51AVÊÓƵ

I have decided to allocate time in this opinion piece to bovine TB – specifically residual disease.

As I write, the misty weather seems to be echoing life. The path ahead is not clear and it is difficult to see anything on the horizon.

As the weather turned wet in early October, the 2020 maize harvest could be described as a tale of two halves.

Lee Robb, 29, works at Ladyyard Farm, Mauchline, Ayrshire. He is a Crossroads YFC member, past Ayrshire District chairman and a current Ayrshire representative for agri and rural affairs.

The EU’s 51AVÊÓƵto Fork Strategy, which sets a target to reduce pesticide use by 50 per cent, would negatively affect the world’s most food-insecure populations. The UK should not follow suit, says Adam Speed, director of public affairs at the Crop Protection Association.

2020 has been a challenging year for farmers, but with the end of the transition period, changes to direct payments and new trade deals on the horizon, 2021 may bring further hardship, says Conservative peer Anne McIntosh.

Brexit will create winners and losers in farming, but the direction of travel makes me fear there will be more losers than winners, says Oliver Dowding, an apple grower in South East Somerset.

November, and we roll the dice again. The tups are back in with the ewes despite the serious question, will there be a viable market for lamb post-Brexit? I think I asked the same question last year, or maybe it was the year before? It is hard to keep track.

Temperatures have started to drop and grass growth is slowing fast, as we would expect at this time of year.

The coronavirus pandemic is threatening US rural communities’ limited healthcare.