Politics

The British Growers Association (BGA) has called for a massive expansion of the Government’s seasonal agricultural workers’ pilot after the coronavirus pandemic ‘shelved’ the Home Office’s original plans.

Farm groups have hit out at the Government’s readiness to abandon a zero tariff trade deal with the EU.

Industry leaders have been left disappointed by a Government push to pass the Agriculture Bill with little change to its food security measures, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

With the first round of negotiations for a UK-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) underway, farm groups have warned Government must uphold its commitment to ensuring food standards are not undermined.

The National Food Strategy will have a renewed focus on food security because of the issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic, its lead Henry Dimbleby has said.

The Government must offer support for dairy farmers to stop them going bust because of the coronavirus pandemic, says Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron.

Issues such as a lack of agricultural labour have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, but Brexit is their root cause, says John Finnie, Green MSP for the Highlands and Islands.

The coronavirus pandemic has shone a spotlight on food security, giving us an opportunity to reshape post-Brexit policy around production, says Matt Legge, a sheep, beef and pig farmer from the Isle of Wight.

More than half of the British public see domestic food production as more important now than they did before the coronavirus pandemic, new research has shown.

NFU Cymru has called on the Welsh Government to redeploy rural development cash to support farming businesses through the coronavirus pandemic.