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.
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.
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.
A Treasury plan to slap higher duty on red diesel for farm vehicles has been branded ‘madness’ by a leading farm group.
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.
Scotland’s globally accredited high food standards ‘should not be sacrificed’ in order to secure non-EU trade deals, the Scottish Government has warned.
The Tenant Farmers’ Association (TFA) has called on the Chancellor to reject his adviser’s suggestion that the UK does not need farmers.
Selling on the deadweight gives control to buyers, but if all slaughter stock was sold at auction, competition and prices would almost certainly increase, says Neil Farmer, an arable and sheep farmer from the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border.
The Government’s immigration policy is xenophobic and does not consider the needs of Scottish farmers and crofters, says John Finnie, Green MSP for the Highlands and Islands.