Author Posts: Farmers Guide

The government revealed additional funding will go towards helping farmers better manage slurry storage and store and use water more efficiently as part of the new Plan for Water announced yesterday (4th April).

At a conference hosted by Scrutton Bland earlier this year, Kerriann McLackland from the Environment Bank talked about the various ways farmers can capitalise on creating and selling biodiversity net gain (BNG) units to developers, while still receiving income from BPS and environmental schemes.

A seasonal study, carried out on Islay as part of the RHASS Presidential Initiative (PI), has demonstrated that treating livestock ‘as little as possible, but as much as necessary’ for liver fluke can deliver a multitude of benefits for both animal and environmental health.

New modelling work indicates that the inclusion of the multi-site fungicide, folpet, can more than double the effective life of fungicide treatment programmes containing ‘at risk’ single site modes of action.

Jan-Hendrik Mohr has been appointed as the new CEO of CLAAS with effect from 1st April 2023. The incumbent CEO Thomas Böck had decided to step down as CEO to pursue new endeavours. Shareholders and the Group Executive Board have acknowledged this decision with deep regret. They were able to find an experienced successor in Jan-Hendrik Mohr.  

Montrose daffodil and potato farmer Willie Officer is seeing the results five years on from hosting Farming For A Better Climate (FFBC)’s pilot project. Taking a more environmental approach to some on-farm practices he has seen crop management improve and costs reduce.

Farmers are being reminded of the risk of botulism after the disease was found to be the culprit behind the sudden death of over 100 dairy cows at a Jersey farm in December 2022.

The Royal Bath & West Society have introduced a Farm Vet of the Future Award, which seeks to recognise and celebrate the next generation of farm vets.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) confirmed it has achieved the target of reducing operational costs by £7.8m by the end of the 2022/23 tax year, saving a total of £8.5m in a bid to offer better value for levy payers.

An unnamed processor currently under investigation by the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit (NFCA) has allegedly been passing up to tens of thousands of tonnes of imported pork per week as British in what is possibly the biggest food fraud and safety scandal since Horsegate in 2013.

The Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) stands firm in its commitment that the Royal Highland Show (RHS) will continue to showcase the best in Scottish agriculture, despite a call by PETA for the award-winning four-day event to become exclusively vegan.

Farmers Guide is deeply saddened to announce the sudden passing of company owner Andrew Guest. Liz Birch, who worked alongside Andrew and knew him well shares some fond words.