• Are we winning the CAP cold war?

    IF ALL goes according to plan, we are now into the last few weeks of CAP reform negotiations.

  • Ciolos fighting for new entrants

    THE FRONT page headline in The Scottish Farmer last week said a lot about a major problem facing agriculture – it read "Hope for new farmers" – but inevitably with a question mark at the end.

  • Could we survive outside the CAP?

    FORMER Chancellor, Nigel Lawson, certainly put the political cat among the pigeons when he said that if there were an EU referendum he would vote for the UK to leave.

  • Hi Ho Silver Lining

    BEFORE IT became the lyrics of a song by Kelly Clarkson, the concept that 'what does not kill you makes you stronger' was espoused by the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche.

  • Deal or no deal?

    THERE IS a growing sense that CAP reform will be agreed by the end of the Irish presidency in June.

  • Crunch time nears for Irish presidency

    THE FACT that Irish farmers took to the streets of Dublin this week to protest over CAP reform adds to a sense that the Irish minister and EU farm council president, Simon Coveney, could well deliver a deal by June.

  • Publish payments and be damned

    COMPARED TO a thwarted civil servant, a charging bull is probably easier to turn around.

  • Oh what a tangled web!

    IT ALWAYS seems a bit of an easy start for a Scottish newspaper to quote Burns – but there can be no getting away from the tangled web woven by parts of the meat industry to deceive consumers.

  • Europe toothless on fair trade

    THE EUROPEAN Commission has published its thinking on action to tackle what it dubs UTP – unfair trading practices – by retailers buying food.

  • In, out, or shake it all about?

    WHETHER YOU are a euro enthusiast or a euro sceptic – or somewhere in between – there can be no question that David Cameron's long awaited speech on Europe has opened up major debate.