw out burdensome and costly new pollution rules when she visits Brussels tomorrow (Wednesday, March 4).
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Farm Minister to fight IPPC rules in Brussels
3 March 2009
JANE Kennedy, Food and Farming Minister, will urge MEPs to throw out burdensome and costly new pollution rules when she visits Brussels tomorrow (Wednesday, March 4).
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Commission fails to overturn GM ban
3 March 2009
THE European Commission has failed in its attempt to force two EU member states to drop their ban on the cultivation of a genetically modified maize.
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Vion strike could leave supermarkets short of meat over Easter
2 March 2009
THE threat of mass redundancies could spark strike action at the UK’s biggest supermarket meat supplier and leave shelves short over the Easter period.
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Vion strike could leave supermarkets short of meat over Easter
2 March 2009
THE threat of mass redundancies could spark strike action at the UK’s biggest supermarket meat supplier and leave shelves short over the Easter period.
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Councils urged not to sell off estate holdings
27 February 2009
THE Tenant Farmers Association has urged county councils to stop selling holdings from estates.
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Industry denies pesticide black-list
25 February 2009
FARMERS and retailers have been told there is no such thing as a ‘black-list’ of dangerous pesticides.
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Industry denies pesticide black-list
25 February 2009
FARMERS and retailers have been told there is no such thing as a ‘black-list’ of dangerous pesticides.
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TV's Clarissa condemns supermarket labelling
23 February 2009
CLARISSA Dickson Wright, TV cook, has hit out at lawmakers after discovering a series of misleading food labels in Britain’s supermarkets.
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Farmers can save thousands on fertiliser
23 February 2009
A SIMPLE soil analysis on key pastures could save farmers thousands of pounds in fertiliser costs, according to the National Beef Association.
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Farmers can save thousands on fertiliser
23 February 2009
A SIMPLE soil analysis on key pastures could save farmers thousands of pounds in fertiliser costs, according to the National Beef Association.
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Farming Minister listens, learns and acts on pig and poultry
20 February 2009
JANE Kennedy, the Farming Minster, has been praised for her willingness to learn about the pig and poultry sectors first-hand.
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NFU lobby EU to re-think EID
19 February 2009
THE controversial EID regulation could be relaxed if enough support to change the rules can be gathered from across other EU member states, the NFU has said.
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Domestic production has to be a priority – Herbert
17 February 2009
SHADOW Defra Secretary Nick Herbert has criticised the Government for a systematic neglect of domestic food production.
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Tories launch 'honest' labelling campaign
16 February 2009
THE Conservative Party has called for more honest labelling of food to allow consumers to buy British.
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Tories launch 'honest' labelling campaign
16 February 2009
THE Conservative Party has called for more honest labelling of food to allow consumers to buy British.
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Details of pesticide ban begin to emerge
11 February 2009
THE true impact of the European Parliament’s vote on new crop protection rules is beginning to emerge after a report was published by the Government’s pesticide advisors this week.
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Peter Kendall takes IPPC fight to Brussels
10 February 2009
THE cost of producing pork, chicken, turkey, tomatoes and cucumbers will rise if ‘over-zealous’ EU rules on pollution are approved, NFU president Peter Kendall has warned.
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Scientists launch new GM guide
10 February 2009
THE British public have been invited to learn ‘all they ever wanted to know’ about genetically modified food.
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West Country hill farmers need CAP money - Parish
10 February 2009
THE Government has been urged to direct CAP money to help struggling West Country hill farmers.
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Scheme offers fast track into dairy management
6 February 2009
A SPECIALIST management training programme has been launched to equip young people with the skills to manage large 500-plus dairy herds.
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Still enjoying the fruits of his labour
February 6th 2009
Cheap imports have decimated British apple farming, but John Collingwood’s persistence has resulted in growing success. William Surman went to meet him.
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National Dairy Week kicks off
2 February 2009
BRITISH dairy products are among the nation’s favourite foods, farmers have been told today on the opening day of National Dairy Week (Monday, February 2).
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Fast track to dairy management
January 30th 2009
A SPECIALIST management training programme has been launched to equip young people with the skills to manage large dairy herds.
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Fast track to dairy management
January 30th 2009
A SPECIALIST management training programme has been launched to equip young people with the skills to manage large dairy herds.
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Tesco chief criticises subsidies, biofuels and regulation
29 January 2009
TESCO chief executive Sir Terry Leahy criticised farm subsidies, biofuels and the proposed supermarket watchdog last night (Wednesday, January 28).
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£120m revamp for Royal Bath and West
29 January 2009
THE Royal Bath and West of England Society will spend £120 million on a dramatic transformation of the Somerset showground, it has been revealed.
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£120m revamp for Royal Bath and West
29 January 2009
THE Royal Bath and West of England Society will spend £120 million on a dramatic transformation of the Somerset showground, it has been revealed.
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Government backs biofuel investment
27 January 2009
ALMOST £30 million of public money will be pumped into a new biofuel research centre, it was announced today (Tuesday, January 27).
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Tesco launch milk ‘centre of excellence’
22 January 2009
TESCO has launched a national dairy centre to help boost the competitiveness of the British dairy industry.
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Pesticides battle rumbles on
21 January 2009
HEAVY criticism has failed to convince European legislators to quantify the negative impact of strict new pesticide rules on food production and prices.
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Bees get £4.3M health boost
21 January 2009
THE Government will invest over £4 million into keeping bees healthy after a rapid decline in their population.
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Sugar growers debate 2010 contract price
21 January 2009
THE journey towards securing a profitable sugar beet price in 2010 began for many growers this week.
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President Bush's final battle…against French cheese
19 January 2009
PRESIDENT Bush has dealt a blow to the French cheese industry days before leaving office.
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Sainsbury’s to stop selling eggs from caged chickens
19 January 2009
SAINSBURY’S will stop selling eggs from caged chickens from next month.
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Tesco responds as Irish pig industry questions its commitment
14 January 2009
TESCO said it is 'following normal industry practice' in seeking compensation from Irish pigmeat processors for lost profits due to last month’s dioxin scare.
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Farm hero saves 160 animals from fire
14 January 2009
A FARMER was left 'battered and bruised' by his stampeding cattle as he rescued them from a fire on his farm in Whitby last weekend.
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MEPs want EU food security fund
14 January 2009
A SPECIAL food security fund should be set up to support the world’s poorest people according to MEPs.
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Fierce reaction to pesticide ban vote
13 January 2009
MEPs have voted with an overwhelming majority to remove a large number of pesticides from farmers’ crop protection armoury.
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Fierce reaction to pesticide ban vote
13 January 2009
MEPs have voted with an overwhelming majority to remove a large number of pesticides from farmers’ crop protection armoury.
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Defra must step in to save pig industry’s bacon
13 January 2009
DEFRA must stop the rot of the English pig industry, a committee of cross-party MPs has concluded.
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Many pesticides doomed after European vote
13 January 2009
KEY pesticides will be removed from farmer and growers’ armoury next year after a vote in the European Parliament today (Tuesday, January 13).
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Many pesticides doomed after European vote
13 January 2009
KEY pesticides will be removed from farmer and growers’ armoury next year after a vote in the European Parliament today (Tuesday, January 13).
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Tesco seeks compensation for lost profit after dioxin scare
13 January 2009
IT is understood Tesco is seeking compensation from Irish pigmeat processors for lost profits due to last month’s dioxin scare.
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Farming leaders fight to save pesticides from extinction
12 January 2009
FARMING leaders have arrived in Strasbourg to save a host of pesticides from extinction.
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Organic sector’s feed plea
9 January 2009
BRITAIN’S major organic bodies are considering asking the Government for a derogation to allow farmers to feed non-organic feed to organic livestock for a limited time period.
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Overwhelming demand for British food
7 January 2009
CONSUMERS have expressed their overwhelming desire to see more British food on supermarket shelves.
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Improving animal welfare can impact positively on profit
7 January 2009
LIVESTOCK farmers have been told they can improve the welfare of their stock for direct and positive impact on profit.
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Tesco price war sparks fear in countryside
6 January 2009
TESCO has announced discounts of £100 million across 3,000 products prompting fears within the countryside that farm-gate prices will also be screwed down.
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Future of crop protection products in farmers’ hands
5 January 2009
FARMERS and growers across Britain have one last chance to save key crop protection products from the scrap heap, food chain bodies have warned.
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Future of crop protection products in farmers’ hands
5 January 2009
FARMERS and growers across Britain have one last chance to save key crop protection products from the scrap heap, food chain bodies have warned.
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FSA launches meat inspection consultation
29 December 2008
THE Food Standards Agency has launched a consultation on its proposals to reduce the annual £54 million subsidy on meat inspection costs and transfer the final bill to industry.
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Farm worker income up 7.2pc
23 December 2008
AGRICULTURAL income per worker rose by 7.2 per cent in the UK this year, according to EU statisticians.
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Organic farmers seek derogation to avoid feed crisis
22 December 2008
ORGANIC livestock farmers are paying more than double conventional feed prices and are struggling to ride out the recession, the Soil Association has warned.
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‘Disastrous’ impact of EU pesticides plan
22 December 2008
EUROPE’S top environment negotiators have agreed to new pesticide rules that could remove between 14 and 23 per cent of currently used crop protection products.
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European negotiators reach agreement on pesticide rules
18 December 2008
THE final shape of new EU pesticides legislation moved a step closer last night (Wednesday, December 17) after Europe’s top environment negotiators agreed on a compromise paper.
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5,000 more work permits given to Romanians and Bulgarians
18 December 2008
THE Government will provide 5,000 extra work permits for Bulgarians and Romanians to work in the agriculture sector in 2009 after severe labour shortages left fruit and vegetables unpicked this year.
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Benn pumps money into new flood centre
17 December 2008
DEFRA will pump £7.7 million into a flood forecasting centre, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced today (Wednesday 17).
-
EU renewable target good news for farmers
17 December 2008
MANDATORY targets to increase the amount of renewable fuel used in energy and transport have been agreed by the European Parliament today (Wednesday 17).
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New pesticide rules move a step closer
December 19th 2008
TALKS to agree strict new rules on pesticide use in Europe have moved a step closer, Farmers Guardian has learned.
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EU pesticide proposals could doom British carrot production
15 December 2008
THE loss of certain sprays deemed too hazardous for farmers to use could bring an end to carrot production in the UK, the Government’s leading advisor on pesticide use has warned.
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EU pesticide proposals could doom British carrot production
15 December 2008
THE loss of certain sprays deemed too hazardous for farmers to use could bring an end to carrot production in the UK, the Government’s leading advisor on pesticide use has warned.
