‘Farms which diversified business will be the first to feel the pinch’
FARM shops and other diversified businesses are expected to be worst hit as the full impact of recession hits agriculture in Cumbria.
Appetite back for beef
A Cumbrian beef farmer believes the industry is on the brink of a dramatic turnaround after enduring a 20 per cent hike in production costs last year.
Bangers and cash
He used to sell Russian cars from his Cumbrian farmyard but now Alan Bird has switched to a messier but more conventional stock which needs much more looking after.
Marts reports
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Click on any of the headlines to get the latest mart reports from across north and west Cumbria
Tupping times are a-changing
Tupping is well under way on the hill farms of Cumbria as the rams mingle with the ewes in the fields to help procreate livestock
Super co-op to save dairy
After weeks of merger talk rumours, Cumbria's NFU chairman says only a super co-op can save the dairy industry
Young farmers' clubs on the up
Membership of Cumbria’s young farmers’ clubs is booming despite dwindling numbers of agricultural workers
Agri-Expo showpiece
Borderway's Agri-Expo this year “outshone” some long-established events and attracted 7,500 visitors
Hill funding threat
Cumbrian MP Tim Farron fears the new Uplands Entry Level Scheme will leave many hill farmers without vital funding
Biomass fuel cash boost
Farmers, foresters and biomass producers can apply for up to £200,000 each under a new grant scheme
Polish workers step in to plug dairy skills gap – milking cows
A small army of Polish workers are milking Cumbria’s cows as farmers desperately try to plug a skills gap. An estimated 200 Poles are already helping out on dairy farms, more than 30 of them in the Longtown area alone.
Nine Cumbrian farms are still tested for Chernobyl radiation
Nine Cumbrian farms remain under post-Chernobyl restrictions more than two decades after radiation from the nuclear power plant contaminated the county.
