Defra

The NFU plea coincides with the first suspected bird flu outbreak of the season in Northern Ireland, which was recorded among a commercial flock in Co Tyrone

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown reports on Arla’s soaring profits, giving its farmer-owners the highest dividend payout in the company’s history, how tenant farmers are being left ‘unprotected’ by the Chancellor’s changes to Inheritance Tax, and the UK's borders have been called into question once again after 600kg of illegal meat was seized in Northern Ireland.

Following a number of confirmed cases of avian influenza, poultry keepers are being urged to stay vigilant for signs of the disease and adhere to the latest control measures

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

Mr Williams is public and governmental affairs manager at BASF. He writes about the state of British agriculture, food security, land management and questions Defra Secretary Steve Reed needs to answer at NFU Conference

'Detail delivers' was the theme of the BeetTech25 technical conference for sugar beet growers and their advisers

This week from Rachael Brown, Farmers Guardian chief reporter

Defra urges poultry keepers to be vigilant as it promises payout for lost birds

Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife, Wendy Chamberlain, accused the Government of failing to consider the impact of its proposed IHT changes on Scottish tenant farmers, despite raising the problem ‘four times in the last three months'

A public consultation is seeking views on changing livestock feed controls currently prohibiting animal protein from being fed to farmed animals in England and Wales