Inaccurate coverage of Environment Agency investigation at Lake Windermere
Today we are looking at inaccurate coverage of the Environment Agency's involvement in a pollution incident at Bowness-on-Windermere.
Updated: Wed May 15 2024
Funding available for nutrient management solutions
Through the £15 million Nutrient Management competition, we're offering funding to develop solutions which address the challenges related to nutrient management in soils and water associated with agricultural livestock and crop production. In this post, I'll share links to the guidance so you can prepare for the competition opening on 29 May.
Updated: Tue May 14 2024
Changes to permitted development rights
We want to make it easier for farmers to strengthen their businesses. To that end, several changes to permitted development rights are coming into effect from 21 May.
Updated: Fri May 10 2024
Coverage of Defra's Response to Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain
There has been widespread media coverage following our announcement of new measures to address labour shortages in the food supply chain. The news was reported by publications including The Telegraph, Farmers Guardian, Farmers Weekly, Horticulture Week, The Grocer and Farming UK.
Updated: Thu May 09 2024
Coverage of Bluetongue virus risk
There has been widespread coverage of our announcement that there is a very high probability of a new introduction of bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3) into livestock in Great Britain this year. This was reported by publications including BBC ...
Updated: Wed May 08 2024
Avian Influenza in US cattle
In today's blog we look at media coverage of highly pathogenic avian influenza in dairy cattle in the United States.
Updated: Fri Apr 26 2024
Coverage about the cost of new border checks
Today's blog outlines the government response to recent coverage on the potential cost of new border checks
Updated: Fri Apr 26 2024
FiPL spotlight: the Central Dartmoor Farm Cluster
In the latest Farming in Protected Landscape (FiPL) project spotlight, I shine a light on the work of the Central Dartmoor Farm Cluster.
Updated: Tue Apr 23 2024
Coverage of the UK-wide ban on wet wipes containing plastic
There has been coverage, including in the Telegraph, Sky News, The Independent, Daily Mail, The Times and The Mirror of the publication of the government response to our consultation on a ban on plastic-containing wet wipes. Today's announcement sets out the next steps to ban the sale and supply of wet wipes containing plastic across the UK.
Updated: Mon Apr 22 2024
Coverage about upcoming border checks
Today's blog outlines the government response to recent inaccurate coverage on upcoming border checks
Updated: Fri Apr 19 2024
Webinar follow up: uplands
On Wednesday 27 March, we held a webinar on the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) schemes for upland farmers. In this post, we summarise what we covered and include links for you to learn more.
Updated: Mon Apr 15 2024
Trees and biodiversity net gain on small sites
Amanda Newsome, Biodiversity Net Gain Advisor and Jim Smith, Urban Forestry Advisor at the Forestry Commission explore how integrating trees into new developments can contribute towards delivering biodiversity net gain.
Updated: Thu Apr 11 2024
Farming rules for water: The importance of Nutrient Management Planning in farming
Following last week's blog about soil testing, we're now looking at another area where we often find issues during a farm inspection - nutrient management planning. Around 30% of farms we inspected last year weren't able to provide evidence of ...
Updated: Wed Apr 10 2024
Tools and information to support the delivery of nutrient mitigation published
We are pleased to share a couple of products published to support the delivery of nutrient mitigation schemes across the country. These include our improved Nutrient Neutrality Budget Calculators and a page of technical Information on Nature-Based Solutions as Nutrient ...
Updated: Mon Apr 08 2024
Biodiversity Net Gain: guest insights on planning BNG for small sites
Welcome to our Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) guest blog, featuring industry experts sharing their top tips. They are: Julia Baker, Technical Director, Nature Services, Mott MacDonald Isabelle Carter, Regional Director and Landscape Architect, Stride Treglown Emma Toovey, Chief Ecology Officer, ...
Updated: Thu Apr 04 2024
The publication of the Common User Charge rates
Today we look at coverage following the government's publication of the Common User Charge rates and guidance
Updated: Thu Apr 04 2024
Beware the criminals lurking online
The modern way to find many of the services, trades, and products we need to buy is to look online. It's quick, easy and you can do it from the comfort of your own home. But it is a minefield ...
Updated: Wed Apr 03 2024
Defra's response to coverage on Thames Water
Today's blog covers Defra's response to media coverage on Thames Water.
Updated: Thu Mar 28 2024
Why we're putting area limits on some SFI actions
Since we opened the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for applications, we've continued to refine the scheme. One of the things we've been monitoring is the impact of those actions which take land out of food production. In this post, we'll explain why we're putting area limits on some SFI actions.
Updated: Thu Mar 28 2024
Animal Health and Welfare grants now available
You can now apply for an Animal Health and Welfare grant through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2024. These grants go towards the cost of items on a list that support animal health and welfare. We developed the list with farmers, vets and other experts. There are over 130 items on the list and 29 are new for this round. You'll see a range of items: from mobile cattle handling systems to enclosed piglet creeps to poultry perches. If you're a livestock farmer, it's worth taking a look.
Updated: Wed Mar 20 2024
Farming Equipment and Technology Fund: improving productivity and slurry management grants available
I am pleased to say you can now apply for a productivity and slurry management grant through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF). In this post, I'll set out the process to apply, links to the guidance and details of an upcoming webinar to learn more.
Updated: Wed Mar 13 2024
Coverage of fairer labelling consultation launch
Today we are looking at coverage following the launch of our fairer food labelling consultation.
Updated: Tue Mar 12 2024
Careers in Forestry: Mark's story
This National Careers Week, Mark West from the Green Task Force looks back at his career so far, and how he made the change from 12 years in uniformed service to working in forestry and conservation.
Updated: Wed Mar 06 2024
Harnessing the hidden power of restored saltmarshes for carbon capture
A recent collaboration involving the Environment Agency, the environmental consultancy Jacobs and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) is shining a light on the role of restored saltmarshes in storing blue carbon - carbon captured by the oceans and coastal ecosystems. The ...
Updated: Fri Mar 01 2024
Strengthening Sri Lanka's preparedness to respond to oiled wildlife emergencies
Written by Jamie Small, from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), on behalf of JNCC and Cefas, The UK government's Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) team share updates on oiled wildlife response training recently delivered in Sri Lanka. JNCC and ...
Updated: Thu Feb 29 2024