It is 20 years since fox hunting was banned by Tony Blair’s Government. Since then, those who enjoyed the sport have adapted to trail hunting instead. That is where a trail is laid across countryside for hounds and horse riders to follow. There is no kill at the end. However animal rights campaigners say trail hunting is a smokescreen for real hunting...

It's party conference season and Farming Today will be covering the three main conferences. This week, the Liberal Democrats meet in Brighton. Their relative success in the recent General Election has given them a boost, and many of their new constituencies gained this summer are in rural areas. The big question is budget. Before the election the Liberal...

Britain’s declining wild bird populations will only recover if more farmland is set aside for conservation, says the RSPB.A legal challenge to a new forest on a vast moorland in the Scottish Borders has forced its owners to stop planting. As the Met Office predicts another autumn and winter of destructive floods, a number of flood defences in England...

DEFRA has confirmed there has been a £358 million underspend of the agricultural budget over the last three years. It follows unconfirmed reports in the press that the new Government plans to cut the future budget by £100m a year. So what would that mean for farming businesses and the environment?We visit the 225th Westmorland County Show to see the...

More than 50 minke whales and basking sharks get tangled up in fishing gear around the Scottish coast each year. We hear about efforts to stop it from happening. The fishing industry wants the Government to negotiate a better deal for fishing for cod in Norwegian waters.With energy prices rising this Autumn, the ability to generate your own power is...

Small livestock farms are most at threat from cuts to the agriculture budget yet are in areas of the country that we most need to invest in, for nature, climate and public access; that’s according to environmental thinktank the Green Alliance.Caz Graham visits the Westmorland County Show, just outside Kendal in Cumbria, to discuss sheep, cheese and...