Rural News

A robin is not just for Christmas and it is infact a far more interesting bird to see around Eastertide.

A specially commissioned giant installation, created by Whitby-based sculptor Emma Stothard, is set to be revealed at this summer’s Great Yorkshire Show.

Agricultural shows are the best way for farmers to connect with the public, despite the rise of social media, and the industry cannot afford to lose them, according to the show director of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

A new generation of digital-savvy agriculturalists will be equipped with the skills they need to embrace game-changing technology for farming thanks to a £3.4m investment.

Benji was a Shih Tzu – a dog whose origins were on the high plateaus of Tibet, where his ancestors would have been guard dogs.

A lack of clarity over future farming incomes is at the heart of pervading uncertainty plaguing the industry and Grow Yorkshire is seeking detailed answers from the Government so that rural business owners can make the best decisions now to prepare for an impending era of enormous change.

Farming Minister Robert Goodwill and other senior Whitehall officials have been invited to meet with rural leaders in Yorkshire to discuss the role government can play in giving agricultural businesses the crucial support they need to flourish over the next decade and beyond.

Food and farming leaders from across Yorkshire have issued a united plea to the Government, urging Ministers to wholeheartedly back a “pioneering” collaboration between Whitehall and businesses in order to weather a period of intense economic uncertainty and improve the region’s rural prosperity.

Success breeds success, it inspires and motivates, and in challenging times, it can help strengthen resolve to capitalise on the opportunities that lie ahead.

Farmers in Africa have more in common with their Yorkshire counterparts than many may think and deserve British agriculture’s support, according to the regional head of the National Farmers’ Union.

A couple who had to sell almost half of their sheep just so they could pay their animals’ food bills are helping to tell the story of the plight of hill farmers to TV viewers.

Interest-free loans will be paid to farmers who have been made to wait for lifeblood farm support payments from Friday, the Government has confirmed.

Emma and Ben Mosey are the owners of Minskip Farm Shop in Boroughbridge where they farm 16 acres and run a small free range flock of hens and grow vegetables. Here they answer our questions.

Conservationists say they are as iconic of Yorkshire as dry stone walls or swathes of purple heather, but their ruggedness makes them unlikely to feature on the front of postcards. In fact, the county’s peatlands, occupying lofty expanses of open countryside, may just be the county’s most unsung landscape features.

On Thursday mornings, I often get the chance to work with my wife. This is a good thing. We work very well together as an efficient unit.

Internal politics as well as a shortage of young farmers is stopping some of the region’s agricultural shows from reaping the benefits of new ideas that could help sustain them for years to come, the leader of a national show body has said.

Opportunities for the next generation of would-be farmers in the Yorkshire Dales are dwindling ahead of a defining new era for British agriculture.