Bluetongue cases continue to rise, with the UK total for the 2026 to 2027 season exceeding 600 at the time of writing. The UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency has increased its testing capacity, while in Scotland controls and movement restrictions have been tightened. The building outbreak of salmonella is also a concern, and imported eggs and egg products are thought to be responsible.

In a different context, our reliance on fruit and vegetable imports, often from more vulnerable climates, has been highlighted in a recent report from The Food Foundation. Among the country’s nine most-purchased fruits, five can be grown domestically, but self-sufficiency is below 40% for four of them. There is a clear investment case that should be captured in the Horticulture Sector Growth Plan, but as highlighted by the CAAV, further simplification of reservoir planning rules is needed to support the industry.

FOOD & FARMING

Support against bluetongue

The UK’s bluetongue response is being stepped up as cases rise. The Animal and Plant Health Agency is adding laboratory capacity at Weybridge to support testing alongside The Pirbright Institute - the National Reference Laboratory for bluetongue. The aim is to speed up sample processing and strengthen surveillance. Samples should still be sent to The Pirbright Institute, with submission forms securely attached to the outside of parcels, so that any diverted to Weybridge can be booked into the digital handling system without entering the high-containment laboratory. Test results will continue to be reported in the same way.

In Scotland, a Temporary Control Zone has been established in Dumfries and Galloway following further bluetongue detections, with all movements of susceptible livestock into or out of the zone requiring a licence and increased surveillance and testing in surrounding areas. Scotland has also tightened movement rules for animals travelling to the Bluetongue Restricted Zone elsewhere in the UK, requiring cattle, sheep, goats and other susceptible ruminants to return on the same day. From 10 September 2026, susceptible livestock entering Scotland from a Bluetongue Restricted Zone will also need to be vaccinated, except for animals returning under the same-day rule.

The National Sheep Association has launched a survey to assess demand for the BTV-3 vaccine in 2027 following vaccine shortages during the current outbreak. The findings will be shared with manufacturers, veterinary practices and government to support production planning and help ensure sufficient vaccine supplies are available to meet demand. Vaccine production takes months, with manufacturers committing to volumes well before the season begins. For BTV-3, meaning new production runs will serve the spring 2027 season. Without a reliable indication of farmer demand, there is little incentive to produce the vaccine at scale, so it is vital farmers respond.

New ADOPT funding confirmed

Farmers, foresters and growers in England can now apply for the latest round of funding from the Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) Fund. The fund aims to reduce the risks of testing and adopting novel approaches by supporting practical, farmer-led trials and demonstrations that put innovative approaches to the test under real farming conditions and share findings with the wider industry.

The ADOPT grant is now in its ninth round; maximum project funding has doubled from £100,000 to £200,000. Eligible projects costs must be between £50,000 and £200,000, with the increase intended to support larger and more ambitious projects. The application deadline is 7 October 2026.

A separate Facilitator Support Grant provides £2,500 to help applicants engage expert project facilitators. This funding can support proposal development, partnership building and application preparation. Applications for the Facilitator Support Grant close on 30 September 2026. For advice on grant funding, please contact our Food and Farming team.

Multi-country Salmonella outbreak

The UK has recorded the highest number of cases across a seven-country Salmonella outbreak. The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed 207 Salmonella Enteritidis cases between August 2025 and August 2026, including 199 in England, six in Scotland and one each in Wales and Northern Ireland. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has reported 106 cases in the Netherlands, with further cases in Belgium, Austria, Denmark, France and Germany. Since May 2026, 152 cases have been reported, mainly in the Netherlands and the UK.

Investigations point to imported eggs and poultry products as a potential source. Jacquelyn McCormick, head of incidents at the Food Standards Agency, said, “investigations so far have identified links to eggs imported from outside the UK, mainly used by food service and catering establishments.” Several organisations have joined the British Egg Industry Council in raising concerns about the risks associated with imported eggs and egg products. Will Raw, NFU Poultry Board chair, said, “food produced to standards that would be illegal in the UK is still being allowed into our market. This simply cannot be allowed to continue.”

POLICY

New responsibilities for Defra ministers

Defra has published the responsibilities of its new ministerial team. Secretary of State Dame Angela Eagle has overall responsibility for the department, including its budget, international relations and economic growth. Minister of State Emma Hardy will lead on water reform, flooding and environmental governance.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Jenny Riddell-Carpenter has been given a wide-ranging land and nature brief covering planning and land use, rural communities, protected landscapes, biodiversity, forestry, green finance and access to nature. Baroness Hayman of Ullock is also a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and is responsible for trade, the proposed EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, biosecurity, borders, pesticides and veterinary reform.

Stephen Morgan, previously Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, has been appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, with a brief including farming, food and fisheries. He will also oversee bodies including the Rural Payments Agency and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. Notably, the former Food Security and Rural Affairs portfolio appears to have been divided between two junior ministers, with Morgan taking responsibility for farming and food, while responsibility for rural communities sits with Jenny Riddell-Carpenter.

