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Critics of the industry often claim today’s pesticides are more toxic and damaging to soil than ever – but nothing could be further from the truth, says Adam Speed, head of communications at the Crop Protection Association.

Brexit day, January 31, is finally upon us. And much like December 31, 1999, when experts were warning the Millennium Bug would kill off civilisation as we know it, I don’t believe the pundits’ warnings that the sky will fall in, says Dave Herbert, a South Welsh smallholder.

NFU vice president Stuart Roberts has warned farmers risk having their carbon credits ‘stolen’ by processors and retailers as the country moves towards its goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

The farming industry must pull together and present a ‘united front’ if farmers are to have any hope of maintaining some form of direct support post-Brexit, NFU combinable crops board chair Tom Bradshaw has warned.

A top agricultural lawyer has said the delinked payments promised in the Agriculture Bill ‘will not see the light of day’.

A major processor has ‘broken ranks’ on the need to use a fixed cut-off date to age lambs, stalling progress on the rule change Defra was planning to introduce.

Upland farmers are set to lose 94 per cent of farm business income by 2024 due to uncertainty over agri-environment funding, according to Dr Julia Aglionby, chairman of the Uplands Alliance.

While the debate over a second independence referendum for Scotland fills the news, the business of devolved government goes on with the new UK Agriculture Bill proving contentious.

The recognition of soil’s importance in the Ag Bill is a statement of ambition few other countries can match, but there is more work to do if we’re to meet the Government’s target of having sustainably managed soils by 2030, says Sustainable Soils Alliance director Matthew Orman.