DEFRA recently published its annual figures of EU payments (direct aids, rural development payments and market schemes) and the number of UK farming businesses receiving over a million pounds in EU grants and subsidies has now increased to 29, from 16 last year. This has again led to renewed criticism of the system and how much tax-payers money goes to these ‘rich’ farmers and how the benefits are being given to few, large landowners and not to the smaller farmers, who are usually in more need of the funding. It is a vicious circle with the massive subsidies paid out to large landowners allowing them to ex

There has been a huge increase in the fines imposed on British farmers for flouting rules and regulations and breaching various support schemes. Farmers have faced heavy fines for minor mistakes such as filling in application forms wrong and there seems no clear distinction between a genuine error when trying to complete complicated application forms and attempts to fraud the system. English farmers were given penalties of just over one million pounds in 2008, but in 2009 this more than doubled to over two and half million pounds. Close to one and half thousand Welsh farmers saw penalties of more than two mill

As David Cameron settles into his new home at Number 10 Downing Street, the UK farming industry is waiting to see whether the Conservatives stick to their pre-election pledge to reduce the amount of rules and regulations placed on British farmers. The Tories have stated that they recognise the need for UK farmers to be able to compete in an open market and that they cannot do this with all the current rules and regulations passed down from Brussels.  The Conservatives maintain that while standards must be maintained, it the outcome that is important and the methods of achieving the required results should be

As cabinet ministers are appointed to the new coalition government, there is uncertainty about what the future solves for DEFRA and what the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition means for the UK farming industry. After long negotiations, Conservative MP Caroline Spelman, has been appointed as the new DEFRA Secretary. She is a former NFU adviser and with her husband, co-owns a food and biotechnology business. Mrs Spelman said she would work to increase food production, look at ways to adapt practices to climate change, protect the environment and promote sustainability. The Tories pledged before the elect

Food retailer, Marks & Spencers has announced a new scheme to reward dairy farmers, which supply the retailer store with fresh milk, for achieving and maintaining the highest levels of animal health and welfare. The scheme, known as the Milk Pledge Plus scheme, will be run in conjunction with the Bristol Vet School and Anderson's consultants who will inspect and monitor each farm taking part and supplying fresh milk to ensure that the dairy farms obtain the highest standards with continual improvement to animal health and welfare. All those dairy farms that supply milk to Marks & Spencers where consult

Despite the Tories claiming that they have managed to see off the 10% tax increase on cider, the massive tax hike has merely ben postponed, dependent on which party wins the election in May. Labour have insisted they will revisit the issue if they win the election. The tax on cider along with a couple of other tax rises were dropped as Ministers had to rush through the Finance Bill after Gordon Brown confirmed the General Election would be on 6th May. There was strong opposition to the tax hike by apple growers, cider producers and cider drinkers. Campaigns to drop the tax on Facebook were joined by over 50

A controversial proposal for a massive cattle farm has been met an angry response from some sectors who are calling it cruel. The proposal would see around 8000 cows housed in one huge building and milked three times a day. Aside from the animal welfare issues, with the cows rarely being let outside to graze or see the sun, there are of course concerns about the spread of disease with so many cows confined in one area. The idea for the battery style dairy farm came to light through a planning proposal by a farmer in Nocton, Lincolnshire, who wanted permission for a 8000 strong dairy farm. The farm would cost i

Hedgerows are not only an important aspect of our culture and heritage but also form a very important role in any farm. Acting as a corridor for pollinating and natural pest reducing fauna, they also act as natural and free boundary to the wonderful British field. They protect crops from wind damage and also act as a way to reduce soil erosion and water run-off. Modern machinery and technology has offered ways of vastly increasing work load and thus pushed the limits of field size, resulting in hundreds of miles of hedges being ripped out. However, for those in charge of maintaining both established and newly pla

There have been a number of reported cases of Cockerel owners being issued with ASBO's for noise violations. Most recently the Barton family, who have a rural home in East Hampshire, were served with a noise abatement order after Colin, their cockerel, was deemed to be a nuisance and to be annoying neighbours with his early morning wake-up calls. The Bartons run a smallholding on nine acres of land with five horses, two dogs, two rabbits, a hamster and nine chickens, as well as the noisy cockerel. Mrs Barton was quoted as saying: 'What else can we do? 'We live in the country and cockerels crow and cows

Conservationists have warned of the loss of Britain’s traditional orchards. Recent figures from The National Trust indicate that up to 60% of orchards have been lost since the 1950’s due to changes in land use and the increase in commercial fruit growers. This had led to a dramatic loss in important wildlife habitat in addition to the danger of losing traditional and local varieties of fruit including apples, pears and cherries. Particularly concerned about the loss of habitat for some of Britain’s important and valuable wildlife, The National Trust has launched a £536,000 scheme to encourage the rever