Arable

Exports Minister Graham Stuart and Farming Minister Victoria Prentis explain how they plan to boost overseas sales of UK food and drink.

The fight for a Commission to explore ways to protect food production standards in trade policy is continuing in the House of Lords, with a new Agriculture Bill amendment tabled to force the Government’s hand.

Defra and the Department for International Trade (DIT) have launched a ‘bounce back’ plan to help farmers hit by the coronavirus boost overseas sales.

Harvest management can make for faster and more timely combining and make a big difference to weed control when done correctly.

Defra non-executive director Ben Goldsmith has called for ‘rewilding’ to be renamed ‘wilder farming’ in order to reassure farmers they are central to the movement.

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.

Rain showers have raised the risk of fusarium head blight in some winter wheat crops where T3 applications were missed.

Horticulture chiefs have warned growers will face a steep increase in costs as they struggle to retain and attract workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Trade Ministers are trying to build bridges with farmers, but without legal guarantees to protect our standards, their efforts will not be enough, says Mark Bridgeman, president of the CLA.

In February, a key Government adviser was telling Ministers UK food production is not critically important. Let’s hope the pandemic has shown our trade negotiators the opposite is true, says Neil Farmer, an arable and sheep farmer from the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border.