Environment

Sea eagle predation along Scotland’s western seaboard is becoming a rapidly increasing threat to hill farming as lamb losses mount.

Key elements of Defra’s new environmental grant schemes are still not in place despite the initial rollout just months away and low uptake of farmers.

The Government’s new commitment to soil health will be ’hollow words’ if the House of Commons rejects ’a crucial amendment’ to the Environmental Bill, the Soil Association (SA) has warned.

As a farmer who took part in the UK Government’s genetically modified (GM) crop farm-scale evaluation trials 20 years ago, and as a passionate advocate of the importance of genetic innovation to healthier and more sustainable food production, I read your article ‘The term ‘gene editing’ is confusing consumers’ (FG, July 26) with an uneasy sense of deja vu and a concern that we must learn from past mistakes.

Destocking on Dartmoor has led to molinia (purple moor grass) becoming out of control and taking over the moor.

Hedgerows, for some people, can be very emotive things. Part of the patchwork quilt that forms much of the UK landscape, they provoke a range of feelings from the farming and non-farming fraternity.

JCB is forging ahead with the development of alternatives to diesel engines with the Staffordshire-based manufacturer believing hydrogen is the future fuel for combustion engines. Alex Heath finds out more.

The Soil Association has called for a 50 per cent reduction in poultry consumption and a 30 per cent cut in production to enable the Government to reach its environmental goals.

The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) has warned uptake of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pilot may fall short of Defra’s target.

Ambitious plans are underway to boost wildlife and improve soil condition at Horner Farm in the Exmoor hills. Four years in and the signs of nature’s recovery are beginning to show.