FSA charges are currently discounted according to the number of hours involved so that smaller abattoir businesses, which require fewer hours regulation, receive a greater discount

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said the union's response covers ‘some of the benefits' which farm assurance schemes provides, but it also covers the ‘inescapable issues' that must be addressed

The chair of Labour's Climate and Environment Forum Baroness Young said she hoped the ‘multi-functional' land use framework would be operationally ‘sustainable'

Defra estimated an ASF outbreak could cost the UK between £10 million to £100 million

This marks The Crown Estate's first acquisition of a rural estate since 2014, and is part of its new rural strategy to create ‘long-term value for the industry'

Tenant Farmers Association chief executive George Dunn said it was a ‘huge frustration' that after years of ‘financial mismanagement' by Peterborough City Council it has decided to get rid of a ‘significant area' of its farms estate

Ten dairy farmers in Dumfries and Galloway and two in Ayrshire have been given 12 months' notice

Mr Ireland also said clauses in tenancy agreements for ‘agricultural use only' must change as they do not fit with the ‘entrepreneurial' ambition of tenants

NFU president Tom Bradshaw warned the Farming Minister that in light of the £358 million pound underspend of the farming budget, Defra was a department ‘very close to failure' if it was not careful

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Climate Change Huw Irranca-Davies said: "What we are doing is bringing forward a scheme that is right and accessible to all farmers, in order to do that we need lock the doors, bury ourselves away, and crunch through some serious matters"