Defra has confirmed avian influenza in a single sheep in Yorkshire following repeat positive milk testing, with farmers urged to remain vigilant for the disease.

The case of H5N1 was identified following routine surveillance of livestock on a farm where avian influenza had previously been confirmed in captive birds.

Defra said on Monday (24 March) that there was no evidence to suggest an increased risk to the UK livestock population.

The UK government has unveiled its first National Action Plan (NAP) on pesticides in more than a decade, aiming to reduce environmental harm and enhance sustainable farming practices.

The plan sets a target to reduce pesticide-related environmental risks by 10% by 2030, focusing on minimising the impact of pesticides on human health and the environment, while supporting food production.

The NAP, which includes a commitment to enhance integrated pest management (IPM) techniques, encourages farmers to adopt nature-based solutions and alternative methods, such as crop rotation and biopesticides, to manage pests without heavily relying on chemical pesticides.

The government has launched a new Food Strategy Advisory Board (FSAB) as part of its efforts build a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable food system.

The strategy aims to "restore pride" in UK food by ensuring a system that maintains food security while providing more easily accessible and affordable healthy food.

It also hopes to make food production more sustainable in order to boost nature, while strengthening the entire food supply chain in the event of geo-political shocks and a changing climate.

Fruit and vegetable growers have spoken out in dismay after the government announced it would close the long-established Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme to producer organisations (POs) at the end of the year.

The scheme has provided £40m in matched funding for POs within the horticultural sector to support innovation and collaboration between producers and help market products.

There are concerns within the industry that, without this funding, the sector will face even more challenges, and the UK could become more reliant on imports.

A pioneering £1 million project which will help transform dairy cow slurry into crop fertilisers and water has been launched by Harper Adams University and industry partners elentecBio, Merigan, Stoic Options and Mastek.

This research project was funded by Defra as part of their Farming Innovation Programme Nutrient Management competition, and is managed via Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency. It will develop elentecBio's novel technology at farm-scale to separate water for further use and recover phosphorous, nitrogen and organic matter from cattle slurry.

The technology works through electrocoagulation, a treatment technology that adds an electrical charge to water as a way of recovering nutrients. The separated nutrients can be applied to growing crops, instead of spreading high-water content, low nutrient slurries or synthetic fertilisers.

After months of stalled talks, EU ambassadors backed a compromise text on Friday by the Polish Presidency to move forward with negotiations on new rules facilitating the use of some gene-editing techniques (NGTs) in the EU.

NGTs– the most notable being the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR-Cas9 – allow scientists to edit a crop’s genome to achieve specific traits, such as increased resistance to disease or extreme weather.

Currently, these technologies are subject to the EU’s strict GMO regulation, making their commercialisation in the bloc nearly impossible. Poland introduced the proposal in late February, scrapping patent restrictions on gene-edited crops – one of the most divisive aspects of the draft legislation.

Many of us have been guilty of binning a mushy, overripe banana – but now scientists say they have a solution with the launch of a genetically engineered non-browning banana.

The product is the latest in a series of gene-edited fruits and vegetables designed to have a longer shelf life. Scientists say the technology is emerging as a powerful new weapon against food waste, which occurs globally on an epic scale.

The banana, developed by Tropic, a biotech company based in Norwich, is said to remain fresh and yellow for 12 hours after being peeled and is less susceptible to turning brown when bumped during harvesting and transportation.

Meat, dairy and sugar grown in a lab could be on sale in the UK for human consumption for the first time within two years, sooner than expected.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is looking at how it can speed up the approval process for lab-grown foods. Such products are grown from cells in small chemical plants.

UK firms have led the way in the field scientifically but feel they have been held back by the current regulations.

British farming needs a "180-degree, tyre-screeching reset" to help farmers produce "more from less" against a backdrop of increasing global uncertainty. This is according to former science minister George Freeman MP, who is now chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture.

Speaking at Agri-TechE’s Challenge Convention event, he said this was now even more urgent with the impact of climate change, war in Ukraine and geopolitical instability. He warned of mass migration and civil unrest if the world did not meet the challenge of feeding a population of 10bn people by 2050, but on the same amount of land and using half as much water and energy.

Meat and dairy products reigned supreme during this year's Veganuary, while plant-based alternatives saw a decline, new figures show.

This is according to research by AHDB, released today, which explains that meat-free products had their fourth consecutive year of decline in January 2025.

The meat, fish, and poultry category saw volume growth of 1.4% during the month, which is typically seen as a time when vegan products see a rise in popularity.

Regenerative agriculture claims can be overblown and underestimate the importance of using fertiliser more efficiently, according to a new study by the agri benchmark network of agricultural economists.

The study authors Dr Yelto Zimmer, Dr Joachim Lammel, Prof Ludwig Theuvsen and Barry Ward said: "Whether intentional or not, we see a risk that policymakers, industry and farmers will be fascinated by a fancy term, while not addressing the really important strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas, such as the efficiency of nitrogen use in agricultural production systems.

Livestock numbers must be reduced by 27% while meat consumption will fall by a quarter if the UK is to meet its climate objectives, according to the latest findings by the Climate Change Committee (CCC).

Publishing its seventh Carbon Budget, the CCC said by 2050 agriculture was set to become the UK's largest emissions producer unless steps are taken to cut meat and dairy consumption while boosting tree planting and carbon sequestration.

The CCC has now called for a 3% increase in woodland cover from 13% to 16% across the UK; a doubling of tree planting rates to 37,000 hectares per year by 2030; and a huge increase in the proportion of UK peatlands in natural or rewetted conditions from 26% to 55% within a decade.