Agriculture -Latest news

Farmers Weekly An environmental campaign group is taking legal action against the government, accusing it of axing its pledge to regulate microplastics and chemicals in sewage sludge spread over farmland. Fighting Dirty, which comprises campaigners George Monbiot, Georgia Elliott-Smith and Steve Hynd, argues that the government reneged on its commitment to bring the regulation of sewage ...

Farmers Weekly Grain trader and supplier Cefetra has launched a new initiative designed to financially reward farm businesses for sustainable farming practices. Cefetra is working in partnership with agronomy firm Soil Capital to develop its sustainability programme called Cefetra Ecosystem Services. The initiative is open to both UK and Irish growers and will be available for ...

Farmers Weekly The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the acquisition by ABP of Scotbeef’s Bridge of Allan abattoir in Stirlingshire and its Queenslie meat packing plant in Glasgow. The decision was welcomed by ABP and both sites will now become part of its UK meat division, as well as a processing facility in Perth, ...

Farmers Weekly Three new drill listings and additional models for existing ranges feature in the 2023 edition of Farmers Weekly’s Ultimate Guide to disc coulter no-till drills. New Zealand manufacturer Duncan appears for the first time, as does Polish firm SMS. Also featuring is Maschio Gaspardo, now that the Italian group is supplying a much-expanded product ...

Farmers Weekly Of all the supply chains to be found in British agriculture, it is the ones in the egg and poultry sectors that are so often held up as examples of best practice. Devoid of taxpayer support, stakeholders from primary producers and egg packers to meat processors, and even retailers, have learned to work together. ...

Farmers Weekly As many as two-thirds of the farmland ponds in England and Wales have been lost though drainage and in-filling, while those that remain are often shaded and tree-covered and do very little to support wildlife. Putting that right is straightforward, says Professor Carl Sayer of the Pond Restoration Research Group at UCL, who stresses ...

Farmers Weekly Having five carcasses condemned for discolouration caused by cysts has cost a farm dearly and highlighted the issue of the dangers of dog muck. The costly case happened in 2021 and was written up by colleagues in the Journal of Veterinary Parasitology in 2022 (see “Farm hit with cyst condemnations”). See also: Guide to understanding ...

Farmers Weekly Just before Christmas in 1935, Farmer’s Weekly published Farmhouse Fare, a book composed entirely of recipes sent to the magazine over the years by readers. The first edition sold more than 310,000 copies, and the next two, published in 1945 and 1950, sold many more. One of the 1945 editions was bought by my ...

Farmers Weekly On the Cumbria-Northumberland border, the Greenside Estate is one of the few investment properties to come to the open market in the north this year. It is a mix of in-hand and mainly let farmland, residential, woodland, investment, development and sporting interests across about 1,844 acres on the edge of the North Pennines Area ...

Farmers Weekly Who dropped the ball? Good old Red Tractor (RT) sells us short to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). As farmers, we have a voice on the board via representation from the NFU and AHDB, who must ultimately take responsibility for the unanimous vote on the “voluntary” Greener Farms Commitment. To have our union and ...

Farmers Weekly Dairy exports are set to grow in response to a £1m investment by government to help businesses target overseas markets more effectively and showcase UK milk production to international buyers. The Dairy Export Programme, launched by export minister Lord Offord on Thursday (9 November), fulfils a commitment given by prime minister Rishi Sunak at ...

Farmers Weekly Stressed out farmers should accept what they can and cannot control and act on factors within the farmgate to manage their business and protect margins.   Pressures of falling subsidy payments, rising costs and erratic policy-making from government are not things that food producers can control, an audience at Darlington Farmers Auction Mart, County ...