Farming Minister

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown reports on a letter sent by the Efra Committee chair, Alistair Carmichael to the Farming Minister calling on the Government to focus on five key areas to improve fairness and resilience in the food supply chain. Later today Mr Carmichael will be presenting his food supply chain fairness bill in Parliament. And the absence of rural crime in the Government's Crime and Policing Bill has been branded 'unacceptable' by a Liberal Democrat MP

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown reports on yesterday's emergency roundtable meeting on SFI, with the Farming Minister criticised for providing lack of clarity on the what the future redesign of SFI will look like, and for showing a lack of empathy for those farmers who missed out on SFI. She also reports on farmers defending Scottish Minister Mairi Gougeon and criticising the level abuse she received online, as she announced she is stepping down from her post after more that half of her life in politics. And don't forget to sign up to our free webinar on Inheritance Tax ( March 27), where an expert panel will be unpicking any updates from the Spring Statement the day before

An emergency roundtable on the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) has been held this afternoon (March 17) between Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner and farming organisations

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown understands an emergency roundtable meeting has been called for later today between farming organisations and Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner to discuss the fallout from Defra's decision last week to suspend new applications to SFI. She also reports on the appointment of Dr David Llewellyn as the independent monitoring and reporting commissioner for the recommendations from the UK Farm Assurance Review. And why a Cambridgeshire tenant farmer has been left 'fuming' at Defra after he was left with no compensation from the Farming Recovery Fund

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown reports on the latest from the fallout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive closure. Defra is under scrutiny over its failure to give farmers' notice as the industry questions whether all the budget has been spent. She also looks ahead to next week, a special podcast on Donald Trump, tariffs and what this means for machinery markets and UK farming going forward and the livestock team are heading to Borderway UK Dairy Expo at Carlisle this week, the first dairy show of the year

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown analyses the fall out from the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), with the Farming Minister telling MPs that farmers were not given notice on closure as it would have led to a 'further spike in applications'. The National Trust says Defra's decision to close SFI to new applications will leave farmers facing a 'four month funding gap'. And she takes a look at the NFU's farmer confidence survey which is reportedly at an 'all time low'

Despite the Government's own website stating that it would give farmers six week notice before the closure of SFI, the Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner said it was not possible, as it would have led to a ‘further spike in applications'

SFI24 now has more than 37,000 multi-year live agreements and has reached its ‘maximum limit' and can no longer accept new SFI applications from today

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown reports on Defra's import ban of cattle, sheep, pigs and deer from Hungry and Slovakia after confirmed a foot and mouth case on a farm with 1,400 cattle in Hungary. The Farming Minister said the Government will not hesitate to add additional countries to the list if the disease spreads. Elsewhere, she reports on how a Welsh farmer declined cancer treatment due to fear of Inheritance Tax changes