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Countryside Alliance launches new website to repeal Hunting Act
15 December 2008
THE Countryside Alliance has set up an online petition to repeal the Hunting Act.
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Food security concentrates Prime Minster’s mind on pesticides
12 December 2008
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has castigated European Parliament attempts to push through tough new pesticide rules that could leave farmers struggling to produce enough food at a time of food shortages.
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MPs launch food security inquiry
12 December 2008
AN influential committee of MPs has launched an inquiry into how the UK can secure food supplies up to 2050.
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Europe's farmers on front line to cut prices
10 December 2008
CONSUMERS need more access to cheaper food and farmers have a crucial role to play, the head of European agriculture said today (Wednesday, December 10).
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Benn to call for international action on food security
9 December 2008
DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn is set to call on world leaders to establish a new deal on food security, claiming it needs to be a ‘new Kyoto’.
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Pesticide proposals could slash wheat yields by one third
9 December 2008
EU plans to remove hazardous pesticides from the market could slash wheat yields by 30 per cent and stop the production of carrots and parsnips altogether, a major new study has warned.
-
Food price inflation down for third successive month
8 December 2008
FOOD price inflation has fallen for three months running, according to latest figures from the British Retail Consortium.
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British pig farmers good, but not good enough - CIWF
8 December 2008
AN undercover investigation into pig welfare standards across Europe has revealed British pigs are better off than their European counterparts, but added more must be done to improve their living conditions.
-
Food price inflation down for third successive month
8 December 2008
FOOD price inflation has fallen for three months running, according to latest figures from the British Retail Consortium.
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Pesticide changes could damage agriculture and food production - Brown
4 December 2008
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has finally responded to proposed EU rules that could remove a quarter of crop protection products from the market place.
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Pesticide changes could damage agriculture and food production - Brown
4 December 2008
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has finally responded to proposed EU rules that could remove a quarter of crop protection products from the market place.
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EU decision ‘a step forward’ on bluetongue vaccination
4 December 2008
EU VETERINARY experts have agreed to the introduction of new bluetongue rules that could pave the way for the UK to pre-emptively vaccinate against bluetongue serotypes not active in the UK.
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EU decision ‘a step forward’ on bluetongue vaccination
4 December 2008
EU VETERINARY experts have agreed to the introduction of new bluetongue rules that could pave the way for the UK to pre-emptively vaccinate against bluetongue serotypes not active in the UK.
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EU regulations threaten a quarter of crop protection products
3 December 2008
GOVERNMENT advisors on pesticide use have warned that new EU regulations could still remove up to 23 per cent of crop protection products currently on the market.
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EU regulations threaten a quarter of crop protection products
3 December 2008
GOVERNMENT advisors on pesticide use have warned that new EU regulations could still remove up to 23 per cent of crop protection products currently on the market.
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British farmers call foul over Europe’s fallen stock subsidies
3 December 2008
BRITISH farmers have reacted angrily after discovering their European counterparts receive substantial government subsidies to help the collection and disposal of fallen stock.
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British farmers call foul over Europe’s fallen stock subsidies
3 December 2008
BRITISH farmers have reacted angrily after discovering their European counterparts receive substantial government subsidies to help the collection and disposal of fallen stock.
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Waitrose backs British bacon
3 December 2008
WAITROSE will only stock British bacon from this month.
-
Fewer pesticides mean more CO²
2 December 2008
A NEW study has warned of a significant increase in agriculture greenhouse gas emissions if EU policy makers continue with their plans to remove pesticides from the market.
-
New GM feed looks for authorisation this week
1 December 2008
A NEW genetically modified soybean could be authorized for import into the European Union this week in a move that could see livestock feed prices drop.
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New GM feed looks for authorisation this week
1 December 2008
A NEW genetically modified soybean could be authorized for import into the European Union this week in a move that could see livestock feed prices drop.
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Agriculture could go carbon neutral to help Government targets
1 December 2008
THE Government’s climate change advisor has told Britain to commit to a 34 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 or risk irreversible climate change damage.
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Is there a future for GM in this country?
November 28th 2008
The first round of the great GM debate ended in outright victory for the doubters. But the biotech industry is trying again with a new generation of GM products. Alistair Driver, Jack Davies and William Surman investigate in this Farmers Guardian special report.
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Reaction to the CAP Health Check
21 November 2008
FARMING leaders and politicians react to the Health Check agreement.
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UK seething after CAP reform slow-down
20 November 2008
EUROPE’S agriculture minsters have reached political agreement on the Health Check of the CAP after negotiations continued through the night into the early hours of this morning (Thursday, November 20).
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Health Check introduces new market distortion
20 November 2008
FRANCE will re-direct millions of pounds of unspent EU money into subsidies for its ailing sheep sector after forcing a loophole into the CAP Health Check agreement.
-
Parliament votes to keep market distortion
19 November 2008
EURO-MPs have voted to give farmers more subsidies and market support to help cope with the economic downturn after they reached a conclusion on CAP Health Check talks in Strasbourg today (Wednesday, November 19).
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Up to 40% of pesticides still threatened
19 November 2008
UP to 40 per cent of currently approved pesticides could be lost, experts have warned, as discussions on crop protection rule changes entered their final phase in Europe.
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Conservation farmer scoops top Natural England award
19 November 2008
DAVID Hutchinson has won Natural England’s prestigious Future of Farming Award for his outstanding contribution to wildlife conservation.
-
French sheep farmers seek EU payout
18 November 2008
FRANCE has announced a plan to re-direct millions of pounds of unspent EU money into subsidies for its ailing sheep sector.
-
Commissioner defends CAP
18 November 2008
EUROPEAN Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has launched a staunch defence of Europe’s common agriculture policy, saying she would ‘defend the CAP to her last days’.
-
CAP negotiations head for conclusion
17 November 2008
EUROPE’S agriculture leaders will decide the shape of the CAP up until 2013 when health check talks conclude this week.
-
Curry joins Waitrose
17 November 2008
SIR Don Curry has been appointed non-executive chairman of Waitrose’s 4,000-acre flagship farm in Hampshire.
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Hold nerve on CAP reform, Kendall urges Commissioner
November 14th 2008
EUROPE’S agriculture chief, Mariann Fischer Boel (pictured, right), was due to be told to ‘hold her nerve’ on CAP reform during a visit to the South West this week.
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Brown given second warning on pesticide rules
11 November 2008
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has again been urged to personally intervene in EU pesticide proposals to prevent a disaster for British agriculture.
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Brown given second warning on pesticide rules
11 November 2008
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has again been urged to personally intervene in EU pesticide proposals to prevent a disaster for British agriculture.
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Hold nerve on CAP reform: Kendall
11 November 2008
NFU president, Peter Kendall, has urged European leaders to hold their nerve and continue to push CAP reform when they meet next week.
-
Tories demand country of origin food labelling
7 November 2008
CONSERVATIVE MP Jim Paice has called on the Government to introduce country of origin labelling to help British farmers compete fairly on a global market.
-
Euro-MPs vote to cut pesticides
5 November 2008
EURO-MPs have voted to dramatically cut the number of pesticides available for use by farmers, despite campaigning and direct lobbying by Farmers Guardian and industry organisations.
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Euro-MPs vote to cut pesticides
5 November 2008
EURO-MPs have voted to dramatically cut the number of pesticides available for use by farmers, despite campaigning and direct lobbying by Farmers Guardian and industry organisations.
-
Bee in their bonnet
5 November 2008
ANGRY beekeepers will march on Downing Street this afternoon (Wednesday, November 5), to demand funding to halt the rapid demise of the bee population.
-
National Trust employs 'conservation cowgirl'
5 November 2008
LISA Hawthornwaite has beaten off stiff competition from budding cowgirls and cowboys from as far away as South America to become the National Trust’s first cowgirl.
-
Irish study shows way forward for milk assembly
4 November 2008
IRISH dairy farmers must increase the protein and butterfat content in a litre of milk if they are to compete on a global market, Kevin Coffey’s Nuffield study concluded.
-
Vital pesticide vote on Wednesday
4 November 2008
AN influential European Parliament committee will vote tomorrow (Wednesday, November 5), on controversial pesticide proposals that could limit our ability to produce food for a growing population.
-
Vital pesticide vote on Wednesday
4 November 2008
AN influential European Parliament committee will vote tomorrow (Wednesday, November 5), on controversial pesticide proposals that could limit our ability to produce food for a growing population.
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Defra chiefs: only a farm between them
31 October 2008
DEFRA’S top two office holders, Secretary of State, Hilary Benn and Food and Farming Minister, Jane Kennedy, represent a single farm across their combined constituencies, it has emerged.
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Defra’s rural indifference has cost countryside ‘billions’
29 October 2008
DEFRA’S poor understanding of what makes rural economies tick has left the countryside billions of pounds worse off, a report from an influential committee of cross-party MPs concluded.
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Food security is world’s biggest agricultural challenge
29 October 2008
IT is time to face up to the world’s biggest agricultural challenge, the Government’s top scientific advisor has warned.
-
Campbell wins top pig industry award
29 October 2008
THE prestigious David Black Award for outstanding services to the pig industry was won by Ian Campbell at a ceremony in the House of Lords this morning (Wednesday, October 29).
-
Defra rack up £346,000 bill
28 October 2008
DEFRA has admitted to racking up a £346,000 taxi bill last year – equivalent to the income of 58 hill farmers, say the Conservatives.
-
Kennedy pledges to help pig farmers
28 October 2008
NEW Farming Minister Jane Kennedy has pledged to help pig farmers tackle the threat of high input costs and their ‘sense of powerlessness’ when dealing with big retailers.
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Kennedy pledges to help pig farmers
28 October 2008
NEW Farming Minister Jane Kennedy has pledged to help pig farmers tackle the threat of high input costs and their ‘sense of powerlessness’ when dealing with big retailers.
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Don't water down CAP reform, ministers warned
28 October 2008
EUROPE’S agriculture ministers have been urged to ditch ideas that could ‘turn back the clock’ on CAP reform this week.
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Decision to scrap SAWS is called into question
23 October 2008
THE Government’s decision to scrap the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme has been called into question by Shadow Farming Minister Jim Paice.
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Dairy industry lobby Benn on TB
22 October 2008
THE dairy industry tackled Defra Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, in a head-on meeting on bovine TB this morning (Wednesday, October 22).
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Dairy industry lobby Benn on TB
22 October 2008
THE dairy industry tackled Defra Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, in a head-on meeting on bovine TB this morning (Wednesday, October 22).
