IN JULY of last year, as the Fianna Fáil-Green coalition struggled desperately to address the gaping hole in the public finances, it decided to cut back heavily on infrastructure projects in order to save some money.

IFA president John Bryan has called on Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to reject the flat rate direct payments model proposed in a leaked EU draft document.

THE German food scare has cost Continental farmers more than €300m per week, according to fresh produce industry estimates.

I WISH to correct a number of erroneous statements attributed to Senator Paudie Coffey throughout the article headlined “Oak forests at risk from ‘killer tree fungus’ ” (August 25).

MINISTER for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith, has welcomed the decision by the Russian authorities, to raise the age-limit above which slaughtered animals must be tested for BSE from 30 months to 48 months, in respect of exports of beef from Ireland to Russia.

AGRICULTURE and its value to the European and national economy, in terms of employment and exports, have been included in the new EU 10-year strategy for growth and jobs.

AGRICULTURE Minister Brendan Smith recently announced grant aid of €16.7 million for 66 enterprises, from his department’s Marketing and Processing Scheme.

China’s Agriculture Ministry has confirmed a suspected outbreak of H5N1 bird flu among ducks in southern China, Hong Kong’s health secretary said today.

Japan has agreed to lift its ban on US beef imports after lengthy negotiations, pending inspections of US meat processing plants, an Agriculture Ministry official said today.

A new €4bn European Fisheries Fund was agreed today at a meeting of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers in Luxembourg.

A health official said today that a local laboratory confirmed bird flu in dead fowl in Georgia.

Supermarkets are passing off imported meat and vegetables as Irish goods because of loopholes in the law, it was claimed today.

Dublin TD Sean Haughey may quit politics if he is not promised a future promotion, it emerged today.

Health authorities in Nigeria today prepared to screen dozens of people who worked on a farm hit by a deadly bird flu strain, amid fears the virus may have for the first time in Africa spread to humans.

A bird-flu outbreak has killed 545 chickens and ducks in a village in central China in the country’s third case of the disease in two weeks, the government announced today.

Croatia tonight confirmed the country’s first cases of bird flu, with six swans testing positive for the H5 type, the Agriculture Ministry said.

AS FEARS grow of bird flu spreading to Europe, Department of Agriculture vets have said that the risk to Ireland remains low and they are monitoring poultry closely.

AGRICULTURE ministers from Ireland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia told EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel this week that her sugar plan would cost thousands of jobs and devastate farmers and processors.

Thousands of red locusts swarmed into southern Israel today, threatening the region’s agriculture with a biblical-like plague.

The United States is suspending imports of French meat such as cold cuts and foie gras because of food safety concerns, France’s Agriculture Ministry said tonight.

China’s vast size and its developing disease reporting systems have made it “weak and vulnerable” against bird flu, a top Chinese official said today, while Thailand reported two new suspected human cases of the deadly virus.

The Department of Agriculture has received a quality award.

Eight people, including an EU official, have been detained in an investigation into possible corruption at the European Union’s agriculture department, Belgian authorities announced.

The crisis over foot-and-mouth in the North has again deepened with news that animals on a farm in the Co Antrim village of Newtown-Crommelin are being slaughtered.

Bankruptcy loomed for tourism interests close to the Irish border today as the slaughter of farm animals was intensified following confirmation of foot-and-mouth disease in Co Louth.

Passengers arriving from Britain at any Portuguese airport or port will have to disinfect their shoes as a precaution against foot-and-mouth disease.