Border controls

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown reports on the farming unions' meeting with Treasury to discuss the family farm tax, where farming leaders felt the door had been 'slammed in their faces' once again. Unions now say their focus is on getting more Labour backbench MPs including those in the inner cities to pressurise the Government ahead of the Finance Bill in Autumn. And in other news, the UK's borders have been called into question once again after 600kg of illegal meat was seized in Northern Ireland, and growers are being urged to be extra vigilant amid warnings that organised crime gangs are targeting rural properties

In today's episode of Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown discusses criticism of Government's response to foot-and-mouth disease in Germany and concerns raised over checks for illegal meat imports, Riverford Organic founder condemns supermarkets' support of farmers fighting to overturn the family farm tax as a ‘cynical, hypocritical' public relations stunt, and British dairy farmers have significantly reduced the number of pure-bred dairy bull calves being born on farms

Chartered environmental health practitioner and regulatory consultant, Helen Buckingham, said it took seven days for systems to be updated and 'things got through'

No cases of the disease have been reported in the UK so far

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown reports on the confirmed case of foot-and-mouth disease in Germany. Meanwhile, the Efra Committee has called for an inquiry into animal and plant health which will focus on biosecurity at the border. The National Pig Association hopes the inquiry will apply pressure on the relevant Government departments to ‘effect the change so desperately needed.’ Elsewhere, Morrisons becomes the first supermarket to show public support for farmers in the fight against proposed changes to Inheritance Tax.

Lack of border security and hastily arranged agreements will undermine work of farmers, says environmental campaigner

Dr Jason Aldiss, of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers, said: "With resources stretched thin due to the conflict, farmers are struggling to protect their herds, further jeopardising their livelihoods."

Concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of the UK’s border controls, after vehicles importing food were found to contain unlabelled meat and flax seeds with illegally high pesticide residue levels.