Co-op umbrella group ICOS says the meat factories and large retail multiples have usurped free trade in the way they apply beef labelling regulations, a claim rejected by meat factory group Meat Industry Ireland.

Culling of thousands of ducks at a farm operated by the UK’s largest producer of duck products is expected to begin today after a bird flu outbreak.

Tony McCoy admits it will be a relief to bag his 4,000th winner as he moved to within one of the landmark total by steering Minella For Steak to victory at Chepstow yesterday.

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

A leading food expert has warned that the British Government cannot be sure that there is no risk to public health from beefburgers contaminated with horse DNA.

Waterford-based Dawn Meats has received a ringing endorsement at the recent Marks & Spencer Food Supplier Conference when it was given an award for ‘doing the right thing’.

Last week I went on a mission to Wales to attend the Royal Welsh Show.

Nearly 3,000 dairy farmers attended the recent SOS Milk Summit in London to express their frustration and anger over milk prices.

British dairy farmers and processing firms have struck a deal “in principle” to end the bitter stalemate over milk prices.

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.

RISING world demand, climate change and energy security have combined to make agriculture a strategically important industry once again.

Europe’s agriculture commissioner lost her cool this afternoon over claims that EU farm subsidies are being handed out to golf clubs and riding stables in the UK.

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

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.

The era of cheap food will soon be over, farmers warned British consumers today.

The European Union said today it sees no immediate need to tighten its rules for controlling the spread of bird flu, despite reports that an outbreak in eastern England may have been caused by turkeys imported from Hungary.

Farmers and suppliers may have been intimidated into silence over practices in the supermarket sector, an official report suggested today.

CLIMATE change will have a major impact on farming in the years ahead, British and Irish agri-leaders have warned.

BRITISH SUGAR is building a processing plant in Norfolk that will use sugar beet and other feedstocks to produce biofuels.

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.

TURKEY farmers in the UK successfully drummed up demand for their birds this year through a website set up by the National Farmer’s Union (NFU).

THERE is no market justification for the current round of price cuts being imposed by the meat processors, livestock leaders from Ireland and Britain claimed at the Royal Show in Wales.

A SWAN which died of bird flu has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, the Scottish Executive confirmed yesterday.

IFA has played down fears of farmers being weaned off Brussels funding and left depending on national finances.

THE renewable energy sector provides a remarkable opportunity for farmers and rural communities alike, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) has claimed.

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

Farmers’ leaders today called the BBC ‘‘irresponsible’’ for screening the thriller Fields of Gold which dealt with the issue of genetically modified crops.

Eco-terrorists may be behind the rash of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks across the globe, Britain’s farmers leader warned today.

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

Tony Blair has ordered a series of moves to try to speed up the Government's response to the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The British Government is facing further calls to abandon plans for a mass slaughter of healthy animals which may have come into contact with foot-and-mouth disease.

Britain's farming industry faces months of torture as the toll from foot-and-mouth disease continues to rise.

Farmers are preparing for the foot and mouth crisis to spread further after the disease took hold in two new counties.

The National Farmers' Union in England have appealed for racing not to resume tomorrow.

Farmers in south west England are to learn whether the outbreak of foot and mouth disease has spread across the region from a Devon farm where it has been confirmed.