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No more peas and beans in UK, industry warn
22 October 2008
PEAS and beans are the latest products found to be uneconomical to grow in the UK if European Parliament plans to remove crop protection products from growers’ armoury are successful.
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Efficiency and communication key to cutting meat industry cost
20 October 2008
THE meat industry must be prepared to bear its fair share of the cost for meat inspection services, said Food Standards Agency chief executive Tim Smith.
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Meat inspectors hold the key to cost-cutting
20 October 2008
A RESTRUCTURED workforce could slash many millions of pounds from the cost of meat inspection services in slaughterhouses and cutting plants across the country, meat industry leaders and the Food Standards Agency have agreed.
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EU school milk campaign
20 October 2008
CHILDREN will be encouraged to drink more milk as part of the EU programme to support good eating and nutritional habits.
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Foot-and-mouth legal case Q&A
17 October 2008
Questions and Answers
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EU Commissioner calls for CAP beyond 2013 to maintain quality
17 October 2008
EUROPEAN farmers will need the CAP beyond 2013 if they are to continue to produce quality products in a sustainable environment, the EU Agriculture Commissioner has said.
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Defra stand accused
17 October 2008
DEFRA Secretary of State Hilary Benn was negligent in his failure to properly license or regulate the animal health laboratories in Pirbright, it has been alleged.
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Counting the cost of FMD - what will farmers claim?
17 October 2008
ON October 24, 2007, Defra minister Jonathan Shaw was asked to estimate how much the foot-and-mouth disease restrictions had cost livestock producers during a debate in the House of Commons.
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NFU launches 'Why Science Matters' campaign
14 October 2008
THE Government must reverse its chronic under-investment in agricultural research and development if it is to increase production and tackle food security, the NFU has said.
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England ‘out of touch’ on GM
13 October 2008
THE English Government has been accused of being out of touch with its consumers.
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England ‘out of touch’ on GM
13 October 2008
THE English Government has been accused of being out of touch with its consumers.
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Supply chain collaboration to increase producer power
10 October 2008
FARMERS must collaborate more if they are to have any long term negotiating power with retailers, the head of European agriculture policy told Farmers Guardian in an exclusive interview this week.
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Supply chain collaboration to increase producer power
10 October 2008
FARMERS must collaborate more if they are to have any long term negotiating power with retailers, the head of European agriculture policy told Farmers Guardian in an exclusive interview this week.
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Pesticide proposals could devastate production, Dutch study warns
10 October 2008
DUTCH researchers have added further weight to UK warnings that European food and horticulture production could be severely hit by the EU’s pesticide proposals.
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Pesticide proposals could devastate production, Dutch study warns
10 October 2008
DUTCH researchers have added further weight to UK warnings that European food and horticulture production could be severely hit by the EU’s pesticide proposals.
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TB rule change still up for discussion
8 October 2008
PLANS to impose strict new rules on UK calf exports to temper continental fears of a spread of bovine TB have been shelved for at least one more week.
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TB rule change still up for discussion
8 October 2008
PLANS to impose strict new rules on UK calf exports to temper continental fears of a spread of bovine TB have been shelved for at least one more week.
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French drag their feet over CAP
8 October 2008
FRENCH politicians are leading a move in the European Parliament to water down EU plans to continue reform of the CAP.
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Euro-MPs push pesticide proposals
7 October 2008
DESPITE the threat of EU pesticide proposals to British agricultural production, continental MEPs have expressed their desire to wrap up the new legislation as soon as possible.
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Euro-MPs push pesticide proposals
7 October 2008
DESPITE the threat of EU pesticide proposals to British agricultural production, continental MEPs have expressed their desire to wrap up the new legislation as soon as possible.
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Prime Minister must intervene to save EU agriculture
2 October 2008
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has been urged to personally intervene in the European process to prevent further progress of new pesticides proposals until their impact on crop yield and food price across Europe has been fully assessed.
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Prime Minster must intervene to save EU agriculture
2 October 2008
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has been urged to personally intervene in the European process to prevent further progress of new pesticides proposals until their impact on crop yield and food price across Europe has been fully assessed.
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Crop protection experts explain proposals to British MEP
2 October 2008
EU debate over the new pesticides proposals is reaching fever pitch across Europe.
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Crop protection experts explain proposals to British MEP
2 October 2008
EU debate over the new pesticides proposals is reaching fever pitch across Europe.
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Farmers demand more from supermarkets
1 October 2008
A FRINGE meeting on Tuesday morning set out to answer a difficult conundrum.
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Natural party for the countryside
1 October 2008
THE Conservatives are 'the natural party for the countryside', a packed audience was told at a rural drinks event organised by the Countryside Alliance, Commission for Rural Communities and Conservative Rural Action Group yesterday night (Tuesday, September 30).
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Parish fights French protectionism
1 October 2008
THE Conservative agriculture spokesman in Europe, Neil Parish MEP, has vowed to further push CAP reform across the whole of Europe.
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Shadow minister recognises declining bee population threat
30 September 2008
ONE issue that cropped up repeatedly in the rural fringe events was the decline of Britain’s bee population.
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Farmers 'desperate for a change of leadership'
30 September 2008
SHADOW Agriculture Minister, James Paice, has launched a scathing attack on the Government’s farming policy.
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Farmers responding 'fantastically' to green challenge
30 September 2008
FARMERS are responding “fantastically” to the challenge of the environment and should not be vilified for past mistakes, NFU president Peter Kendall told an audience at the Conservative Party conference last night.
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Shoppers encouraged to Forgotten cuts
30 September 2008
PIG trotters, ox cheeks, lamb shoulder shanks and other forgotten animal cuts are returning to the shelves of Waitrose.
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Shoppers encouraged to forgotten cuts
30 September 2008
PIG trotters, ox cheeks, lamb shoulder shanks and other forgotten animal cuts are returning to the shelves of Waitrose.
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Conservative Party conference
29 September 2008
THE conference season continues this week in Birmingham where the Conservative Party has gathered to explain its plans to run the country.
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Why SAWS matters for the UK's growers
September 26th 2008
The Government’s decision to phase out seasonal workers from non-EU countries has left growers drastically short of labour to pick fruit and vegetables this year. William Surman reports on why the costs to the horticulture industry are becoming unbearable.
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European agriculture threatened: UK warns
24 September 2008
A FIVE page dossier has been published by UK civil servants to warn Members of the European Parliament that their actions could inadvertently, but dramatically, reduce the production capacity of European agriculture.
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French minister calls for tighter import controls
23 September 2008
THE French agriculture minister has called for tighter rules on imported food to protect European consumers from substandard produce.
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Welfare to improve for slaughter animals
23 September 2008
THE European Commission has proposed new rules to improve the welfare of animals during their slaughter.
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Farmer and consumer set to lose if MEPs remove pesticides
19 September 2008
FARMGATE prices on cereals and vegetables will need to double to keep growers in business if Euro-MPs get their wish to dramatically reduce the number of crop protection products available to farmers.
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Growers count cost of labour shortfall
17 September 2008
SEVERE labour shortages in the horticulture sector have cost growers an average of £140,000 in 2008 and the Government are to blame, the NFU has claimed.
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Advice to farmers on soil damage
11 September 2008
FARMERS are being reminded they still need to record soil damage that occurs from harvesting machinery that might be used on waterlogged soils under the temporary exemption.
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Government must find labour source for horticulture
11 September 2008
THE Government must find an alternative source of labour for the agriculture sector after its decision to phase out the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme has left the horticulture sector drastically short of workers, an independent report has claimed.
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EU draft new TB rules
10 September 2008
THE EU is drawing up plans to impose strict new rules on the UK calf export trade amid fears over the spread of bovine TB.
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EU draft new TB rules
10 September 2008
THE EU is drawing up plans to impose strict new rules on the UK calf export trade amid fears over the spread of bovine TB.
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Defra grant derogation to waterlogged farmers
10 September 2008
DEFRA has granted a derogation to farmers to harvest crops growing on waterlogged land.
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Defra grant derogation to waterlogged farmers
10 September 2008
DEFRA has granted a derogation to farmers to harvest crops growing on waterlogged land.
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New pesticides regulations move a step closer
9 September 2008
EUROPE has taken another next step towards implementing strict new regulations on the use of pesticides, prompting a call to arms from industry leaders.
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New pesticides regulations move a step closer
9 September 2008
EUROPE has taken another next step towards implementing strict new regulations on the use of pesticides, prompting a call to arms from industry leaders.
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New rules for NVZ farmers published
9 September 2008
THE Government has published its controversial Nitrates Vulnerable Zones Action Programme, that will extend NVZs from 55 per cent to 70 per cent of England.
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Brussels: No extra TB restrictions for UK
3 September 2008
EARLY indications from a high level meeting in Brussels suggest that the European Commission has decided against adding further restrictions to UK cattle exports despite European fears that TB could be spread to the continent.
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Brussels: No extra TB restrictions for UK
3 September 2008
EARLY indications from a high level meeting in Brussels suggest that the European Commission has decided against adding further restrictions to UK cattle exports despite fears that TB could be spread to Europe.
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Parish questions Commission on pesticides proposals
3 September 2008
THE European Commission has come under further pressure to justify its controversial pesticides proposals.
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Parish questions Commission on pesticides proposals
3 September 2008
THE European Commission has come under further pressure to justify its controversial pesticides proposals.
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Lobbying to ditch pesticide proposals
28 August 2008
LABOUR MEPs are being lobbied to ditch their support for EU pesticides proposals that could decimate British agriculture.
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Lobbying to ditch pesticide proposals
28 August 2008
LABOUR MEPs are being lobbied to ditch their support for EU pesticides proposals that could decimate British agriculture.
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British Sugar collect majority of quota
28 August 2008
BRITISH Sugar has collected all but a handful of sugar contracts from growers for next year’s harvest despite initial criticism over the 2009 contract price agreement.
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British Sugar collect majority of quota
28 August 2008
BRITISH Sugar has collected all but a handful of sugar contracts from growers for next year’s harvest despite initial criticism over the 2009 contract price agreement.
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Rogue gangmasters rooted out by GLA
27 August 2008
EXPLOITATION of agricultural workers has reached worrying levels after the Gangmasters Licensing Authority revealed that 22 licenses had been revoked from rogue gangmasters so far this year.
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Rogue gangmasters rooted out by GLA
27 August 2008
EXPLOITATION of agricultural workers has reached worrying levels after the Gangmasters Licensing Authority revealed that 22 licenses had been revoked from rogue gangmasters so far this year.
