Shropshire farmer fined £16,000 for environmental offences
On 16 April 2018, Telford Magistrates’ Court fined the 55 year-old £16,000 and ordered him to pay £20,000 in costs, along with a £170 victim surcharge. The charges were brought by the Environment Agency under the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2008 and Sections 24(1) and (4) of the Water Resources Act 1991. The Environment Agency […]
Environmental policy and food production must go hand in hand
Farming and the environment must go hand-in-hand and producing quality, home-grown food is critical to the future of the country, say’s the NFU. It follows publication this morning of the Government’s 25 year Environment Plan. Theresa May revealed details of the long-awaited and wide-ranging 150-page strategy during a keynote speech in south-west London. Farmers manage […]
Gove: Tree planting rates have not been good enough
Environment Secretary Michael Gove has given a strong indication that the Government’s 25 year plan for the environment, due in the New Year, will tackle the issue of woefully low tree planting. Speaking at the Woodland Trust’s parliamentary launch on Wednesday (December 6) of a series of essays outlining its vision for a post Brexit […]
Severn Trent reopens Environmental Grants Scheme for farmers
Farmers in the Midlands are being given another opportunity to apply for a grant from Severn Trent to help them to protect local watercourses from pollution. The ‘Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme’ (STEPS), which is solely funded by the water company, supports farmers in making improvements to their farm management and infrastructure, reducing the risk […]
New Forest organisations call on Government to support commoners, Verderers, farmers and landowners in ‘Green Brexit’
New Forest organisations presented Defra Minister Lord Gardiner with a paper outlining how future agricultural schemes could protect the unique Forest environment. They have put the case for a locally managed and led support scheme to be put in place post 2020 to build on how commoners, Verderers and landowners already work together to protect […]
Bee groups embrace new EU partnership: trust is the key
Beekeepers, scientists, policy-makers and other relevant parties are to set up a European bee partnership that could transform the way bee health is assessed in the EU. The pledge was the main outcome of a major scientific meeting held in Brussels yesterday entitled “Towards a European Bee Partnership” that was attended by more than 120 […]
Farm-bound sludge teems with tiny plastic fibres
An astonishing 700,000 microfibres – threads of plastic the size of an ant’s leg – leach out of an average 6kg wash of acrylic clothing. And research by Brunel University London shows this plastic pollution has travelled at least as far as Britain’s farms. The team behind BBC’s Countryfile, one of the nation’s most popular […]
ADA backs internal drainage boards’ local governance of water level management
ADA firmly believes that internal drainage boards continue to provide a robust arrangement for the local governance of water level management in England following the publication of the National Audit Office’s (NAO) report on internal drainage boards. The report focuses on governance and oversight arrangements; processes for raising concerns; and, the potential for conflicts of […]
LEAF’s Global Impacts report reveals sustainable farming progress
LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) has announced substantial progress in its mission to inspire and enable sustainable farming. Launching its fifth Global Impacts Report at today’s LEAF Marque Summit, it revealed that it is continuing to consolidate its strong position in the cereals and horticulture sectors and that progress is also being seen in the […]
