Politics

The Government’s post-Brexit agriculture reforms provide an opportunity for farms to become more prosperous, but those who resist the push to become ‘park keepers’ risk being the first to go out of business, says independent consultant Derrick Wilkinson.

The Agriculture Bill has potential to deliver for the environment, but the Government’s insistence on penny pinching during the transition period is likely to drive the farmers needed to implement the policy out of business, says Tim Farron MP, Lib Dem farming spokesman.

Labour has not always done the best job of speaking for the countryside, but farmers need us to raise their concerns now more than ever, because uber-loyal Tories afraid of Number 10 won’t, says Shadow Defra Secretary Luke Pollard.

WHEN Minette Batters stood on the NFU conference platform last week and declared that throwing our world leading welfare standards on the funeral pyre of global trade would be ’morally bankrupt’ and ’insane’, she meant it as an admonishing challenge to Government, not as something to aspire to in wider policy construction.

The Government is set to introduce E10 fuel by 2021 to help the UK meet its net zero target, following years of farming industry lobbying.

A Treasury plan to slap higher duty on red diesel for farm vehicles has been branded ‘madness’ by a leading farm group.

The Labour Party has warned offering lump sum payments to help older farmers retire will not necessarily give new entrants access to land, and may drive consolidation in the sector.

Scotland’s globally accredited high food standards ‘should not be sacrificed’ in order to secure non-EU trade deals, the Scottish Government has warned.

The Tenant Farmers’ Association (TFA) has called on the Chancellor to reject his adviser’s suggestion that the UK does not need farmers.

The Government’s immigration policy is xenophobic and does not consider the needs of Scottish farmers and crofters, says John Finnie, Green MSP for the Highlands and Islands.