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New antimicrobial usage figures prompt mixed reaction
27 August 2008
NEW Defra figures have revealed that total usage of antimicrobials in food-producing animals has fallen since last year.
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Ban is branded a cynical attempt to seize our markets
August 22nd 2008
The Farmers Guardian Backing British Growers campaign is urging all farmers and growers who rely on crop protection products to speak out against EU proposals to ban key pesticides. In Scotland the battle has begun in earnest as farmers persuade influential MEPs to join their campaign.
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La Niña can't take all the blame
August 22nd 2008
THE Met Office has described it as awful August. England and Wales received their monthly average of rainfall at the midpoint of the month. By then, Northern Ireland had already collected double its monthly average. Only Scotland is lagging behind, slightly, on the rainfall stakes but it too is above average.
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Thousands more calves shot as farmers search for a market
20 August 2008
FARMERS are being forced to shoot dead thousands of dairy bull calves that had been due for export before the Dutch veal industry closed its borders last month.
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Thousands more calves shot as farmers search for a market
20 August 2008
FARMERS are being forced to shoot dead thousands of dairy bull calves that had been due for export before the Dutch veal industry closed its borders last month.
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Stop damaging pesticides legislation in its tracks - ask your MEP to visit
19 August 2008
SCOTTISH arable farmer Andrew Moir will continue his quest to explain the pitfalls of proposed EU legislation on pesticides when he shows MEP Struan Stevenson around his farm this week.
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Government minister defends GM
18 August 2008
THE Government has hit back after Prince Charles said last week that GM crop production could cause the 'biggest environmental disaster of all time'.
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Poultry industry faces down welfare criticism
18 August 2008
THE British Poultry Council has been forced into defence mode after criticism over the way chickens are handled before their slaughter.
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Poultry industry faces down welfare criticism
18 August 2008
THE British Poultry Council has been forced into defence mode after criticism over the way chickens are handled before their slaughter.
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Government minister defends GM
18 August 2008
THE Government has hit back after Prince Charles said last week that GM crop production could cause the "biggest environmental disaster of all time".
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The Colman family ventures into peppermint
August 15th 2008
The Colman family are no strangers to supplying the UK with their trademark mustard, but a new farming venture has brought a different kind of lasting flavour.
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Prince warns of GM catastrophe
13 August 2008
GENETICALLY modified crops are on course to lead the world into the biggest environmental disaster of all time, Prince Charles has warned.
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Prince warns of GM catastrophe
13 August 2008
GENETICALLY modified crops are on course to lead the world into the biggest environmental disaster of all time, Prince Charles has warned.
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UK biofuels fall short of environmental targets
12 August 2008
THE UK biofuel industry is dominated by imports that fall short of basic environmental standards, the Renewable Fuel Agency (RFA) has revealed.
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UK biofuels fall short of environmental targets
12 August 2008
THE UK biofuel industry is dominated by imports that fall short of basic environmental standards, the Renewable Fuel Agency (RFA) has revealed.
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Scientists look to increase global food production
11 August 2008
BRITAIN’S leading scientists will look at how genetic engineering and improved crop protection methods can be used to increase global food production.
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Urgent call for EU pesticides proposals impact assessment
8 August 2008
THE Government’s pesticides watchdog, the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD), has warned that the face of British agriculture could be about to change dramatically if European politicians agree to new pesticides proposals.
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Urgent call for EU pesticides proposals impact assessment
8 August 2008
THE Government’s pesticides watchdog, the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD), has warned that the face of British agriculture could be about to change dramatically if European politicians agree to new pesticides proposals.
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New sugar deal 'smoke and mirrors' says grower
6 August 2008
THE NFU and British Sugar have concluded their sugar negotiations to mixed industry reaction.
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New sugar deal 'smoke and mirrors' says grower
6 August 2008
THE NFU and British Sugar have concluded their sugar negotiations to mixed industry reaction.
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Government remain quiet as food rots
5 August 2008
AN ESSEX fruit farmer has been forced to leave nearly £40,000 worth of raspberries to rot after he was unable to find enough labour to pick them, meanwhile the Government remain eerily quiet on the issue.
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Government remain quiet as food rots
5 August 2008
AN ESSEX fruit farmer has been forced to leave nearly £40,000 worth of raspberries to rot after he was unable to find enough labour to pick them, meanwhile the Government remain eerily quiet on the issue.
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Britain needs to allay Dutch fears over TB
5 August 2008
BRITAIN must guarantee veal exports are TB free before trade can resume, the NFU have been told.
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Was a conclusion ever possible?
August 1st 2008
THE monumental row between the 153 members of the World Trade Organisation on how to liberalise trade has come to a crashing end.
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EU proposals threaten crop yields
31 July 2008
OVER the past 12 months the world population has swelled by 70 million and global food stocks have plummeted.
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Calf export industry suffers
30 July 2008
BRITAIN’S calf export industry has entered its second week without business.
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Exporters and ferry operator in trouble as trade grinds to a halt
30 July 2008
BRITAIN’S calf export industry has entered its second week without business.
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GM trials need more protection says leading scientist
28 July 2008
ONE of Britain’s leading GM scientists will meet with Environment Minster Phil Woolas to discuss new ways to protect GM field trials in the UK.
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GM trials need more protection says leading scientist
28 July 2008
ONE of Britain’s leading GM scientists will meet with Environment Minster Phil Woolas to discuss new ways to protect GM field trials in the UK.
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Illegal imports of animal products fall 29pc
25 July 2008
THE number of illegal imports of animal products into the UK has fallen by 29 per cent over the last year, Defra has revealed.
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New FG campaign to back British growers
July 25th 2008
EUROPEAN Union proposals could dramatically slash the number of agrochemicals available to farmers, halve UK crop production and triple food prices.
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Sugar growers show solidarity
24 July 2008
SUGAR growers have sent the NFU back to the negotiating table with British Sugar to secure a better price deal after a dramatic show of solidarity.
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Calf export ban averted
23 July 2008
THE UK livestock industry heaved a sigh of relief after it emerged EU vets decided not to ban calf exports at a meeting (Wednesday, July 23).
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Government slaps £600m nitrates bill onto dairy industry
23 July 2008
NEW government rules on slurry storage and closed periods for muck spreading will cost the dairy industry £600 million over the next ten years, according to research carried out by Dairy UK.
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Government slaps £600m nitrates bill onto dairy industry
23 July 2008
NEW government rules on slurry storage and closed periods for muck spreading will cost the dairy industry £600 million over the next ten years, according to research carried out by Dairy UK.
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Government downplays TB risk
23 July 2008
AN influential committee of cross-party MPs have accused the Government of playing down the serious nature of TB in cattle.
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Government downplays TB risk
23 July 2008
AN influential committee of cross-party MPs have accused the Government of playing down the serious nature of TB in cattle.
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70pc of England to be NVZ
21 July 2008
ENGLAND will designate Nitrate Vulnerable Zones on 70 per cent of land, up from the current 55 per cent, according to the Government’s Nitrates Action Plan announced today (Monday, July 21).
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70pc of England to be NVZ
21 July 2008
ENGLAND will designate Nitrate Vulnerable Zones on 70 per cent of land, up from the current 55 per cent, according to the Government’s Nitrates Action Plan announced today (Monday, July 21).
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Sugar growers show solidarity
18 July 2008
SUGAR growers have sent the NFU back to the negotiating table with British Sugar with renewed optimism to get a better price deal after a dramatic show of solidarity today (Friday, July 18).
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Sugar growers show solidarity
18 July 2008
SUGAR growers have sent the NFU back to the negotiating table with British Sugar with renewed optimism to get a better price deal after a dramatic show of solidarity today (Friday, July 18).
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Farmer eradication gathers pace
July 18th 2008
THE Government’s farmer eradication programme is really gathering pace.
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Industry questions hang over Dutch TB case
17 July 2008
QUESTIONS have been raised over Dutch motives behind the decision to ban British calf imports.
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French President backs farm support
17 July 2008
FRENCH President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has again spoken of his desire to retain financial support for European agricultural production.
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Free milk, fruit and vegetables for school children
17 July 2008
THE European Commission has announced plans to provide school children with free fruit, vegetables and dairy products.
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Netherlands ban on British beef exports will devastate industry
16 July 2008
DUTCH cattle importers will ban the live export of cattle from the UK.
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Report paints polarised picture of rural England
16 July 2008
ONE in five rural households live below the poverty line, according to a new report published by the Commission for Rural Communities today (Wednesday, July 16).
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British TB found in the Netherlands
15 July 2008
THE UK has been accused of exporting TB to the Netherlands.
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Netherlands consider ban on British beef exports
15 July 2008
THE UK has exported calves infected with TB to the Netherlands.
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RPA under fire from MPs
15 July 2008
THE Public Accounts Committee has opened 'another damning chapter' into the Government’s handling of the Single Payment Scheme, Shadow Agriculture Minister Jim Paice has said.
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'Proud of Dairy' campaign launches
9 July 2008
A CAMPAIGN to raise the profile of the dairy industry has been launched today (Wednesday, July 9).
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'Proud of Dairy' campaign launches
9 July 2008
A CAMPAIGN to raise the profile of the dairy industry has been launched today (Wednesday, July 9).
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Protesters gather at Westminster
8 July 2008
FG went to Westminster today (Tuesday, July 8) to ask farmers, politicians and industry leaders why they were protesting against the Government decision not to cull badgers as part of a wider strategy to control TB.
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Influential report urges biofuel go-slow
8 July 2008
A GOVERNMENT report has concluded that Britain should slow its introduction of biofuels into the transport sector, heaping pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to backtrack on Britain’s biofuel obligations.
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Government to lobby for more GM in UK
8 July 2008
THE Government is to conduct an in-depth study into the effects of the EU’s antiquated GM approval system on the livestock sector and implications for UK consumers.
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Bird flu restrictions lifted
8 July 2008
THE Surveillance Zone and remaining disease control area restrictions put in place following the outbreak of H7N7 avian influenza in Oxfordshire, have been lifted today (Tuesday, July 8).
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GM crops are part of the answer to food crisis – Monsanto
4 July 2008
GENETICALLY modified crops can help the world meet burgeoning food demand and tackle issues such as climate change and water shortage, Monsanto has declared.
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GM crops are part of the answer to food crisis – Monsanto
4 July 2008
GENETICALLY modified crops can help the world meet burgeoning food demand and tackle issues such as climate change and water shortage, Monsanto has declared.
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Biofuels not forcing food price up
4 July 2008
FOOD prices have been driven up by a lack of political leadership – not biofuels – a leading crop expert has claimed.
