A massive 80 per cent of rural businesses are expecting their profits to fall in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest Rural Sentiment Survey from Knight Frank.

The ‘vast majority’ of farms in England will survive the withdrawal of direct payments, Defra’s director general for food and farming, David Kennedy, has said.

Farmers who do not receive proper support during the Brexit transition period may face serious identity crises, the chief executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission has said.

The farming community has reacted angrily to Farming Minister Victoria Prentis’ failure to take part in a live Cereals webinar on Brexit and coronavirus this week.

The food security reviews Government is legally obliged to carry out by the Agriculture Bill will inform future farming policy, Defra Minister Victoria Prentis has confirmed.

As a new report by the All-Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare recognised small abattoirs as an essential link in the farm to fork supply chain, Abi Kay asks what these plants need to be able to survive.

Farmers are being urged to explore the opportunity of making money on private natural capital markets as Government spending on the coronavirus pandemic continues to spiral.

Farming Minister Victoria Prentis has rejected the NFU’s call for a Trade Commission to explore ways to protect food production standards in UK trade policy.

An agricultural think tank has warned commercial farming is being ‘written out’ of emerging post-Brexit policy, despite the fact that fewer than 10 per cent of farm businesses produce over half the UK’s agricultural output.

EU farm and food chain groups have called for temporary arrangements to be put in place to protect trade with the UK in the event that a free trade deal cannot be agreed by the end of the year.