Pig

Selling on the deadweight gives control to buyers, but if all slaughter stock was sold at auction, competition and prices would almost certainly increase, says Neil Farmer, an arable and sheep farmer from the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border.

NFU president Minette Batters will today open the union’s annual conference with a call for Government to ‘show global leadership’ on international trade and protect domestic production standards.

Farm groups have expressed their fury after reports suggested the Government is preparing to break away from EU food safety rules at an upcoming World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit.

Talk of future technology and the best ways to combat methane emissions were hot topics at this year’s Dairy-Tech held at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. Katie Jones and Hannah Noble report.

NFU deputy president Guy Smith has said politicians who control the BBC’s licence fee must tackle pro-vegan bias at the broadcaster.

Defra Secretary Theresa Villiers wants to ban farrowing crates post-Brexit, but without support from Government and retailers, such a move would threaten UK pig farming’s future, says Zoe Davies, NPA chief executive.

In a fiery debate at the Oxford Real Farming Conference, George Monbiot’s vision that synthetic food would replace most agricultural production in the next few decades was greeted with disbelief and derision.

Criticism from farmers has forced Mitsubishi to distance itself from Channel 4’s upcoming documentary, showing vegan activists performing criminal acts on farms, including stealing pigs.

Sainsbury’s head of agriculture has said the retailer faces a challenge in not ‘getting ahead’ of its customers on cutting red meat consumption.