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Rural areas are set to benefit from a £1 billion deal to help tackle poor mobile phone coverage within the next five years, which will see major phone operators share the costs of new masts.

The Agriculture Bill has potential to deliver for the environment, but the Government’s insistence on penny pinching during the transition period is likely to drive the farmers needed to implement the policy out of business, says Tim Farron MP, Lib Dem farming spokesman.

A few years ago, our plan was to mitigate the loss of direct payments through diversification, but poor weather and prices mean that additional cash is being used to keep the farm afloat today, says Cornish lamb and beef farmer Rona Amiss.

Labour has not always done the best job of speaking for the countryside, but farmers need us to raise their concerns now more than ever, because uber-loyal Tories afraid of Number 10 won’t, says Shadow Defra Secretary Luke Pollard.

The Government’s post-Brexit agriculture reforms provide an opportunity for farms to become more prosperous, but those who resist the push to become ‘park keepers’ risk being the first to go out of business, says independent consultant Derrick Wilkinson.

NFU Scotland has launched its policy proposals for the next decade with the period up to 2024 chiming closely with the Scottish Government’s well-aired Stability and Simplicity programme.

Latest figures from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) show almost 99 per cent of eligible farmers under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) have received payment by February 29, a 1.4 per cent improvement on last year.

A Treasury plan to slap higher duty on red diesel for farm vehicles has been branded ‘madness’ by a leading farm group.

UK farmers could benefit from new onshore wind energy subsidies, following the Government’s latest ruling which allows projects to compete for contracts to generate clean power.

The Labour Party has warned offering lump sum payments to help older farmers retire will not necessarily give new entrants access to land, and may drive consolidation in the sector.