Arable

Small, family-run businesses are best placed to make the biggest mark on a changing climate, but they must start now.

The new Agriculture Bill due to be introduced to Parliament this month will include a legal requirement for the Government to carry out regular food security audits.

Farmers without formal qualifications could be excluded from accessing Government funding or even tenancies over the next two or three years, a prominent peer has warned.

The NFU has called for farmers in England to keep at least 30 per cent of their direct payments after Brexit.

The NFU has called for the new Agriculture Bill, which will be reintroduced to Parliament this month, to set up a commission to protect food standards in trade deals.

Trials at the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project have found low disturbance tillage systems could give beneficial insect populations a boost, reducing pressure from pests.

With a new decade of challenges and opportunities ahead in the potato sector, the 30th Cambridge University Potato Growers Research Association (CUPGRA) conference at Robinson College focused on building business resilience.

The Welsh Conservatives have set out plans to split the Environment and Rural Affairs Department if they win power at the next Assembly election in May 2021.

Number 10 has already removed environmental commitments from the EU Withdrawal Agreement, which does not bode well for the protection of food standards over the coming years, says Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East.