ICEP Community News

Britain on course for new bluetongue status
BRUSSELS officials are set to decide today on a request to grant Britain a new bluetongue risk status that would see tighter controls placed on imported livestock.

‘Unsustainable’ livestock industry under attack
A SUBSTANTIAL reduction in meat and dairy consumption is essential to save the planet from environmental disaster, according to a new UN study.

Second super-dairy planned for Lincolnshire
A second Lincolnshire village has been earmarked as the site for another huge dairy herd - this time housing almost 3000 cows.

Farming must win over public to justify CAP
EU member states must convince the general public of all that farmers have to offer if they are to win support for future payments under the Common Agricultural Policy.

VIDEO: Filmmaker chronicles lives of young farmers
A Canadian filmmaker has spent a year chronicling the lives of dozens of young farmers, to learn more about the difficulties facing the next generation of food producers.

Fish for Life wins prestigious award for Youngs
Young’s the fish producer, part of Findus group, was yesterday announced as the winner of the European Business Awards for the Environment for their ‘Fish for Life’ programme for sustainably sourcing fish for their range of products.

Economic research on farm viability and direct payments published
The Dutch research institute LEI has today published a Defra-funded academic study of farm viability without direct payments, ‘Farm Viability in the European Union’.

Caroline Spelman highlights Defra priorities
Defra Secretary of State Caroline Spelman outlined to Parliament some of the key priorities facing the department yesterday and reaffirmed the Government’s pledge to be the greenest in UK history.

April 2010

• Milk supplements cut piglet mortality
• High-value silage worth the effort
• Fears for SPS delivery as RPA mapping chaos continues
• Link between herd size and calving rates found
• Risk to livestock from volcanic ash 'currently low'
• Industry leaders react to badger cull decision
• Climate Change Plan published today
• Sustainable Living Fund announced
• Icelandic volcano

March 2010

• UN ‘exaggerated’ meat impact on climate change
• Hurdles to tax relief rising for farmers
• Farmers need EU cash to face ‘mind-boggling demands’
• Game farmers slate new welfare code
• Cut-off proposed for historic rights of way claims
• Grants for farm waste power
• Uniting to tackle the blight of litter
• Increasing confidence in 'green' credentials
• Retailers pledge to sell 'greener' TVs
• Co-operative to expand grower partnerships
• Marco Pierre White signs for Bernard Matthews
• TB infections fell in 2009
• Grain prices knock Co-op Farms' profits
• First Milk to close Scottish island creamery
• RSPCA concern over 8000-cow dairy herd
• New steps to improve gamebirds’ welfare
• New defences protect 'flood village'
• A blooming good result for gardeners and biodiverity

February 2010

• Feed cost warning as EU cereal production falls
• Farmers urged to challenge milk buyers
• CCTV cameras to be compulsory in Freedom Food abattoirs
• RPA beats latest Single Payment target
• Fertiliser market report: Prices are creeping up
• Egg producers told their market is safe
• Agricultural inflation on the up
• Peter Kendall pledges to turn optimism into reality
• Weeding out water invaders
• National Ecosystem Assessment update
• Biofuel breakthrough as scientists sequence grass genome
• Badger cull will continue despite research findings
• WFU launches 'look local' campaign
• Grain prices set for double digit rise
• GM crops are winning the PR battle
• Oscar-nominated film on food industry hits screens
• Row erupts over meat and cancer link claims
• Reward for farmers who look after our upland landscapes
• Sustainable pesticides use: consultation launched
• Defra spends £4.7m on empty office space
• DFB management accused of lies and cover-up
• Costly soil directive must be buried – Ashworth
• Welsh feed rules extended as cold snap continues
• 100% British Hovis hits shop shelves
• Scots to test sheep for TSEs without owner's knowledge
• NFU urges Birds Eye to think again on Anglian peas
• Supermarkets face strengthened code of practice
• Recycle your batteries the easy way...

January 2010

• Reforms proposed to reduce risk of disease in animals
• Investing in evidence: new strategy launched
• Sweeter figures from Associated British Foods
• Multi-storey farms 'are the future'
• RPA staff benefit from £1.8m performances bonuses
• Government postpones beak trimming ban
• Irish poultry exports to UK continue to suffer
• Frontier grows profits despite difficult climate
• Dairy aid package won't help UK farmers, say critics
• Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA) found in horses
• New global biodiversity deal - talks underway
• Farmers back Welsh badger cull
• Welsh Country Foods to shed 200 jobs
• February price rise from First Milk
• Kendall faces challenge for leadership of NFU
• Asda price cuts spark fears of retailer wars
• Hilary Benn defends government food strategy
• FCN calls for industry-wide plan to cut farmer poverty
• Supermarket enforcer gets go-ahead
• Lundy Island: England's first Marine Conservation Zone
• Police launch daring air rescue to reach stranded farm
• Soil Association farmers to stop culling bull calves
• Food industry 'too secretive'
• Foreign tankers are loading, not delivering, at Wiseman
• Sheep may benefit from toxoplasmosis check
• Winter weather plays havoc with auction marts
• Snow brings disruption for milk producers
• Consumers: Help secure Britain's food future...
• Where did your leftovers go this Christmas?

