The first pilot badger control operations have begun in the UK, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said today.

A High Court judge in England has made an order aimed at stopping farmers involved in badger culls being harassed and abused.

Staff at SouthWestern’s base in Clonakilty, Co Cork, are to develop a database for sheep, goats, and deer in England as part of a €7m five-year state contract.

British dairy farmers are being pushed to the brink by the latest cuts to the price they are paid for their milk, farming leaders warned as more than 2,500 farmers gathered in London to protest against the cuts.

Europe’s farmers will still get hefty subsidies under plans unveiled by the European Commission today for a “greener, fairer, more efficient” Common Agricultural Policy.

TIGHTER cattle supplies across Britain and in Ireland will drive on beef prices in 2010, it was claimed yesterday.

No legal action can be taken against the animal health laboratories at the centre of last summer’s foot and mouth outbreak, Surrey County Council in England said today.

Farming in the UK was tonight dealt a fresh blow after vets confirmed bird flu in a flock of free-range turkeys.

The farming industry was dealt another blow tonight as a new case of bird flu was discovered in turkeys.

More supermarkets could be opened in some areas of the UK under proposals outlined today by the UK's Competition Commission to help give shoppers more choice.

The British Competition Commission today said shoppers needed more supermarkets in some areas as it outlined plans to overhaul planning rules and force grocers to sell some of their land banks.

A competition watchdog in the UK is expected to outline plans today for the appointment of an independent ombudsman to protect supermarket suppliers.

British government vets were carrying out tests today after suspected foot-and-mouth disease was found in East Sussex, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.

Tests on animals slaughtered in the two most recent cases of foot and mouth indicate they were infected at the time the UK was declared clear of the disease by officials, it was revealed today.

Britain’s farmers were urged to remain watchful tonight as the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak appeared to be contained.

The remaining restrictions on livestock imposed in the wake of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK will be lifted today after experts declared the disease had been eradicated.

The recent foot and mouth outbreak in the UK could have been caused by faulty drainage pipes at the nearby Pirbright laboratories or spread by construction workers from the site, it was reported today.

Hopes that the foot and mouth outbreak had been contained were dealt a blow today after a new suspected case of the virulent virus was discovered.

A suspected case of Legionnaires’ disease with alleged links to the Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright in the UK is under investigation tonight.

Farmers in the UK are attempting to get back to work today after restrictions on the movement of animals in the wake of the foot and mouth outbreak were relaxed.

Scottish investors buying to claim farm subsidies

FARMERS can help tackle global warming by doing everything from supplying wool for home insulation and growing energy crops to making breeze blocks out of hemp or producing biomass for heat and power, British Tory leader David Cameron said yesterday.

BRITISH farmers will seek compensation for growers unable to grow sugar beet due to the planned closure of two refineries in north and central England, a senior grower said on Tuesday.

THE reform of the European Union sugar regime led to an exchange between World Trade Organisation (WTO) director general Pascal Lamy and former Food Minister Ned O’Keeffe at an OECD globalisation forum in Paris.

The British government tonight accepted making mistakes in its handling of last year’s foot-and-mouth crisis - as the last of three reports into the outbreak was published.

Ministers and farming leaders have welcomed the European Commission’s 15-day deadline for France to lift its ban on British beef.

An independent inquiry into the foot-and-mouth crisis in the British county worst-hit by the disease was due to begin today.

The Ministry of Agriculture in Britain has denied it was planning a big increase in the foot-and-mouth slaughter regime, after Tory leader William Hague suggested details of a new cull were being held back until after the election.

The British Government should authorise voluntary, targeted vaccination in the effort to combat foot-and-mouth, a coalition of groups has urged.