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Dairy farmer: The Government is utterly pathetic
4 July 2008
A DAIRY farmer in North Devon says TB has cost him more than £125,000 over the last four years.
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Industry reaction to TB debate
4 July 2008
“The Government will not face up to their responsibility. We know the disease is being spread by badgers, we know we need a cull, so when will the Government wake up?
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Balancing growth with green issues
July 4th 2008
The International Dairy Federation brought dairy experts from around the world to Edinburgh to discuss how to tackle climate change.
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Balancing growth with green issues
July 4th 2008
The International Dairy Federation brought dairy experts from around the world to Edinburgh to discuss how to tackle climate change.
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Get more from manure – farmers told
3 July 2008
ANIMAL manure can power your car, heat your bath water, fire up your cooker, fertilize your land and make a tidy profit.
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Why Horticulture Matters campaign launches
1 July 2008
BRITISH fruit and vegetable growers can provide for the health of the nation, tackle climate change and nourish the economy but only if policy makers wake up to the challenge, the NFU said today (Tuesday, July 1).
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Why Horticulture Matters campaign launches
1 July 2008
BRITISH fruit and vegetable growers can provide for the health of the nation, tackle climate change and nourish the economy but only if policy makers wake up to the challenge, the NFU said today (Tuesday, July 1).
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GM trial destroyed by activists
25 June 2008
A TRIAL to develop a genetically modified potato that could save the UK potato industry £50 million a year and benefit farmers worldwide has been destroyed by activists.
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GM trial destroyed by activists
25 June 2008
A TRIAL to develop a genetically modified potato that could save the UK potato industry £50 million a year and benefit farmers worldwide has been destroyed by activists.
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EU pesticide regulation moves closer to reality
24 June 2008
EU plans to dramatically slash the number of pesticides used in farming moved a step closer yesterday (Monday, June 24) as European agriculture ministers voted in favour of new proposals.
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EU pesticide regulation moves closer to reality
24 June 2008
EU plans to dramatically slash the number of pesticides used in farming moved a step closer yesterday (Monday, June 24) as European agriculture ministers voted in favour of new proposals.
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Tallow is a fuel
23 June 2008
AN EU proposal to recognise tallow as a fuel rather than as a waste product has been welcomed by livestock rendering plants.
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Tallow is a fuel
23 June 2008
AN EU proposal to recognise tallow as a fuel rather than as a waste product has been welcomed by livestock rendering plants.
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Gallagher report to bring biofuels into question
20 June 2008
PRIME minister Gordon Brown will be under intense pressure to scrap a key element of his fight against climate change next week.
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Muddy pitch for the pig industry
June 20th 2008
IN the spirit of the current European football championships, it appears that it is Pig Farmers 1, Animal Welfare Lobby 1 at half-time.
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Record diesel prices to spawn more fuel protests
19 June 2008
FARMERS across the country are planning a series of ‘go-slows’ to protest over record fuel prices.
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Temple goes on the attack over biodiversity
19 June 2008
FARM biodiversity is thriving despite government evidence to the contrary, NFU vice-president, Paul Temple told the Environment Audit Committee this week.
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Scottish fruit unpicked
18 June 2008
PRESSURE is being ramped up on the Government after the Scottish growers joined their English counterparts to reveal that crops are going unpicked due to severe labour shortages.
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Natural England says farmland is key to flood defence
16 June 2008
FLOODING farmland could be the key to long-term flood prevention, according to Natural England.
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Government silent as food rots across UK
13 June 2008
LABOUR shortages in the horticultural sector have left fruit and vegetables rotting in British fields and forced growers to import European produce to uphold their supply contracts – and the situation will only get worse, warn experts.
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Defra must implement flawed directive
10 June 2008
THE controversial Nitrates Directive is ‘flawed’ but Defra must still implement it, according to a report from an influential committee of MPs released today (Tuesday, June 10).
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Defra must implement flawed directive
10 June 2008
THE controversial Nitrates Directive is ‘flawed’ but Defra must still implement it, according to a report from an influential committee of MPs released today (Tuesday, June 10).
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Defra must implement flawed directive
10 June 2008
THE controversial Nitrates Directive is ‘flawed’ but Defra must still implement it, according to a report from an influential committee of MPs released today (Tuesday, June 10).
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Government offer biomass grants to farmers
9 June 2008
GOVERNMENT grants of up to £200,000 will be available to farmers to invest in biomass, Defra have revealed.
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Government defends biofuel targets
4 June 2008
THE Government will continue to enforce its biofuels targets despite claims that they are harming the environment.
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World leaders meet to tackle global food crisis
3 June 2008
ROCKETING food prices and climate change are on the agenda today as world leaders meet in Rome as part of a UN summit to tackle the global food crisis.
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Government accused of betraying interests of British farmers
2 June 2008
THE Government has been accused of letting the rest of Europe shape future farming policy after it emerged no ministers were sent to attend recent talks on the CAP health check.
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British support for EU tobacco farmers ‘ludicrous’
2 June 2008
BRITISH taxpayers will contribute millions of pounds into a fund worth more than £200 million to subsidise southern European tobacco farmers this year.
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Surrey County Show
27 May 2008
THE two-year-old Sussex bull, Mayfield Major 9, from M.K.D. Hind, took the beef inter-breed championship at a wet and windy Surrey County Show, at Guildford this week.
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Fuel price threatens rural business
27 May 2008
RECORD high fuel prices are threatening contract businesses, arable and livestock farmers. The price of oil hit a record $135 a barrel on Thursday and red diesel rocketed from 66 pence per litre to 71ppl in some parts of the country.
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Fuel price threatens rural business
27 May 2008
RECORD high fuel prices are threatening contract businesses, arable and livestock farmers. The price of oil hit a record $135 a barrel on Thursday and red diesel rocketed from 66 pence per litre to 71ppl in some parts of the country.
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Battle lines drawn over an equal deal in Europe
23 May 2008
BRITISH farmers will have a fight on their hands if they are to achieve the Holy grail of a level playing field across Europe, experts have warned following the announcement of CAP health check proposals.
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New crop protection company enters Europe
21 May 2008
A MAJOR agrochemical company has launched in the UK.
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New crop protection company enters Europe
21 May 2008
A MAJOR agrochemical company has launched in the UK.
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CAP health check proposals announced
20 May 2008
EUROPE’S agriculture chief has announced how the Commission intends to further reform the Common Agricultural Policy today (Tuesday, May 20).
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Fresh approach to land management draws criticism
19 May 2008
A CALL to arms from Natural England for farmers and land managers to adopt a fresh approach to conserving the natural environment in the face of climate change and development pressures has drawn mixed reviews from industry experts.
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Droughts will continue to threaten global harvest and push prices
May 16th 2008
GRAIN harvests across the world are threatened by summer water shortages because human activity has pushed global temperatures to new highs, an eminent group of scientists have warned.
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Droughts will continue to threaten global harvest and push prices
May 16th 2008
GRAIN harvests across the world are threatened by summer water shortages because human activity has pushed global temperatures to new highs, an eminent group of scientists have warned.
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Study reveals shocking cost of food waste
May 16th 2008
UK households waste a staggering £10 billion of food every year as one in three bags of food shopping is consigned to the dustbin.
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MEP call to bin 10% biofuel target angers NFU
15 May 2008
A CALL to scrap the target for ten per cent of all transport fuels to be made up from renewable sources by 2020 has been rubbished by the NFU.
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Vets’ legislation left in a mess
14 May 2008
FUNDING shortfalls at Defra have led to the shelving of a white paper to reform the outdated Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 and left the forty-two year old legislation in a mess, according to an influential group of cross party MPs.
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Meat Hygiene Service cuts costs in drive for efficiency
13 May 2008
A LEANER Meat Hygiene Service has cut its cost of operations by £4.4 million through the closure of five regional offices and over 250 job cuts.
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Meat Hygiene Service cuts costs in drive for efficiency
13 May 2008
A LEANER Meat Hygiene Service has cut its cost of operations by £4.4 million through the closure of five regional offices and over 250 job cuts.
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Cameron’s view of the countryside
12 May 2008
DAVID Cameron wooed country voters today (Monday, May 12), promising to fight for farmers, rural post offices, local schools, police stations, shops and libraries.
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Trials to begin on GM potatoes
12 May 2008
LEEDS University has been given permission to begin a research trial on genetically modified potatoes.
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Trials to begin on GM potatoes
12 May 2008
LEEDS University has been given permission to begin a research trial on genetically modified potatoes.
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Biofuel targets attacked by group of MPs
7 May 2008
THE Government must impose an immediate moratorium on biofuel targets in the face of rising food prices, an influential group of MPs have urged.
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Two bees or not two bees? Defra’s health strategy
May 2nd 2008
HONEY bee numbers are declining at such an alarming rate that honey production and pollination could fall dramatically, with serious economic and environmental consequences.
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Triumphing over adversity to build a thriving pig business
28 April 2008
Tracy Mackness was sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug offences. A job looking after the prison farm’s rare breed pigs provided the catalyst to change her life around, overcome desperately hard times and set up a booming pig business enterprise. WILLIAM SURMAN meets the woman behind Giggly Pig.
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Feed imports run the risk of BSE
28 April 2008
RED-FACED government officials have admitted that animal feed containing meat and bone meal has been distributed across the country twelve years after it was banned due to its risk of BSE contamination.
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Feed imports run the risk of BSE
28 April 2008
RED-FACED government officials have admitted that animal feed containing meat and bone meal has been distributed across the country twelve years after it was banned due to its risk of BSE contamination.
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EU rules on pesticides could lead to food inflation
28 April 2008
EU plans to dramatically slash the use of pesticides in farming could lead to lower crop yields and higher food prices, scientists have warned.
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Impact of pesticides down but tough times ahead
25 April 2008
ENVIRONMENTAL damage caused by pesticides has reduced but there are tough times ahead, experts have warned.
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Impact of pesticides down but tough times ahead
25 April 2008
ENVIRONMENTAL damage caused by pesticides has reduced but there are tough times ahead, experts have warned.
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60pc target cut in carbon emissions not enough, say green campaigners
April 25th 2008
THE Government has been urged to slash carbon emissions by 80 per cent by the middle of the century or risk environmental catastrophe.
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90% imported meat fed on GM
24 April 2008
NINETY per cent of the meat imported into the EU has been fed on GM feed varieties, many of which are not even approved in the EU.
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EU bioethanol production slump
23 April 2008
BIOETHANOL production slumped in the EU last year as high feedstock prices forced buyers to look outside of Europe for their fuel.
