Farmers up against it

Farming sometimes seems to offer more challenges than rewards.

New animals' diseases like bluetongue threaten to devastate the sheep industry, while bovine TB continues to wreak havoc among dairy farmers in some parts of Wales.

Add the rising incidence of disease and continued uncertainty over prices while fuel, feed and fertiliser costs rocket and it's small wonder that most farmers still depend on their support payments to keep businesses viable.

The EC wants to link farm subsidies increasingly to environmental conditions, but that could make European farming even more disadvantaged compared with competitors outside the EU with few welfare or environmental strings attached.