Mr Morgan said his focus is now on delivering a food system that is healthier, more affordable, sustainable and resilient. He pointed to investment through the Farming Innovation Programme, technology adoption, productivity improvements, reforms to farming schemes and efforts to use the public sector’s £4.9 billion annual food and catering expenditure to support more sustainable procurement.

Scotland: funding for food and drink firms

Food and drink processors across Scotland are set to benefit from a major investment programme, with nearly £6 million awarded to 28 businesses through the Food and Drink Processing Scheme Scotland. The funding will help businesses upgrade facilities, introduce modern technologies, and expand production, supporting growth across a diverse range of sectors, including dairy, potatoes, eggs, spirits, honey, and bakery products. Many projects focus on automation, digital systems and modern processing equipment, helping businesses improve efficiency while responding to growing market demand.

Rural enterprises are prominent among the successful applicants, with funding for potato grading and packing technology, expanded cheese production in Fife and increased egg processing in the Highlands and Moray. The investment will also help develop facilities that strengthen local supply chains and add value to Scottish produce, underlining the sector’s importance as turnover reaches a record £19 billion.

Wales: climate, nature and energy policy in the making

The Welsh Government has begun developing Wales’s first Climate and Nature Action Plan, which will address climate change and nature loss together and set a pathway towards net zero by 2040 and substantive nature recovery by 2050. The plan will cover challenges including flooding, wildfires, pressures on food and farming, polluted rivers, declining wildlife and coastal change. A new Climate and Nature Board, chaired by Rural Resilience and Sustainability Minister Llŷr Gruffydd, will provide external expertise, coordinate work across government and scrutinise delivery. However, funding, legal duties and specific delivery measures have yet to be announced.

The government is also finalising a National Energy Strategy for publication later in 2026. It will assess Wales’s current and future energy needs, the infrastructure required and where development should take place, while seeking to retain more of the value generated by renewable energy within Welsh communities. Existing renewable-energy targets are expected to be replaced by an approach focused on reducing emissions.

ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL CAPITAL

Is the UK’s fruit and veg supply resilient?

The Savills Food Beyond Today Spotlight highlighted a 16% fall in the proportion of fresh fruit supplied by domestic production, with the UK now relying on imports for approximately 84% of its fresh fruit. According to a report from The Food Foundation, this is leaving supplies exposed to worsening climate and nature-related risks overseas. Of the 20 countries from which the UK imports the most fruit and vegetables, 18 are assessed as moderately to severely vulnerable to climate change. The UK is less vulnerable than many of these supplying countries, creating an opportunity to strengthen food security by increasing domestic production.

The Food Foundation argues that the forthcoming Horticulture Sector Growth Plan, to be overseen by the Farming and Food Partnership Board, should support greater production of fruit, vegetables, beans and pulses in the UK. Among the country’s nine most-purchased fruits, five can be grown domestically, but self-sufficiency is below 40% for four of them. Carrots are the only major vegetable with high UK self-sufficiency, at 94%, while all other major vegetables are below 50%. Increasing production will require long-term support for growers, including action on seasonal labour, water, planning and energy costs.

Pesticides in food are well controlled

Pesticide residues in the UK food supply remain well controlled, according to the Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food’s final annual report. Of the 3,550 food and drink samples tested in 2025, 53.07% contained none of the residues sought, while 44.59% contained residues at or below the legal maximum residue level. Residues above the limit were detected in 2.34% of samples, although this does not necessarily indicate a health risk, as maximum residue levels primarily assess compliance with authorised pesticide use. The programme also targets foods where residues are more likely to occur, so the results are not representative of the entire food supply, and comparisons between years should be treated with caution.

The Health and Safety Executive assesses every detected residue and conducts a more detailed risk assessment when estimated dietary exposure exceeds health-based reference values. In all but two cases in 2025, short-term health effects were considered either unlikely or not expected, regardless of whether the legal limit had been exceeded. The report is the committee’s last following the government’s decision to close it. However, the national monitoring programme and publication of results will continue, with specialist advice obtained from the Expert Committee on Pesticides and other sources when required.

Fly-tippers to pay for clean-up

The government has revived proposals to make fly-tippers clean up their waste and cover the costs, months after rejecting wider reforms intended to protect landowners from clean-up bills. In February, the House of Lords backed amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that would have made convicted offenders liable for losses and clean-up costs and required councils to remove dumped waste before pursuing offenders for repayment. Ministers rejected those amendments in April.

Under the latest proposals, councils could issue conditional cautions requiring offenders to complete up to 20 hours of unpaid clean-up work and recover clean-up costs directly from them, avoiding court proceedings in suitable cases. The consultation closes on 16 October 2026 and forms part of a wider crackdown involving increased fixed penalties, asset seizures and greater coordination between enforcement bodies. However, the proposals do not eliminate the underlying risk to farmers and other private landowners: if an offender is not identified, the landowner remains responsible for clearing illegally dumped waste.

