ICEP Community News

Wheat prices offer profit opportunity
THE message to farmers is loud and clear: A decent profit is attainable from the current wheat prices and growers should sell forward what they can.

£2 million helmet sparks farmland treasure hunt
THE Country Land and Business Association is warning landowners to prepare for an increase in metal detecting enthusiasts following the £2 million sale at auction of the Crosby Garrett Roman helmet, found on farmland in Cumbria in May.

CIWF protests at planned delay to beak trimming ban
Animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming is urging DEFRA not to extend the scheduled deadline for banning beak trimming in young poultry beyond 1 January 2011.

New assurance scheme for Dairy Crest suppliers
Dairy Crest has launched its own assurance scheme to recognise the animal welfare and environmental credentials of its milk suppliers.

Ukraine sets grain export quotas
Confirmation that Ukraine will limit maize, wheat and barley exports for the rest of 2010 came yesterday (7 October) and helped keep London November wheat futures around £157/t by late afternoon.

New research project to tackle water pollution from agriculture
Farmers are getting involved in one of the largest studies of its kind to establish the best ways of halting water pollution from agriculture.

Major flooding exercise to test emergency response in England and Wales
A large-scale emergency flood exercise will take place across England and Wales to test national and regional responses to severe flooding from rivers, the sea, reservoirs, groundwater and surface water.

400 teachers for amateur beekeepers
Britain’s backyard beekeepers are to be helped to avoid the problem of winter bee deaths by 400 Government-backed volunteer teachers.

June 2010

• David Bellamy praises farmers
• Britain on course for new bluetongue status
• ‘Unsustainable’ livestock industry under attack
• Second super-dairy planned for Lincolnshire
• Farming must win over public to justify CAP
• VIDEO: Filmmaker chronicles lives of young farmers
• Fish for Life wins prestigious award for Youngs
• Economic research on farm viability and direct payments published
• Caroline Spelman highlights Defra priorities

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