Brexit

The issue of food standards for imported food is not going away as Secretary of State for Scotland Douglas Ross MP discovered when he addressed the NFUS conference in Glasgow.

The Labour Party has voted to block the Agriculture Bill’s passage through Parliament because it does not include measures to protect farmers from being undercut by low-standard imports.

The Government’s failure to include binding targets to improve soil health in the Environment Bill has left a ‘gaping hole’ in UK legislation, the Soil Association has warned.

Brexit day, January 31, is finally upon us. And much like December 31, 1999, when experts were warning the Millennium Bug would kill off civilisation as we know it, I don’t believe the pundits’ warnings that the sky will fall in, says Dave Herbert, a South Welsh smallholder.

NFU vice president Stuart Roberts has said the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is not the right body to oversee supply chain issues.

Critics of the industry often claim today’s pesticides are more toxic and damaging to soil than ever – but nothing could be further from the truth, says Adam Speed, head of communications at the Crop Protection Association.

Input costs have been relatively stable over the last year and that trend could continue with downward pressure on oil prices.

The Government is pushing several pieces of agriculture legislation through Parliament now, and as chair of the Efra committee and an FG reader, I intend to hold their feet to the fire every step of the way, says Neil Parish MP.

For years, the arguments around Brexit have been focused on ‘in or out’. Now, with our departure just days away, it’s time to think about how we can make the most of leaving, says Matt Legge, a sheep, beef and pig farmer from the Isle of Wight.

The farming industry must pull together and present a ‘united front’ if farmers are to have any hope of maintaining some form of direct support post-Brexit, NFU combinable crops board chair Tom Bradshaw has warned.