agricultural matters

One woman’s Facebook group has had a huge impact on helping tackle loneliness and isolation in the countryside and made her a heroine to thousands of women across the UK. Chloe Williams, founder of the Facebook group ‘The Crazy Life of a Farmer’s Wife’ knows all too well what it can be like to...

Rural broadband Mr Hammond announced in the budget a significant £200 million investment in piloting new solutions to deploy full fibre internet in rural areas which many have welcomed. “Although this is a great outcome, it’s vital that this is not a one-off investment and it must be part of...

The latest government figures show that the number of people starting an apprenticeship has continued to fall since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in April 2017. There was 369,700 apprenticeship starts between August 2017 and July 2018, covering the 2017/18 academic year. This...

Have your say on the reintroduction of Lynx to the UK by completing a new survey by researchers at the University of Oxford. www.biologysurveys.wixsite.com/lynxsurvey The Lynx UK Trust has recently claimed that it is now a ‘near certainty’ that Lynx will be reintroduced into the wild in the UK...

Consumers tucking into sun-dried tomatoes at a picnic during the summer’s heatwave probably gave little thought as to how that food went from farm to fork. But those in the food industry know only too well that processors, manufacturers and wholesalers supplying supermarkets and restaurants are...

The old lambing shed at Mosley Hall farm now plays home to a state-of-the-art farm shop and café with an in-house deli and butchers. The desire to diversify to help supplement the farm business, providing an additional income as well as more jobs for family members, has seen the creation of a...

Being in the right place at the right time, has contributed to the success of Pembrokeshire BioEnergy, however there is no denying that Paul and Emma Ratcliffe have worked hard and spotted opportunities to get to where they are today. The couple were farming beef, sheep and arable, alongside...

The decision to move away from milking cows was not an easy one for Tim and Marnie Dobson. However, the change in direction has initiated a ‘brakes-off’ approach and allowed the family to embrace new opportunities. Having been involved in the dairy industry for 50 years as tenant farmers, it...

The application window for the next round of the Countryside Productivity Small Grant Scheme (CPSGS) will now be early 2019, following talks that the funding would return this autumn. However, the government has committed £30 million for further rounds of the funding which helps farmers buy the...

Farm diversification to find new income streams should be an important consideration amid the uncertainties of Brexit was the key message from The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) Diversification Demystified seminar. More than 100 landowners and rural businesses across East Anglia...

Dairy farmers’ profits recovered in 2017/18 as milk prices returned to more sustainable levels – but the outlook for 2018/19 is far less buoyant. A recent survey by accountants and financial planners Old Mill has revealed that Old Mill and Farm Consultancy Group (FCG) clients made a profit from...

The deadline for Welsh farmers to express interest in the Farm Business Grant (FBG) has been extended. Designed to encourage efficiency among the agricultural industry by covering capital investments in equipment and machinery, the grant application window will now close on 26 October 2018 as...

A new partnership between the NFU, CLA and Openreach could help close the digital divide and speed-up rollout of superfast broadband among rural areas. Access to superfast rural broadband will be generated through a newly negotiated fixed line broadband wayleave agreement and Memorandum of...

Defra statistics reveal strong growth in the poultry sector as a record 785 million chick and poult placings were made in the eight months to August 2018. It is the first time the 750 million figure has been broken in an eight-month timeframe and marks a rise of 5% on the same period a year...

A new banking partnership has been established to support farmers who are struggling to obtain funding for urgent or complicated projects. UK Agricultural Finance and NatWest, two suppliers listed on The Business Barn MarketPlace, have joined forces in the first partnership of its kind, to...

Farming Charity R.A.B.I (The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution) has announced the appointment of Alicia Chivers as its new chief executive from November 2018. A qualified chartered accountant from a farming family, Alicia is currently the CEO of the RAF Central Fund, a charity providing...

Hello, I have been in quite the predicament lately. My uncle owns a fairly large 2,000 acre row crop farm here in the states, and he only has one child. His daughter left to go live in the city with her husband, and wants nothing to do with the farm life. My aunt doesn't know what my uncle is...

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