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EU bioethanol production slump
23 April 2008
BIOETHANOL production slumped in the EU last year as high feedstock prices forced buyers to look outside of Europe for their fuel.
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Biofuels self-sufficiency
April 18th 2008
A BRITISH biofuel industry can be sustainable, self-sufficient and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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French minister accused of pushing subsidy agenda
April 18th 2008
SPIRALLING world prices and disastrous food shortages have prompted the French agriculture minister to return to protectionist measures.
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European hypocrisy over GMOs
17 April 2008
BRITISH pig and poultry industries are being destroyed by EU hypocrisy over genetically modified feed, industry experts have warned.
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European hypocrisy over GMOs
17 April 2008
BRITISH pig and poultry industries are being destroyed by EU hypocrisy over genetically modified feed, industry experts have warned.
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Biofuels spark rainforest debate
16 April 2008
TESCO has been accused of selling biodiesel made from palm oil grown at the expense of rainforests.
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Biofuels spark rainforest debate
16 April 2008
TESCO has been accused of selling biodiesel made from palm oil grown at the expense of rainforests.
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French look to subsidies to improve food security
15 April 2008
SPIRALLING world prices and disastrous food shortages have prompted the French Agriculture Minister to urge European leaders to come up with a European initiative on food security.
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Biofuel revolution steps up a gear
14 April 2008
ALL vehicles will run on biofuel from tomorrow (Tuesday, April 15), but nine out of 10 Britons don’t know it, revealed a recent YouGov poll.
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Biofuel revolution steps up a gear
14 April 2008
ALL vehicles will run on biofuel from tomorrow (Tuesday, April 15), but nine out of 10 Britons don’t know it, revealed a recent YouGov poll.
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Store price wars ‘damaging’ English meat price returns
10 April 2008
CONSUMERS are willing to pay more for English red meat, but farmers face a battle to profit in the face of supermarket price wars, Government red-tape and misplaced industry funding.
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Chief vet Landeg steps down
9 April 2008
ACTING chief veterinary officer Fred Landeg will step down from his post at the end of this week.
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Remove EU market distortions says Defra
8 April 2008
ALL farm payments must be fully decoupled from production to remove market distortion and allow farmers to compete on a level playing field, according to Defra.
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Agricultural giants continue strong growth
7 April 2008
TWO of the world’s largest agricultural super-powers have recorded impressive profits and are confident of continued growth.
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Agricultural giants continue strong growth
7 April 2008
TWO of the world’s largest agricultural super-powers have recorded impressive profits and are confident of continued growth.
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Agricultural giants continue strong growth
7 April 2008
TWO of the world’s largest agricultural super-powers have recorded impressive profits and are confident of continued growth.
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On-going strike by Argentinian farmers will have knock-on effect on EU prices
April 4th 2008
DESPITE optimism at the end of last week, Monday morning brought no respite in the Argentinian farmers’ strike.
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Farmer strikes bring country to its knees
3 April 2008
FARM strikes that have stripped Argentina’s supermarket shelves of meat and vegetables and crippled their export trade have been suspended.
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New bluetongue case in Surrey
3 April 2008
A NEW case of bluetongue has been confirmed today (Thursday, April 3) within the current Protection Zone in Surrey.
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Mixed messages on organics
2 April 2008
THE Soil Association has hit back at claims that there is no reliable evidence to suggest eating organic food is better for you.
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Mixed messages on organics
2 April 2008
THE Soil Association has hit back at claims that there is no reliable evidence to suggest eating organic food is better for you.
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US subsidies hurt UK biodiesel
2 April 2008
SUBSIDISED biodiesel from the United States is undercutting UK production and threatening the growth of the domestic industry, biofuel experts have warned.
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Country of origin meat labels not clear enough
March 28th 2008
COUNTRY of origin labelling of meat products is not clear enough despite three-quarters of consumers wanting to see the name of the country of origin on the pack, according to a new NFU report.
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Corruption allegations over potato contract
21 March 2008
NEWS that a Sainsbury’s buyer was arrested last week on suspicion of corruption and money laundering has prompted sources within the industry to suggest the practice could be more common than first thought.
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Going green with energy produced from farm waste
March 21st 2008
ANAEROBIC digesters can significantly reduce agricultural methane emissions, provide biogas for renewable energy, produce fertiliser and turn a profit.
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Agriculture groaning under Defra regulation
14 March 2008
DEFRA have implemented over 1,000 new regulations since the year 2000 with an administrative cost of over £500 million, according to government figures.
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Darling delay on fuel duty rise
12 March 2008
CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling has delayed plans to add 2p to the price of fuel that had been due on April 1.
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Farmers’ needs are overlooked as Budget hits rural pockets
12 March 2008
FARMERS are dismayed by Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Budget, despite plans to delay a 2p increase on the price of fuel until October.
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Severe winds shut down Cheltenham races
12 March 2008
SEVERE weather has struck the UK forcing the cancellation of the Cheltenham races, causing travel chaos in the North and the loss of power to hundreds of homes in Northern Ireland.
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Severe winds shut down Cheltenham races
12 March 2008
SEVERE weather has struck the UK forcing the cancellation of the Cheltenham races, causing travel chaos in the North and the loss of power to hundreds of homes in Northern Ireland.
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80mph winds hammer coastal areas
10 March 2008
SEVERE gale force winds gusting up to 80mph have swept across southern England and Wales and are expected to continue into the early hours of Tuesday morning, warn the Met Office.
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Dairy industry on a knife edge
10 March 2008
THE dairy industry remains on a knife edge despite a recent upturn in milk prices, according to a key industry consultant.
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Dairy industry on a knife edge
10 March 2008
THE dairy industry remains on a knife edge despite a recent upturn in milk prices, according to a key industry consultant.
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NFU in levy board row
7 March 2008
A MAJOR row has broken out between the NFU and four influential trade associations over allegations the new industry levy board structure will use English beef and sheep farmers’ levy money for all sectors of agriculture.
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NFU in levy board row
7 March 2008
A MAJOR row has broken out between the NFU and four influential trade associations over allegations the new industry levy board structure will use English beef and sheep farmers’ levy money for all sectors of agriculture.
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Horticulture expect huge labour shortage
5 March 2008
NEW government regulation on immigration has come into force that could cause severe labour shortages in the horticultural industry, experts have warned.
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Government’s greedy fuel duty increase
4 March 2008
UK treasury coffers have swelled by more than £2 billion above expectations over the last six months thanks to the boom in oil prices, yet chancellor Alistair Darling still plans to increase fuel duty by 2 pence on April 1.
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Mandelson: US must match EU subsidy cuts
3 March 2008
THE European Commission trade chief has urged the United States to cut its large trade distorting agriculture subsidies to benefit the world’s poorest nations.
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A debate on Britain, 2026
February 29th 2008
CAMPAIGN for the Protection of Rural England have sparked a national debate over the future of the countryside by making predictions on how things may look come 2026.
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French premier defends French interests
27 February 2008
FRENCH premier Nicolas Sarkozy said that he will defend Europe’s agricultural interests when France assume the rotating EU presidency in July.
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Think tank rubbish Fairtrade brand
26 February 2008
FAIRTRADE is not fair, according to a leading economic think tank.
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UK foot-and-mouth free
25 February 2008
THE World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) has granted the UK foot-and-mouth disease-free.
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£7M to solve poverty in developing world
25 February 2008
LEADING British plant researchers have been awarded £7 million to improve agricultural productivity in the developing world in a bid to cut widespread poverty.
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Dairy show is back
22 February 2008
EUROPE’S premier dairy show is set to return with a vengeance in September after last year’s Dairy Event was cancelled due to the foot-and-mouth disease.
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Biotechnology ‘the answer’ to food security
February 22nd 2008
THE ability to produce enough food to feed a spiralling global population was under question unless new technology was introduced that could increase yields without damaging the environment.
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Defra announces modest budget increase
21 February 2008
A MODEST increase in the Defra budget could leave vital areas, such as animal health, short of funds, industry leaders warned today (Thursday, February 21).
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Tesco director quizzed at NFU conference
18 February 2008
TESCO executive director Lucy Neville-Rolf stepped into the lion's den at the NFU conference this afternoon.
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Government under pressure to protect GM trials
18 February 2008
THE Government is under pressure from biotech firms to provide greater security for genetically modified crop trials in the UK.
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Government under pressure to protect GM trials
18 February 2008
THE Government is under pressure from biotech firms to provide greater security for genetically modified crop trials in the UK.
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Feed prices could soar 600pc ‘unless GM approvals in Europe become faster’
February 15th 2008
THE European Union’s process for authorising the use of new GM varieties is paralysed and livestock farmers and consumers are set to suffer the consequences, says NFU Scotland.
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Jobs are cut in MHS drive for efficiency
February 15th 2008
MORE than 250 jobs have been cut in the UK meat inspection service and costs are forecast to fall by 18 per cent over five years thanks to a drive for greater efficiency, according to the Food Standards Agency.
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Benn exclusive for Farmers Guardian
14 February 2008
THIS week the Agriculture Secretary Hilary Benn spoke exclusively to the Farmers Guardian about his first impressions of the industry after a difficult seven months in the job and why he now believes the future of agriculture to be a bright one.
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Single Farm Payment latest
12 February 2008
MORE than one billion pounds has now been paid out to English Single Payment Scheme (SPS) claimants but just under 20,000 farmers are still waiting for their cheques.
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Livestock sector faces new challenges
30 January 2008
A LIVESTOCK sector ravaged by disease and decline in 2007 must now respond to CAP reforms, increased global competition and environmental challenges, leading figures from the UK meat industry were told at the Outlook conference yesterday (January 29).
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Livestock sector faces new challenges
30 January 2008
A LIVESTOCK sector ravaged by disease and decline in 2007 must now respond to CAP reforms, increased global competition and environmental challenges, leading figures from the UK meat industry were told at the Outlook conference yesterday (January 29).
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Dairy products can help reduce obesity
23 January 2008
DAIRY products have a key role to play in dieting and weight loss according to nutritional experts at an international obesity conference this week.
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Floods wreak havoc again
22 January 2008
HEAVY rain swept across northern and central England yesterday (Monday, January 21) causing severe flood damage to houses, transport links and farmland.
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MPs call for moratorium on biofuel targets
21 January 2008
BIOFUEL targets should be scrapped until a sustainable framework is put in place for their development, according to a new report from cross-party MPs.
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MPs call for moratorium on biofuel targets
21 January 2008
BIOFUEL targets should be scrapped until a sustainable framework is put in place for their development, according to a new report from cross-party MPs.
