Dairy

After the NFU lost its legal battle over the Derbyshire cull decision, Hannah Binns asks where it leaves the Government’s 25-year bovine TB strategy.

A North West agricultural college is set to close after an independent review found the campus financially unviable, sparking an outcry among its 888 students and many rural communities across the region. 

A new National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) by Newcastle University and partners is hoped to foster innovation, resilience and enterprise among rural firms through research and knowledge exchange.

Police have warned the public it is an offence to ‘worry livestock’ and the farmer has the power to shoot or injure a dog to protect stock after two cow chasing incidents in the South West.

Freshways producers have been threatened with a substantial price cut for non-compliance with the current A/B pricing structure, it has emerged.

Bodies representing different parts of the food supply chain have urged Government to set out what kind of support it intends to offer businesses in the event of a second wave of coronavirus.

Farm groups have cautiously welcomed the Government’s new tariff schedule, which maintains protections for key agricultural products such as lamb, beef, poultry, cheese and butter.

With Covid-19 magnifying the strategic importance of domestic food production following major supply chain disruption, the National Beef Association (NBA) has warned Government must take food security ‘seriously’.

There can be few practices on the farm which can be changed with so little investment, and to such great effect, than age at first calving. Still, the UK’s age at first calving remains stubbornly fixed at an average 28 months, despite the well-promoted benefits of calving at two years.

There are signs the global dairy industry is stabilising following the coronavirus thunderbolt which hit it in March.