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.

Fears of “enormous economic consequences” for the livestock industry have been raised as tests indicate the virus strain in the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak is the same as that which infected two herds last month.

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.

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.

Experts were tonight probing whether the recent floods in England may be behind the foot and mouth outbreak, as the battle to contain the disease continued.

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

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