TWO of the country’s leading food company chief executives, Owen Killian of IAWS and John Moloney of Glanbia, will be among the speakers at the Agricultural Science Association (ASA) annual conference in Trim, Co Meath, on September 14.

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.

EU rural development funding is unlikely to be cleared for spending by member states before the Council of Agriculture Ministers on March 19 and 20.

The Netherlands and France are expected today to be given EU permission to start vaccinating poultry flocks against bird flu.

A panel of European Union veterinary experts today debated the merit of letting governments vaccinate poultry to prevent bird flu from infecting commercial poultry stocks.

THE arrival of bird flu in the EU prompted governments yesterday to bolster their defences against the deadly H5N1 virus as farmers braced for a plunge in the €20 billion poultry industry.

Euro MPs overwhelmingly backed plans today to save the lives of thousands of dolphins and porpoises trapped in fishing nets every year.