December 2009

• Christmas bonus for Dairy Crest producers
• 20,000 farmers in M&S sustainability study
• Agriculture not immune from recession backlash
• RPA meets first formal target six weeks ahead of schedule
• Milk price rise starts to filter through
• Mince sales feel the effect of recession
• Genus bulls found with infectious bovine rhinotracheitis
• Asda 'betrays UK farmers' by importing turkeys
• Hilary Benn calls for an end to deforestation
• Remaining Single Payments to be paid 'as quickly as possible'
• Kendall could face NFU leadership challenge
• New Commissioner to visit Scotland
• Defra to crackdown on misleading labelling
• Savings to be had by cutting carbon hoofprint
• 'Farming's the solution to climate change, not the problem'
• Farmers could keep SFP overpayments
• Fertiliser market report: Nitrogen prices surge pre-Christmas
• 'Swine flu' confirmed in Norfolk pig herd
• 1 in 4 English farmers 'living in poverty'
• RPA pays out majority of Single Payments
• McCartney: I’m not anti-farming
• New water laws could swamp landowners
• Farmer confirmed as head of Natural England
• Floods leave farmland under millions of tonnes of gravel
• Helping communities deal with our changing coastline
• Cross compliance standard suspended to help flood affected farmers in Cumbria

November 2009

• Organic farming has 'profound effect' on climate change
• Welsh farm incomes rise
• Critics slam Government over controversial climate change report
• Goverment report backs reduction in livestock numbers
• New buyer found as miscanthus specialist goes into administration
• Fury after report calls for livestock cuts
• Agency pledge over stewardship
• Flooding in North West England
• Minister welcomes forestry report
• Food production may not be profitable in 2010
• Profits rise at Dairy Crest
• EU bins controversial budget reform plan
• Natural England Upland Vision a fairytale, say tenants
• NFU chiefs face high hurdle to re-election
• Exposed: RPA failings go right to the top
• Marine and Coastal Access Bill receives Royal Assent
• Help your business save money as well as the environment
• Landmark farming agreement launched to protect countryside

October 2009

• Campaign for clearer food labelling
• Eligibility checks cause delays to mapping update
• NI machinery firm in administration
• 'Milk industry well-placed after 15 years of deregulation'
• EU seeks to improve food chain
• RPA loses farmers' bank details
• Rethinking our approach to waste
• Minister calls for action to save threatened species
• Unusual insect enters UK without a passport!
• Energy management funding up for grabs
• Brazil keen to get back into lucrative UK beef market
• Sir Ben Gill defends his position on SPS fiasco
• Government report calls for longer-lived dairy cows
• EID meetings reveal sheep farmers' frustrations
• Crisis: 6000 new entrants needed every year
• Veterans meet Her Majesty the Queen
• Minister urges England to get growing!
• Travellers urged to check UK food importation rules
• Minister dismisses retailers' argument over ombudsman plans
• Exchange rate to boost SPS payments by 15pc
• Early payments begin for Welsh farmers hit by DFB collapse
• One last push on OP issue by NFU director-general
• Support for 2012 ban on cage egg imports grows
• Scots call for EID match funding
• RPA slammed for wasting £680m of public money
• Royal Mail pay dispute disrupts RPA mapping update
• UK announces stronger controls on shark finning
• First Milk board election results
• NFU withholds ‘full support’ from ‘disappointing' TBEG report
• Equipped farm values have fallen argues firm
• CAP vision ‘devastating’ for UK beef and sheep sectors
• UK produces 10% less grain
• Farming is ‘star performer’ for estate incomes
• 'Cheap money' offer to British farming
• TB group sets out eradication plan
• UK lodges official objection to Iceland's continued hunting of endangered whales
• Bees receive £1 million funding boost
• Lamb price dip might be short-lived
• 'Damaging' animal transport proposals back on the agenda
• Wiseman Dairies confident about future profits
• Tenant farmers urged to stand up to bulldozing tactics
• Welcome Single Payment increase with caution, says NFU
• DEFRA rapped by CLA over fly-tipping claim
• Community groups saved from surface water drainage charges
• Coastal path in Weymouth to be completed in time for 2012 Olympics