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Demand and poor harvest drives rapid food price rise
January 18th 2008
POOR global harvests, turning land to biofuel production and rising demand from India and China are seen as key catalysts for the fastest rise in food prices since records began in 1992.
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Government told to wake up over biofuels
January 18th 2008
BIOFUELS will deliver a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport but only if the Government gets its act together, warns a new Royal Society report.
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New chief scientist’s advice to Defra
January 18th 2008
Defra’s new chief scientific adviser Prof Robert Watson spoke about climate change at the Oxford Farming Conference. After his speech, WILLIAM SURMAN caught up with him and asked what sort of advice he would be giving Defra Secretary Hilary Benn.
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Demand and poor harvest drives rapid food price rise
17 January 2008
POOR global harvests, turning land to biofuel production and rising demand from India and China are seen as key catalysts for the fastest rise in food prices since records began in 1992.
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Royal Society tells Government to wake up over biofuels
14 January 2008
BIOFUELS will deliver a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport but only if the Government gets its act together, warns a new Royal Society report today.
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Royal Society tells Government to wake up over biofuels
14 January 2008
BIOFUELS will deliver a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport but only if the Government gets its act together, warns a new Royal Society report today.
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Welsh and Scots fear Bluetongue movements
9 January 2008
FOLLOWING three positive cases of Bluetongue in the UK in animals imported from restricted areas in Europe, the Welsh chief vet has joined a growing number experts calling for a stop to imports.
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Europe must ditch GM hang-up
4 January 2008
GENETICALLY modified crops must be encouraged into European agriculture if tough climate change, feed price and food security issues are to be mitigated.
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Carbon calculator will work out farmers’ green credentials
4 January 2008
A WEB based calculator to help farmers work out the balance of greenhouse gases emitted by their business against the carbon stored in their trees and soil will be available from March this year.
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Scottish bluetongue case
3 January 2008
SCOTTISH vets have detected the bluetongue virus in cattle imported from Germany, prompting fresh calls for a clampdown on live exports from infected areas of the EU.
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Agriculture needs to adapt to new climate change deal
December 21st 2007
THE United Kingdom joined with all nations from across the world last weekend in signing an agreement that will pave the way to a global climate deal by the end of 2009.
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Agriculture Building Allowance scrapped by 2011
20 December 2007
THE Government has re-iterated its intention to phase out agricultural building allowances by 2011 in a move set to cost the industry millions of pounds in extra tax.
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Benn hails ‘most significant’ climate agreement in 10 years
18 December 2007
THE UK has joined with all nations from across the world in signing an agreement that will pave the way to a global climate deal by the end of 2009.
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Government should have been better prepared to deal with floods
17 December 2007
THE Government has been criticised for failing to adequately prepare for the floods that devastated much of the country in June and July this year.
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Fuel protesters undeterred
17 December 2007
ONLY a handful of protesters took part in organised demonstrations at oil refineries across the country on Saturday (December 15) in response to high fuel prices.
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Prospects look bright for 2008
12 December 2007
UK FARM income could rise by a third next year which would represent the best performance from the industry for over a decade, according to a comprehensive industry survey.
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Government support needed to meet climate change targets
11 December 2007
THE agriculture industry is on the front line in the fight against climate change but government support is essential if tough targets are to be met according to a major industry report.
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Three-month pig levy ‘holiday’ denied
6 December 2007
A PROPOSAL to give a levy ‘holiday’ to pig producers that are facing crippling production costs has been knocked back by the Meat and Livestock Commission, who now find themselves under attack from a beleaguered industry.
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Lung damage can hit beef cattle growth potential
November 30th 2007
BEEF cattle can lose 74kg a year in growth potential due to pneumonia-induced lung damage, according to new study revealed this week that concluded farmers were not treating the disease as effectively as they could.
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Beef and lamb supply chain’s ‘wake-up call’
November 23rd 2007
NEW figures that reveal beef and lamb producers are still making substantial losses on each head of production must act as a catalyst for more sustainable prices, the English Beef and Lamb Executive has warned.
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I have learnt to be optimistic about future, says Benn
November 23rd 2007
HILARY Benn has been Defra Secretary for just over five months, during which time he has dealt with flash floods, a recurrence of foot-and-mouth disease, the first appearance of the bluetongue virus and most recently, a new outbreak of avian influenza.
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Big saving potential for farmers
21 November 2007
FARMERS and growers that saved £14 million as part of a study conducted by the Food Chain Centre are just the “tip of the iceberg” on potential savings for the industry, according to FCC chairman Joanne Denney-Finch.
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Benn's vision for the future of farming
19 November 2007
HILARY Benn today spoke of his vision for the future of farming in Great Britain when he addressed the industry at a London conference.
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New campaign aims for shopper support
November 16th 2007
BRITISH agriculture has an opportunity to enter a new and prosperous era if it can encourage more shoppers to buy home grown produce, say industry experts.
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Government will 'proceed with caution' on biofuels
14 November 2007
ENVIRONMENT secretary Hilary Benn outlined his vision for the future of biofuels for the first time this week.
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Agriculture on the front line in climate change challenge
November 2nd 2007
THE Government’s ambitious draft Climate Change Bill has been championed by Defra Secretary Hilary Benn. He says it will tackle the ‘greatest challenge facing our generation’.
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UK likely to get EU flood payout
31 October 2007
THE UK looks set to receive £115 million from the European Union to help cover the estimated £3 billion cost of the summer floods.
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NFU visit stricken farmers in Kent
31 October 2007
LIVESTOCK farmers in Kent whose proximity to the foot-and-mouth and bluetongue outbreaks has burdened them with the most onerous movement restrictions of all farmers are calling for government help.
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Benn announces new Bill
29 October 2007
DEFRA Secretary of State Hilary Benn has championed the Government’s ambitious draft Climate Change Bill which he says will tackle the 'greatest challenge facing our generation'.
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RSPCA accused of a cynical attack on UK farming
24 October 2007
ANIMAL welfare groups calling for action to limit the transport of live animals to Europe have been accused of a cynical and badly timed attack on livestock farmers.
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FMD zones further reduced
22 October 2007
THE 200km foot-and-mouth Risk Area has been scrapped after no further cases of the disease have been confirmed since September 30.
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Exports resume as FMD Risk Area is reduced but bluetongue spreads
19 October 2007
DEFRA has announced that more parts of England will be able to export meat and meat products to the EU from next week and that the 200km FMD risk area will be reduced on Sunday.
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Sheep producer problems are worldwide
October 19th 2007
Leaving the industry creates serious problems for those remaining, warns NZ chief
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Bluetongue zone gets bigger: FMD restrictions eased
18 October 2007
HOURS after the Government freed much of Great Britain from foot-and-mouth movement restrictions yesterday, the Bluetongue Protection Zone gobbled up another huge part of England.
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New bluetongue cases
17 October 2007
DEFRA has confirmed two new cases of bluetongue one near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and one near Ashford, Kent.
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Foot-and-mouth movement restrictions lifted
17 October 2007
ALL movement restrictions in Wales, Scotland and all parts of England outside of the 200km FMD risk area have been lifted.
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FAO: 850 million people without food
16 October 2007
TODAY 150 countries are marking World Food Day by organising events to highlight the plight faced by 850 million people worldwide that do not have enough food to survive on.
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Commission approves new UK levy board
15 October 2007
THE European Commission has formally approved the new UK levy board that will raise over £500 million for the promotion and development of British produce.
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Defra relax FMD and bluetongue movement restrictions
12 October 2007
As of midnight on Sunday 14 October livestock markets within the bluetongue control and protection zones will resume, Defra have announced today.
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Industry reaction to lifting of restrictions
12 October 2007
NFU president Peter Kendall has welcomed news that foot-and-mouth and bluetongue movement restrictions will be eased next week.
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Defra cost sharing budget could cost farmers millions over next three years
12 October 2007
THE Government hopes to save £121 million a year over three years by passing costs and responsibility for animal health and welfare onto the industry.
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‘Disastrous’ consequences of relying on EU for seasonal agriculture workers
October 12th 2007
NEW Government regulation could bring an end to seasonal agricultural workers coming to the UK from the Ukraine, Russia and Moldova, prompting experts to predict ‘disastrous’ labour shortages in 2008.
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Defra's budget to rise to £4 billion
10 October 2007
DEFRA has been granted extra funds under the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, that promises budget growth from £3.5 to £4 billion by 2010.
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Defra's budget to rise to £4 billion
10 October 2007
DEFRA has been granted extra funds under the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, that promises budget growth from £3.5 to £4 billion by 2010.
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Government cherry pick Tory ideas
10 October 2007
CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling has been accused of cherry picking Conservative ideas on taxation after his pre-budget announcement this week bore more than a passing resemblance to the Shadow Chancellor’s own budget speech last week.
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£1.5 million subsidy to SMPs reignites debate
9 October 2007
FIVE Scottish members of parliament received farm subsidies totalling £1.5 million over 5 years, it has emerged, sparking renewed criticism over the level of taxpayers’ money awarded to so-called ‘rich’ farmers.
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Pressure in Bluetongue Protection Zone begins to tell
8 October 2007
THE first crack in the Bluetongue Protection Zone boundary came today as livestock were allowed to move to two abattoirs outside the surveillance area.
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African swine fever: The next threat?
8 October 2007
AFRICAN swine fever could become endemic in Eastern Europe and spread rapidly to the west unless more vigorous controls are put in place, according to the UN chief veterinary officer Joseph Domenech.
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"Best news in years" for the dairy industry
5 October 2007
TWO of Britain's leading farmer-owned dairies are in advanced discussions over a merger in what has been described as "the best news for the dairy industry in many years."
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Latest disease update
5 October 2007
IT is understood that the agriculture secretary, Hilary Benn, could make a statement to the House of Commons next week on a possible compensation package for farmers affected by the foot-and-mouth and bluetongue diseases.
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Prince’s boost to farming charities
5 October 2007
COUNTRYWIDE floods, foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue have come hand-in-hand with record high feed prices and poor farmgate returns this summer leaving many farmers on the brink – both economically and emotionally.
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EU reclaims £100 million of CAP spending
5 October 2007
EU member states have misspent CAP money to the tune of £100 million, all of which will now return to the community budget.
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"Best news in years" for the dairy industry
4 October 2007
TWO of Britain's leading farmer-owned dairies are in advanced discussions over a merger in what has been described as "the best news for the dairy industry in many years."
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Floods and feed push retail prices up
4 October 2007
THE price of food has risen by 2.7 per cent this year and is up 0.6 per cent from last month, according to a report from the British Retail Consortium.
