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Farmers have been encouraged to apply for funding under a 2021 Countryside Stewardship (CS) agreement to improve their local environment.

The NFU has said leaving the EU provides England with an opportunity to take a different approach to reducing nitrate pollution.

Green groups have warned the environment could be under threat as cross-compliance provisions fall away in the coming years.

The Government’s new green watchdog should be given the power to determine whether future farming budgets are high enough to deliver desired environmental outcomes, a leading ecological body has said.

Farmers in Scotland will benefit from a share of £40m as the Scottish Government moves to decarbonise the agricultural sector.

Farmers have been encouraged to support this year’s seventh Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC), to showcase the important role of farming in the British countryside.

The co-operative structure was ideally suited to help farmers make the most of the data they collect, according to speakers at the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS) annual conference (Thursday Jan 30).Ìý

Planting trees is not, as many would argue, the easy answer to tackling climate change according to NFU Scotland president Andrew McCornick.

Methane produced by cows and other livestock does not contribute the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), according to an expert in air quality.

Campaign group Wild Justice has branded Defra’s latest General Licences ‘unlawful’ and threatened to take the Government to court if it attempts to extend them at the end of February.