September 2009

• Defra announces measures to protect British soils
• D-day for pesticides as new EU regulation is put to the vote
• Improvement in dairy and pork labelling needed
• Farmland yields historic treasure hoard
• Dairies play down impact of milk strikes
• US court over turns GM sugar beet approval
• New campaign combats water wastage
• Minister gets stuck in with Muck In4Life
• Safeguarding our soils for the future
• Low returns threaten poultry meat supply
• Natural England powers could be clipped by Tories
• Responsibility and cost sharing takes next steps
• Slaughter tag concessions won in sheep EID battle
• Second farm shut after E coli inspection
• Put farming at the heart of politics, NFU says
• Lower machinery demand hits Agco sales
• Milk anger boils over in Europe
• Britain supports moves to halt over-fishing of bluefin tuna
• UK backs GM approvals overhaul
• EU rules out further changes to EID rules
• Europe split over market support for ailing dairy farmers
• Rain hits harvest in Scotland
• EU dairy farmers opt for milk strike
• Government seeks views on coastal access
• Tories plan to charge farmers for the cost of a badger cull
• Building confidence in recycling
• Landfill research will help cut waste
• Supermarkets struggle to keep GM off the shelves
• Doubts remain over Brazilian beef imports
• Tractor thefts hit record levels in 2008
• Additional TB measures are under consideration
• Maximise sheep profitablitity by breeding from ewe lambs
• Cost savings can overcome tough six months for Arla
• Stewardship changes make ELS easier
• Phasing out of old-style light bulbs starts today
• Funding boost for flood protection

August 2009

• B&Q to sell pigsties as home farmer revolution takes hold
• Welsh Glastir payment scheme comes under attack
• Defra ready to lift restrictions on waterlogged soils
• Spray drift worries low among residents, says NFU
• Malt imports anger Scottish barley growers
• Belgium to miss cage ban deadline
• Scottish fishing industry vital to UK economy
• Food for the future
• Showcasing British foods
• Organic farmers fight back over benefits
• Dairy industry close to meeting environmental targets
• Rain hampers harvest as progress is slow
• Retailers hit out at ombudsman plans
• Irish lack premium payment for quality cattle
• Sexed red-and-white semen from Cogent
• Celebrity chef's campaign set to feature live chicken blog
• Report calls for rethink on farm vet service
• Minister 'mucks in' with the scouts

July 2009

• Farmers urged to take mycotoxins risk assessments seriously
• Defra told to focus on science
• The human cost of bovine TB is revealed
• DEFRA money to help new entrants
• First Milk cuts milk price for DFoB converts
• One-third of coast still off-limits to walkers
• Minister meets world class swimmers at Lake Windermere
• Insect could halt the spread of Japanese Knotweed
• Celebrating our 'diamonds in the landscape'...National Parks
• Carling brings barley growers together
• Dairy industry hits back at welfare critics
• Restricting supermarket development would benefit consumers – CC
• Consumers choose free range eggs on taste and welfare
• Government sets out plans to cut carbon emissions
• DEFRA presses ahead with TB vaccine
• Minister promises Scouts direct action over water charges
• Have you heard about Muck In4Life?
• Could you be the Conservation Volunteering Photographer of the Year?
• Report to help milk producers make informed decisions
• Sainsbury’s extends carbon reduction to meat
• Fitzpatrick urges farmers to play their part in resolving mapping issues
• Vets call for badger culling to control TB
• Auctioneers fined £20k for breaking stock movement rules
• Single payments will be on time, DEFRA vows
• Hilary Benn announces set-aside decision
• Defra at The Royal Show: Responsibility and cost sharing
• Defra at The Royal Show

June 2009

• New Farming Minister is a vegetarian
• DC takes on DFB members at 24.2ppl
• Caws Teifi Cheese wins award
• More FBTs, but a lull nevertheless, says CAAV survey
• Maximise suckler production with good management
• Oilseed rape crop could be well down
• Milk Link pre-tax profits up 14%
• DFoB collapse blamed as producers rush to sell cattle
• Ministerial appointments and responsibilities
• Feed costs set to increase as US soybean price rockets
• Bumblebee rescue mission to help maintain food supplies
• Benn calls for softer EID tagging rules
• Turnip yellow virus threatens oilseed rape
• Tories slam cost of ‘new farm burdens’
• Wheat prices reach season high of £114/t
• Dairy Farmers of Britain in receivership
• Eat Seasonably campaign launched

May 2009

• Commissioner open to suggestions on milk sector policy