The largest farming group in the country is to coordinate a national response to cover for farmers who fall ill or have to self-isolate during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cork North had highest number of positive tests for bovine disease.

Here is a selection of people who have begun new roles with companies and organisations in Ireland, including OneLogin, 3Sixty, Philip Lee, Learning Pool, Irish Farmers’ Association and Cork County Council

Exports of Irish food, drinks and horticulture grew to a record €13bn in 2019, capping a decade of extraordinary growth with exports increasing by 67% or €5.5bn, from the 2010 levels.

Retailer Aldi has said it is “extremely disappointed” that farmers have protested at its distribution centre in Co Kildare - but demonstrators have warned the picket is the first of many to come.

Farmers will see an immediate increase in the price they receive for their cattle following a deal with meat producers.

Tensions between protesting beef farmers and meat producers have escalated after an industry body said its members will seek legal action against the farmers who have been picketing outside factories causing significant production problems and layoffs.

A progressive budget that supports farmers to develop sustainably was sought yesterday by the Irish Farmers’ Association.

In an increasingly uncertain world, the idea of permanence is ephemeral; bedrock can begin to seem like sand. Change is accelerating and to survive we must adapt.

The Agriculture Minister has denied he has pulled the wool over farmers’ eyes in announcing a €100m Brexit beef fund.

The publication of the Government’s Climate Action Plan comes at the same time as the EU Commission is pushing hard to complete a South American trade deal.

A simplification of some of the requirements of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme, in relation to the eligibility of stock bulls, has been welcomed by the Irish Farmers’ Association.

Farmers, road users, and machinery contractors are being urged to take extra care on the roads and in the fields and farmyards as silage cutting season continues and the school holidays begin.

Distance in today’s world erects no barriers to the spread of contagion, which is why Agriculture Minister Michael Creed and the president of the Irish Farmers’ Association have issued warnings about the westward path of African swine fever, an infection that threatens no harm to humans but which kills pigs and wild boar.

The farm lobby has gone on high alert amid rising fears that the European Union could reach a deal with the Mercosur group of South American countries in the coming months.

The declaration that there is a climate emergency must lead to Government action campaigners and opposition politicians have said.

Philip O’Leary, managing partner of Cork law firm FitzGerald Legal & Advisory, has been appointed as a board member to the Irish Banking Culture Board (IBCB), funded by Ireland’s five main retail banks with the aim of rebuilding trust in the sector.

Tedium brings great vulnerability; a wavering, easily-broken concentration means important decisions can be made or, worse, neglected as we daydream.

Agriculture minister Michael Creed has promised farmers a “substantial” aid package if they suffer losses as a result of new UK tariffs under a no-deal Brexit.

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said the imposition of tariffs as outlined by UK proposals in a no-deal Brexit would put Irish farmers in a “vulnerable position”, threatening the Irish beef sector and seriously damaging the country’s agri-food exports.

Outlining unpleasant-looking tariffs that will cost Irish farmers dearly could cause the alliance between Ireland the other EU member states to creak a little, says Noel Baker.

Farming is “in danger of running off a cliff edge” and dying out unless drastic action is taken to entice young people to enter the sector.

Farming families are being “preyed upon” by so-called vulture funds who are “killing off farm businesses”, while small businesses are being intimidated into silence, according to bodies representing the sectors.

Some €1.5bn worth of so-called “warehoused mortgages” — where some regular payments are agreed and the rest of the sum is parked to the end of the term — will become the next controversy involving Irish customers.

The Agriculture Minister has been accused by farm organisations of failing to grasp the enormity of the fodder crisis, and they warn that immediate supports are needed to stave off another emergency.

Farmers fear the UK’s plans for Brexit could lead to international trade deals that would undercut prices and “destroy the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Irish family farmers”.

Imagine if the drought went on all summer? I think that’s the worry which is niggling at many of us.

EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan has moved to reassure Irish farmers amid concerns over the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Carbon taxes, an end of subsidies for peat extraction, and a tax on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are some of the recommendations made by the Citizens’ Assembly.

Farmers have welcomed a beef deal with China which will open up a multimillion-euro market to Irish producers.

Rose Martin discusses a new scheme that offers help to rural dwellers living on local and private roads before looking further afield at an interesting incentive to revive a dying mountaintop town in Sardinia, Italy

Medics at Cork University Hospital have raised concerns about the lack of mandatory safety training for farmers.

The Government recouped just €3.2m from the sale of more than 40 Garda stations, a total described as “derisory”.

It was a one-day event, with lifelong consequences for the families of its three victims, and ongoing ramifications for households, schools, transport, businesses, the health service, forestry, and farming.