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All articles about Farm policy

Find out about UK and EU government agricultural policy and what it means for farmers. Be the first to hear the news on Defra’s plans for farm payments and subsidies post Brexit, and environmental schemes and funding. Hear how the NFU, AHDB and farm industry leaders’ lobby the government to help shape farm policy.

Advice and tips

FARM POLICY

How to host MPs on farm and influence ag policy

With MPs currently enjoying their Easter holidays, now might be the ideal time for farmers to invite them to their farms and showcase the challenges they face, while discussing the…

FARM POLICY

Tips to survive and thrive amid falling BPS payments

The UK agricultural sector is undergoing the biggest policy shake-up in 60 years, and government support for farmers is facing a radical overhaul. Defra has started its new Environmental Land…

MACHINERY

Q&A: Using CCTV - what farmers need to know

Farmers are increasingly turning to CCTV to protect their farm from thefts. New technology has made it easier than ever to set up camera surveillance, but the rules around data…

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Case studies

ARABLE

What the Budget means for new Arable Insights farmer panel

As farmers head to Westminster to protest at Budget measures affecting their businesses, including the unwelcome changes to inheritance tax, we look at the practical implications of the new regime…

DIVERSIFICATION

Field to plate - diversification on Japanese farms

Japan’s food culture is built on strong regional associations and loyalties, alongside superb quality and freshness.  However, accelerating rural depopulation, falling farm incomes, concerns over food security and a crippling…

BUSINESS

Farming without subsidy - New Zealand's experience

UK farmers must seize the opportunity of Brexit to ramp up productivity and become more competitive, industry leaders have been told. Former New Zealand agriculture minister Sir Lockwood Smith suggested…

ENVIRONMENT

Wild bird project – a blueprint for future farm support?

Farmers in the South West have helped to save a rare farmland bird in a 25-year collaboration with the RSPB.  Farmers and the RSPB don’t always see eye to eye,…

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Insights

FARM POLICY

Radical reset on food production needed says new report

The time has come for a radical reset in domestic agricultural policy, harnessing the full power of scientific advance with a view to improving UK food self-sufficiency, while reducing the…

ENVIRONMENT

How Water Action Groups can help secure farm supplies

The Environment Agency (EA) is reviewing water abstraction licences, asking farmers to give up “excess headroom” due to over-abstraction in many catchments. Letters are being sent to farmers and other…

FARM POLICY

Analysis: Starmer’s farming promises: What's been delivered?

Since Labour swept to power in July 2024, government ministers have often pointed to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s speech to the NFU Conference in February 2023 as a blueprint.…

FARM POLICY

Post-Brexit farm support - how is Defra spending the money?

One of the reasons many farmers voted for Brexit in 2016 was because they were so fed up with Brussels red tape. Our survey at the time, run in the…

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News

NEWS

UFU delivers no confidence blow to Daera

Northern Ireland’s largest farming union has issued a sharp condemnation of its regulator, unanimously passing a vote of no confidence in the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera).…

FARM POLICY

Welsh government bails out Natural Resources Wales

The Welsh government has paid the tax bill of its environmental agency, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), with a £14.6m final settlement to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) NRW, which is…

FARM POLICY

'Farming by the calendar' frustrates Welsh farmers

Welsh farm leaders are demanding a “more targeted and proportionate regulatory approach” as frustration mounts over the lack of flexibility surrounding slurry spreading on dairy and livestock farms. Under the…

AGRICULTURAL TRANSITION

Scottish capital grants scheme receives £7m uplift

The Scottish government has announced an extra £7.4m for its Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) after unprecedented demand from farmers and crofters, taking the total fund to £21.4m. Rural affairs…

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Opinion

OPINION

Editor's View: What NFU coronation says about our sector

Why has only one person put themselves forward to be president of the NFU? Nominations for the race closed a few weeks ago with the current deputy president, Tom Bradshaw,…

NEWS

Charlie Flindt: We need to talk about deer numbers

It has been obvious for some time that we need to talk about deer – or, more specifically, the explosion in their numbers. There can’t be a farmer or landowner…

FARM POLICY

Eustice: I’ll ensure money coming out of BPS goes to farmers

George Eustice is the secretary of state at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Here he sets out his arguments why the new Environmental Land Management scheme is…

NEWS

Eustice: Creative solutions needed to cut dependence on AN

George Eustice is the secretary of state at Defra. Here he sets out his arguments for why more imaginative thinking is needed to reduce farming's dependence on inorganic fertiliser. My…

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Podcast

NEWS

Trade deals and tree planting debated at FW Question Time

Issues surrounding trade deals, imports, and farming policy were debated in front of a full auditorium at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Cirencester for the final Farmers Weekly Question…

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Video

NEWS

Cautious welcome for SFS but BPS reduction will bite

The Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), launched a week before the Royal Welsh Show, was cautiously welcomed, but farming leaders warned that next year’s 40% Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) cut will…

NEWS

Video: Farmers To Action stages ‘Say No to Labour’ protests

More than 1,000 tractors and farmers across the UK put aside their busy spring schedules – drilling, lambing and calving – to take part in a nationwide protest against what…

FARM POLICY

London rally: Farm leaders vow to continue IHT fight

Farm leaders have pledged to continue their fight against the government’s plans to introduce a 20% inheritance tax on agricultural assets, vowing to keep up the pressure until Sir Keir…

TAX

Farmers take tractors to supermarkets in IHT protest

Hundreds of frustrated British farmers are taking their tractors to supermarket car parks across the country today (Friday 17 January) in a bold display of frustration over government policies they…

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Webinar

WEATHER

FW webinar: Why farms should adapt now for hot, wet seasons

Farmers are being urged to adapt to climate change sooner rather than later, with summers forecast to become considerably hotter and winters considerably wetter, a Farmers Weekly webinar has heard.…

BREXIT

What is the future of farming post Covid and post Brexit?

The long-term success of British farming depends on the sector becoming more internationally competitive, says renowned economist Sean Rickard. Post Brexit, the government will be doing trade deals with countries…

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