Business News

UK potato and vegetable handling equipment manufacturer Tong Engineering is celebrating 50 years of vegetable grading screen manufacture this month.

As lockdown restrictions continue to ease across the UK, more and more people are venturing into the great outdoors to enjoy some fresh air and get their daily dose of exercise. But for farmers, this can mean an influx of strangers walking across their land. 

Join the Rural Business Network online on Thursday 16th July at 7pm for their Planning and Development event.

A website created to help farmers find fruit and veg pickers in the Covid-19 crisis, which has resulted in a shortage of overseas workers, has now registered 25,000 people.

Over the past two months, the UK’s largest food and farming scheme has seen 6,300 members complete remote assessments on farm.

NFUS is in discussion with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) on the importance of access to driving tests for the agricultural workforce, particularly in the run up to harvest.

The second year of a campaign by the British levy bodies has succeeded in reaching 17 million people, helping to bring a more balanced perspective to public discussion around the health properties of red meat.

Trade secretary Liz Truss has announced that, after months of campaigning from farming groups, the government will set up a Trade and Agriculture Commission to help inform trade policy.

A global survey of large scale farmers in the USA, France, China, Brazil, India and across Africa for Syngenta Group found 72% are worried about the impact climate change will have on crop yields, animal health and their ability to do business over the next five years.

Breeders Limagrain UK have run a short and fun online quiz to find out what British farmers really know about their wheat markets and varieties.

New Waitrose boss James Bailey has said the retailer will not stock lower quality food imports such as chlorinated chicken or hormone-injected beef, even if the UK strikes a trade deal that allows such imports.

The UK Government has launched a consultation to find out whether new regulations could help to ensure dairy farmers are treated fairly, which the NFU is describing as a “once in a lifetime opportunity to build a better future for the UK dairy sector”.