Agriculture

NFU president Tom Bradshaw warned the Farming Minister that in light of the £358 million pound underspend of the farming budget, Defra was a department ‘very close to failure' if it was not careful

The Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner attended the Farm Tenancy Forum for the first time since being elected into Government

Helen is a fifth-generation farmer who farms with her parents, David and Anne Shaw, husband, Craig, and their children, Alfred and Hattie, at Grey Leys Farm in the Vale of York. The farm comprises 162 hectares (400 acres) of grass, maize and wholecrop for the herd of 240 pedigree Jersey cows and more than 200 followers

Ian farms in partnership with his family near Knutsford, Cheshire. They manage 700 commercial pedigree Holstein/Friesians on 445 hectares (1,100 acres). Replacements are home reared and cows are on a composite system

Should more educational settings offer agricultural courses?

"Islwyn was a caring farmer who was proud of his stock"

Graham Redman, partner at agribusiness consultants The Andersons Centre said the business aspect of farming was pressing on the farming community ‘even more so than ever before', and he urged farmers to look beyond the headline figures on Government environmental schemes, which he said could look appealing but came with ‘obligations' and ‘costs'

The University of Exeter said intensive agriculture could contribute to emerging infectious disease risks in the future

Sean Fitzpatrick, of the Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers' Association, said: "How can anyone expect our sheep farmers to maintain this when their income, which needs to support not only a business but a home, is getting significantly cut?"

Chief executive of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) Christopher Price said: "In May, the previous Government promised £3m to support the creation of new and mobile abattoirs though the Farming Investment Fund. Since then we have heard nothing"