PROPERTY & DEVELOPMENT

Simplify reservoir rules, says CAAV

The Central Association for Agricultural Valuers (CAAV) has called on the government to make it easier for farmers to build reservoirs and secure abstraction rights as drought puts growing pressure on water supplies. The CAAV says investment is being held back by complex interactions among planning rules, Environmental Impact Assessments, and abstraction licensing, as well as restrictions on roads, excavated material, and the use of imported materials in reservoir construction. The government has announced £15 million for on-farm reservoirs in England, updated planning guidance and a review of permitted development rights. However, the CAAV argues that wider regulatory barriers involving the Environment Agency, Natural England and planning authorities must also be addressed. It has also proposed tax changes to make major water infrastructure investment more affordable. Our Autumn 2024 Spotlight report “Water: building resilience” explored how farms and estates can adopt integrated water management to improve their resilience.

New challenge to store energy for longer

The government has launched a £28 million Ultra-Long Duration Energy Storage Challenge to develop technologies capable of supplying clean electricity continuously for at least 100 hours. The programme is aimed at storing surplus wind and solar power for use during prolonged periods of low renewable generation so that the electricity system can become less reliant on gas-fired power. Funding will focus on advanced batteries that have not yet been commercialised at scale and systems that store hydrogen underground for later use.

The challenge includes up to £3 million for initial studies into electrochemical storage projects, alongside support for the development and testing of underground hydrogen storage. The government estimates hydrogen storage could reduce total energy-system costs by between £14 billion and £50 billion between 2035 and 2050. The programme complements Ofgem’s separate support for long-duration storage projects, which use a cap-and-floor model to encourage investment by providing developers with a minimum revenue while returning earnings above an agreed maximum to consumers.

BUSINESS & economy

Saputo sells dairy business to Lactalis

French dairy giant Lactalis has agreed to acquire Saputo Dairy UK for £988 million, creating the UK’s largest supplier of cheddar cheese, butter and spreads. The deal brings brands including Cathedral City, Davidstow, Country Life, Clover and Utterly Butterly into a portfolio that already includes Président, Galbani, Leerdammer and Seriously. Cathedral City alone generated £320 million in sales last year, making it the UK’s largest cheese brand.

Under Saputo, the UK business accounted for just 7% of group revenues and competed for capital with larger North American operations. Within Lactalis, the business is expected to hold greater strategic importance, so it could make a stronger case for investment. The deal could also strengthen export opportunities for UK-produced dairy products through Lactalis’ distribution network, which spans more than 50 countries, potentially opening new markets for brands such as Cathedral City.

The acquisition includes five UK processing sites and around 1,300 employees. Analysts have suggested Lactalis could seek efficiencies across its enlarged manufacturing network. Market analyst Chris Walkland has questioned what this could mean for Lactalis’ existing facility in Stranraer if cheddar production were streamlined into a single site. The transaction includes the Davidstow creamery in Cornwall, one of the UK’s largest cheddar plants and an important outlet for milk from farms across Cornwall and Devon.

Consultation on Highland tourist tax

Highland Council has approved a public consultation on plans to introduce a visitor levy across the local authority area. The proposal would apply a fixed charge of £5 per room, per night for hotels, B&Bs and short-term lets, with a lower £2 nightly charge for hostels and campsites. The levy would operate for nine months of the year, excluding the winter period, and is estimated to raise around £9.5 million annually. The council intends to use the revenue to support infrastructure and public services associated with the region’s tourism economy, including roads and other facilities that experience significant visitor pressures. Accommodation providers would retain 5% of levy receipts to help offset administration costs.

Accommodation providers have raised concerns about the proposal’s scale and timing. The Highland Hotel Association says a £5 charge is excessive and favours £3. Industry representatives also want an independent economic impact assessment before consultation proceeds, warning higher accommodation costs could deter visitors and add pressure to businesses already facing weaker demand. The proposal reflects a wider Scottish trend, with Edinburgh being the first council to introduce a visitor levy, with a 5% overnight accommodation charge. Glasgow has approved a similar levy from January 2027 and Aberdeen is planning a 7% charge. Several rural authorities, including the Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Orkney and Shetland, have rejected the idea. For more information on policy changes impacting tourism and leisure, read our latest Spotlight.

OTHER RURAL NEWS

And finally… 10,000-cow milking challenge

Fundraising typically involves a sponsored walk, run or cycle, but Lancashire’s Marie Stephenson has opted for a far more agricultural approach. The agri-professional set herself the ambitious task of milking 10,000 cows in just 10 days to raise money for the farming charity Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI). Starting in Cornwall and travelling almost 920 miles through farming communities towards Scotland, Marie visited 22 dairy farms and successfully milked an impressive 10,411 cows, exceeding her original target. The challenge required careful planning, co-ordinating milking schedules across multiple farms and maintaining strict biosecurity standards throughout the journey. In addition to raising more than £5,700 for RABI, the challenge highlighted the importance of mental health and wellbeing support within the farming community.

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