ABP takeover of Linden complete
The ABP deal to buy the Fane Valley 50% share of Linden Foods in NI is to take effect from next week.
It is understood that the Linden Foods brand will be retained, with the Linden management team led by Gerry Maguire, remaining in place, and answering to ABP’s NI managing director, George Mullan.
Wool chief confident about prices
The stockpile of wool built up during the COVID-19 lockdown is now gone and prices continue to build and recover, the CEO of British Wool, Andrew Hogley has said.
“Our auctions are seeing 100% clearances every two weeks. We have made a huge amount of progress. I am very confident that the returns we will be able to pay to our members this year will be much more comparable with the valuations we have seen in the past,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal at Balmoral Show.
Over half of TB reactors show no lesions
Only around 40-45% of skin test reactors show visible lesions at post-mortem, Minister Poots has confirmed in response to a written question from North Antrim MLA Jim Allister.
The minister added that lesions are only detectable in animals at an advanced stage of TB infection, so the absence of visible lesions does not mean that TB is not present.
He said that the skin test is “highly unlikely” to give a positive test result in an uninfected animal, with research suggesting only one in 5,000 reactors are false positives.
“We can be confident that the vast majority of skin test positive animals are infected with TB regardless of the post-mortem and laboratory findings,” responded Minister Poots.
EFS wider level receives 200 applications
The latest tranche of the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) wider level received just over 200 applications, a DAERA spokesperson has confirmed.
“EFS Tranche 5 Wider attracted 211 applications with new hedge planting and 2m riparian margins proving to be the most popular options,” the spokesperson said.
Interest in EFS wider has waned in recent years, as the latest intake, and the 355 applications that were received last year, compares to over 2,000 applications for the third tranche back in 2019.
£700,000 for pollinator grants
Community groups and schools can apply for grants from £3,000 to £12,000, covering 95% of costs to establish, enhance or develop a local community pollinator garden.
Provided by DAERA, and administered by Live Here Love Here, the scheme is open to applications until noon on Monday 11 October 2021.
£750,000 for Rural Grant Scheme
A new £750,000 tranche of the Rural Micro Capital Grant Scheme will open for applications on Friday 1 October 2021, DAERA Minister Edwin Poots has confirmed.
The scheme provides small capital grants of between £200 and £1,500 to rural community-led, voluntary organisations for projects tackling issues of local poverty and/or social isolation.
For further information contact the Rural Support Network within your local council area.
UFU MPI at four year high
The latest milk price indicator (MPI) published by the UFU has increased by 1p to 32.75p/l.
The price index is now at its highest level since 24 August 2017, when prices were being driven by a surge in the market for butter.
The latest MPI reflects further gains in butter, skim and whole milk powder prices at the weekly Dutch Dairy Board auction, a third positive GDT event last week and higher UK cheddar prices.
ABP takeover of Linden complete
The ABP deal to buy the Fane Valley 50% share of Linden Foods in NI is to take effect from next week.
It is understood that the Linden Foods brand will be retained, with the Linden management team led by Gerry Maguire, remaining in place, and answering to ABP’s NI managing director, George Mullan.
Wool chief confident about prices
The stockpile of wool built up during the COVID-19 lockdown is now gone and prices continue to build and recover, the CEO of British Wool, Andrew Hogley has said.
“Our auctions are seeing 100% clearances every two weeks. We have made a huge amount of progress. I am very confident that the returns we will be able to pay to our members this year will be much more comparable with the valuations we have seen in the past,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal at Balmoral Show.
Over half of TB reactors show no lesions
Only around 40-45% of skin test reactors show visible lesions at post-mortem, Minister Poots has confirmed in response to a written question from North Antrim MLA Jim Allister.
The minister added that lesions are only detectable in animals at an advanced stage of TB infection, so the absence of visible lesions does not mean that TB is not present.
He said that the skin test is “highly unlikely” to give a positive test result in an uninfected animal, with research suggesting only one in 5,000 reactors are false positives.
“We can be confident that the vast majority of skin test positive animals are infected with TB regardless of the post-mortem and laboratory findings,” responded Minister Poots.
EFS wider level receives 200 applications
The latest tranche of the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) wider level received just over 200 applications, a DAERA spokesperson has confirmed.
“EFS Tranche 5 Wider attracted 211 applications with new hedge planting and 2m riparian margins proving to be the most popular options,” the spokesperson said.
Interest in EFS wider has waned in recent years, as the latest intake, and the 355 applications that were received last year, compares to over 2,000 applications for the third tranche back in 2019.
£700,000 for pollinator grants
Community groups and schools can apply for grants from £3,000 to £12,000, covering 95% of costs to establish, enhance or develop a local community pollinator garden.
Provided by DAERA, and administered by Live Here Love Here, the scheme is open to applications until noon on Monday 11 October 2021.
£750,000 for Rural Grant Scheme
A new £750,000 tranche of the Rural Micro Capital Grant Scheme will open for applications on Friday 1 October 2021, DAERA Minister Edwin Poots has confirmed.
The scheme provides small capital grants of between £200 and £1,500 to rural community-led, voluntary organisations for projects tackling issues of local poverty and/or social isolation.
For further information contact the Rural Support Network within your local council area.
UFU MPI at four year high
The latest milk price indicator (MPI) published by the UFU has increased by 1p to 32.75p/l.
The price index is now at its highest level since 24 August 2017, when prices were being driven by a surge in the market for butter.
The latest MPI reflects further gains in butter, skim and whole milk powder prices at the weekly Dutch Dairy Board auction, a third positive GDT event last week and higher UK cheddar prices.
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