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Floods and feed push retail prices up
4 October 2007
THE price of food has risen by 2.7 per cent this year and is up 0.6 per cent from last month, according to a report from the British Retail Consortium.
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Continental experience of bluetongue virus reveals it can survive the winter
4 October 2007
IN June this year, bluetongue virus was confirmed in an animal in Germany and the disease nightmare was again a reality.
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EU would fund bluetongue vaccine costs
4 October 2007
WHEN a vaccine finally does become available for the current strain of bluetongue the EU will fund 100 percent of the vaccine costs and 50 percent of the cost of administering it.
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Relaxation of controls in the south
2 October 2007
DEFRA has relaxed the foot-and-mouth status from high-risk to low-risk for a large area of the south east, effective from midnight last night.
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FTA launch forum on the welfare of animals during transport
2 October 2007
A NEW forum to discuss the welfare of animals during transport has been launched by the Freight Transport Association.
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Prince Charles raises £620,000 for farming charities
1 October 2007
THE Prince’s Charities Foundation has raised over half a million pounds for farmers hit by the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak.
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Bluetongue outbreak confirmed - Defra
28 September 2007
DEFRA has confirmed that bluetongue is circulating in livestock in Britain and has declared an official outbreak.
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Massey pushes up the power on 5400 series
September 28th 2007
With the introduction of the next generation of 5400 series tractors, Massey Ferguson has added two new more powerful models.
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Missing out on milk
September 28th 2007
Only half of schools and nurseries take advantage of a scheme that would help the UK’s dairy farmers – and boost our children’s health
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Wood can raise the heat on UK renewable energy targets
September 28th 2007
IF the United Kingdom is to meet its goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than a quarter from 1990 levels by 2020, it must set up a more coordinated energy strategy.
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Some movement restrictions lifted but farmer failed to report FMD
25 September 2007
FROM today at 3.30pm Scotland, Wales and parts of England will be able to resume farm-to-farm movement of livestock but livestock markets will remain closed.
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Some movement restrictions lifted but farmer failed to report FMD
24 September 2007
FROM tomorrow at 3.30pm Scotland, Wales and parts of England will be able to resume farm-to-farm movement of livestock but livestock markets will remain closed.
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Infected farm moved cattle to Wales
19 September 2007
IT has been confirmed that cattle were transported to Wales from the latest farm to be diagnosed with foot-and-mouth, before the disease had been detected.
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Check cattle twice a day says chief vet
19 September 2007
CATTLE farmers must check their stock twice a day for symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease says chief vet Debby Reynolds.
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Cash requested to help farmers during FMD crisis
14 September 2007
THE National Sheep Association (NSA) has called for monies from the Single Payment Scheme and Hill Farm Allowance to be paid earlier in order to ease farmers' cash flow problems during the foot-and-mouth crisis.
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Conservative’s blueprint to revitalise the countryside
September 14th 2007
FARMERS are unwanted, undervalued and misunderstood by the Government, according to the head of the Conservative Party’s policy group on farming, John Gummer.
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'Outbreak could not have come at a worse time' - Kendall
13 September 2007
THE livestock industry is facing up to the consequences of not being able to move animals at the most crucial time of the year.
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Surrey foot-and-mouth reaction
13 September 2007
SURREY’S farmers thought that the foot-and-mouth nightmare had come to an end last Saturday when Defra announced the all clear and lifted the final virus restrictions.
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Dairy industry needs 3.7ppl price increase
11 September 2007
THE dairy industry needs a sustained milk price increase of at least 3.7 pence per litre to secure its future, according to the latest farm analysis from Promar Farm Business Accounts (FBA).
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Dairy industry needs 3.7ppl price increase
11 September 2007
THE dairy industry needs a sustained milk price increase of at least 3.7 pence per litre to secure its future, according to the latest farm analysis from Promar Farm Business Accounts (FBA).
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Recovery beginning for the livestock industry
August 31st 2007
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Livestock industry on the road to recovery
28 August 2007
THE livestock industry has welcomed the removal of animal movement and export restrictions that have throttled trade since the foot-and-mouth virus was first confirmed in Surrey on August 3.
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Defra believes that live animal exports to Europe could resume in two weeks time
24 August 2007
ASSUMING no further outbreaks the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) will give the UK foot-and-mouth free status in early November, three months after the first case of the disease was confirmed.
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NFU president praises Tesco
22 August 2007
TESCO have behaved responsibly towards farmers during the foot-and-mouth crisis according the NFU president Peter Kendall.
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RPA could do better, says report
August 17th 2007
THE Rural Payments Agency does not expect to have its house in order until at least 2008 after a 'turbulent year', according to its annual report.
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Building a case for compensation on back of inquiry
August 17th 2007
LAWYERS are working on a multi-million pound compensation case for farmers affected by the foot-and-mouth outbreak.
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Change to worming timing will pay off
August 17th 2007
FARMERS can markedly reduce the risk of pneumonia in their suckler calves this autumn by worming up to five weeks before they are housed, according to Pfizer Animal Health.
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Temporary control zones removed
16 August 2007
TWO temporary control zones in Kent and Surrey have been lifted after foot-and-mouth laboratory results proved negative.
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FMD test results negative
15 August 2007
PRELIMINARY results on two suspected foot-and-mouth cases in Surrey and Kent have proved negative says chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds.
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Suspected FMD at Chessington World of Adventure
15 August 2007
DEFRA has announced that a foot-and-mouth control zone has been established around Chessington World of Adventures theme park in Surrey.
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New suspected FMD outbreak in Kent
14 August 2007
A SUSPECTED outbreak of foot-and-mouth has been announced on a farm in Kent.
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Chief vet wants “high vigilance and planning”
13 August 2007
CHIEF veterinary officer Debby Reynolds has urged “high vigilance and planning” as the industry enters a crucial week in the fight against the foot-and-mouth virus.
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Temporary control zone lifted
13 August 2007
THE temporary control zone around a farm in Surrey has been lifted after foot-and-mouth test results proved negative over the weekend.
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Merial deny any wrongdoing
8 August 2007
MERIAL have acknowledged the Health and Safety Executive report that states the ‘strong possibility’ that the foot-and-mouth outbreak began in the Pirbright research lab but maintain that no evidence has been found to imply negligence on their part.
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Second farmer tells of his FMD agony
8 August 2007
THE second farmer to suffer from a foot-and-mouth outbreak broke down in tears as he told reporters how his business has been wiped out by the virus.
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Farmer says flooding could have caused the FMD crisis
7 August 2007
THE farmer who discovered the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in his cattle in Surrey has said that the recent flooding could have carried the virus onto his farm.
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Movement could be allowed on risk basis
7 August 2007
EUROPEAN Commission health spokesman Philip Todd has said on Farming Today that certain regions could be allowed to export within three months.
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Merial to make 300,000 FMD vaccines
6 August 2007
ONE of the organisations suspected of somehow leaking an FMD virus from its Pirbright laboratory has been asked to make up 300,000 doses of vaccine to help fight the disease.
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Latest FMD virus could be less virulent than a 'wild' strain
6 August 2007
IF the FMD virus detected in Surrey is the same as the vaccine strain being developed in Pirbright laboratory, experts say that it could be less virulent than a ‘wild’ strain.
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Four ways the virus could have escaped from Pirbright
6 August 2007
A SENIOR vet has said that if the virus is proved to be from Pirbright, there are four ways it could have escaped.
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Vaccination may be needed believes leading virologist
6 August 2007
A LEADING clinical virology expert is calling for the vaccination of livestock if the FMD outbreak in Surrey was caused by a viral plume.
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Has the Environment Agency got its priorities wrong on defences?
August 3rd 2007
FOOD and Farming Minister Jeff Rooker has suggested the Environment Agency (EA) has got its priorities wrong when it comes to its flood protection work.
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Biofuels will not conflict with food production
August 3rd 2007
THE European Union target for 10 per cent of all transport fuel to be derived from biofuels by 2020 can be obtained without causing food shortages, according to a European Commission assessment.
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Defra to research impact of 0% set-aside
2 August 2007
THE government will consider how it can allay any environmental consequences if set-aside land is brought back into agricultural production.
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Flood damaged UK applies for EU fund
2 August 2007
THE UK will seek assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund to help cover the costs of the recent floods, say government officials.
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Flood insurance bill tens of millions
1 August 2007
FLOOD insurance claims from farmers in the Midlands have spiralled into tens of millions of pounds to add to a similar bill from the north of England, say rural insurers NFU Mutual.
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Scientists to spend £11.5m on disease research
30 July 2007
SCIENTISTS are to spend £11.5 million on new research to tackle livestock diseases that cost UK farmers hundreds of millions of pounds per year.
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Counting the cost of the worst floods for 60 years
July 27th 2007
FLOODS have devastated large swathes of rural England as costs spiral into millions of pounds, tens of thousands of acres of crops are submerged and the welfare of thousands of animals is under threat.
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Meat inspection to be transformed
26 July 2007
THE meat industry could face a higher cost burden following the Food Standards Agency’s decision to ‘transform’ meat inspection standards.
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NFUTube brings farming issues to life
20 July 2007
NFUTube has been launched allowing farmers and the general public to watch informative and topical farming videos online.
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FSA will ‘transform’ meat inspection
July 20th 2007
THE Food Standards Agency has approved key recommendations to ‘transform’ meat inspection standards amid rising concern in the industry.
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Zero per cent set-aside could become permanent
19 July 2007
FARMERS will be able cultivate all productive land this autumn thanks to a European Union decision to halt compulsory set-aside.
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Organic produce threatened by food mile debate
17 July 2007
THE Soil Association is considering a ban on air-freighted organic food imports because of the environmental impact of food miles.
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EU propose zero percent set-aside
16 July 2007
IN response to a supply side shortage on the cereals market there will be no compulsory set-aside in Autumn 2007 and Spring 2008, according to an EU proposal.
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Government launches flood review
13 July 2007
THE government is to carry out a review in the wake of the recent floods that will look into how well they were managed and how effective the response was.
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Flood insurance bill already at £10million and still rising
July 13th 2007
THE NFU Mutual insurance bill has topped £10 million and is set to rise in the aftermath of recent torrential rains, while hundreds of farmers are in desperate need of financial help.
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Benn announces relaxation of rules to help flood-hit farmers
12 July 2007
DEFRA Secretary Hilary Benn has announced a relaxation of cross compliance and set-aside rules to help farmers affected by the wet weather.
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Argentine beef farmers in turmoil
September 8th 2006
THE Argentinian government has come up with a £150 million subsidy package to help some 170,000 smaller farmers increase beef production.