The Farmers Mart Apr-May 2019 - Issue 62 | Page 14

14 FARM NEWS
APR/MAY 2019 • farmers-mart.co.uk
Sheep splitting delay ‘huge
setback for the sheep sector’
RESPONDING to Defra’s an-
nouncement that a fixed cut-off
date for carcase splitting will no
longer be implemented in time
for the 2019 season, NFU livestock
board chairman Richard Findlay
said: “In November last year we
received a commitment from
Defra ministers that the new
regulation would be in place for
this season. It is unacceptable that
this has now been completely
overturned with no indication of
when it will be implemented.
“The NFU and other industry
organisations have campaigned
for over a decade to change the
way lambs are aged from den-
tition checks to a cut-off date,
which would improve accuracy
and transparency and ensure
that farmers are paid fairly for
the value of their product. It is
needless to say that the delay in
implementation is a huge setback
‘ It is unacceptable
that this has now
been completely
overturned with
no indication of
when it will be
implemented
’
for the UK sheep sector and that
Defra’s failure to follow through
on its commitment is extremely
frustrating.
“The decision also continues to
load costs on to the industry as it
spends an estimated £24 million a
year on dentition checks, which
would be unnecessary if a cut-off
date were used. It comes on the
back of another Defra announce-
ment that costs of £7.50 per sam-
ple for testing fallen stock of cattle
over 48 months for Transmissible
Spongiform Encephalopathiy
(TSE) will be passed on to the
industry from April this year.
“While we understand Defra’s
concerns about negotiating the UK’s
status as a third country, and the
NFU has always said that maintain-
ing free and frictionless trade with
the EU is vital for the British food and
farming industry, it should never
prevent necessary domestic regula-
tory changes from taking place.”
Revolutionary New Look for the YAS
THE Yorkshire Agricultural Socie-
ty can today reveal a whole new
look, with the launch of a contem-
porary new logo and website to
drive the charity forward.
While the traditional YAS crest
will still be used when appro-
priate, the new logo will give a
modern look as well as working
across different media platforms
including mobile phones.
Created in 1837, the YAS was cre-
ated to celebrate and support the
farming industry, with its first task
to create a large-scale event – the
Great Yorkshire Show.
Now with over 130,000 visitors
over three days, the iconic event
attracts the best of British live-
stock and equine competitors as
well as Royal guests and industry
leaders.
The YAS is at the heart of this
and organising for the next Show
begins as one ends. Look out for a
new exhibition stand at this year’s
Show which will tell the story of
YAS and the work it does through-
out the year; from Farmer Health
Checks and education days to
running our farm shop and café
Fodder, Pavilions of Harrogate and
Yorkshire Event Centre.
Nigel Pulling, Chief Executive
of the Yorkshire Agricultural
Society said: “A new logo and
a new website will drive the
Yorkshire Agricultural Society
forward as well as promoting
more prominently the work it
does.” The new website opens
with the story of the YAS, cre-
ated by Leeds animation studio
Northforge. The two-minute
film sets out to showcase the
ways we encourage, promote
and support agricultural com-
munities.
www.yas.co.uk
John Deere open to external software
THE connection of machine and
field data is becoming increasingly
important in modern agriculture.
Contractors and farmers are
demanding interfaces that allow
easier use by different parties,
such as agricultural machinery
manufacturers, software develop-
ers, crop care suppliers, advisors
and so on.
To enable more open access,
John Deere has activated a new
function called More Tools in the
web-based MyJohnDeere.com
Operations Centre. Farmers and
contractors can already use the
Operations Centre as a central
platform to manage tasks and send
data to machines, for example.
This new addition to the system
now enables users to process
data from external software
companies and import their infor-
mation via the Operations Centre,
alongside existing John Deere
software solutions such as Maps,
Land Manager, Field Analyser,
Team Manager etc.
Users can adjust the Operations
Centre to suit their individual
daily business needs through
customisation and by adding
more functions. At the same time,
any data exchanges between the
Operations Centre and connect-
ed software companies are fully
controlled by the data owner,
either manually or by agreeing to
the establishment of a system for
automatic data synchronisation.
Customers will therefore benefit
from the open John Deere struc-
ture when entering and trans-
ferring details such as field and
application maps, weather data
etc. Currently, more than 20 com-
panies in 29 countries in Western
and Central Europe and Russia
are connected, while globally the
number exceeds 100 suppliers.