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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

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

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,…

NEWS

‘Defra blunder crippled my farm business’

Devon beef and dairy producer Winston Reed has seen the administrators called in at Cleave Farm, Templeton, near Tiverton – despite winning a four-year battle with Defra, which saw the…

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Insights

FARM POLICY

Fruit and veg fears as key support scheme set to go

Investing in innovations and new equipment is a challenge when an industry operates on wafer-thin margins, but if another party is footing half of the bill, it is much more…

FARM POLICY

Interview: NFU president Tom Bradshaw speaks his mind

Tom Bradshaw was elected as the new NFU president just two weeks ago, taking over the leadership of the country’s largest farm union at a pivotal time for the whole…

FARM POLICY

Food security is top concern at latest FW Question Time

Politicians and lobbyists joined researchers and farmers at the latest Question Time event at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire. Food security was a major issue discussed in the Q&A, along with…

FARM POLICY

Analysis: What a live exports ban means for farmers

A ban on the live export of animals for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain could be introduced in just a few months as part of a manifesto commitment by…

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News

FARM POLICY

Time for 'policy reset' as SNP and Scottish Greens part ways

Scottish farmers and landowners say the end of the power sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens provides an opportunity for a “policy reset”, to set the agricultural…

NEWS

Cautious welcome for government pledge to review NVZ rules

Farm groups have cautiously welcomed a commitment from the Welsh government to consider looking at alternatives to closed periods for spreading in the planned four-year review of its controversial water…

FARM POLICY

Defra minister hears industry fears on visit to NFU HQ

Despite an unprecedented eight months of extreme weather affecting all farming sectors in England, Defra has no plans to reverse the slide in falling basic payments. Defra secretary Steve Barclay…

FARM POLICY

Wet weather drives food security up the political agenda

Months of relentless rain has moved food security right up the political agenda and put farmers in a stronger position with policymakers, according to former Climate Change Committee chairman and…

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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

FARM POLICY

Video: Farmers wake up Westminster with lively tractor rally

Dozens of fed-up farmers drove their tractors to Westminster to send a stark message to MPs and civil servants – stop killing our livelihoods and start backing British farming. A…

FARM POLICY

Farmers put boot into Welsh government farm policy plans

NFU Cymru members have given the Welsh government’s future farming policy plans the boot – by placing thousands of pairs of wellies on the steps of the Senedd. On Wednesday…

NEWS

Video: 3,000 fed-up Welsh farmers say 'enough is enough'

An estimated 3,000 Welsh farmers and their supporters from across rural Wales descended on the Senedd, the home of the Welsh Parliament, for a mass demonstration against anti-farming policies, says…

AGRICULTURAL TRANSITION

Video: Trade and food security top concerns for Lib Dems

The Liberal Democrats have passed a wide-ranging motion pledging better support for British farmers to produce food more sustainably, protect the environment and uphold their high standards in trade deals.…

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Webinar

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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