Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael will use his appearance at the Royal Highland Show to call for a radical political reset on agricultural policy, warning that the UK’s food security is under threat due to decades of misguided policymaking and declining livestock numbers.

Speaking at the Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) breakfast briefing during the show on Friday, Mr Carmichael – who also chairs the influential cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee – will urge political parties and devolved governments to work together on a fresh, collaborative approach to farming policy.

“We need to end the lazy consensus that food needs can be met through imports,” Mr Carmichael will say, highlighting concerns about collapsing livestock numbers in Scotland and calling recent recommendations from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) to accelerate this decline “nonsense”.

The Scottish government has rejected a controversial recommendation by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) to slash livestock numbers by over a quarter, pledging instead to pursue a climate strategy that works with – not against – rural areas.

Last month, the CCC, which advises UK and devolved governments on emissions reductions, proposed a 27% reduction in Scotland’s livestock herd by 2040 as part of the country’s net zero pathway.

The recommendation was met with alarm from the farming sector, which has long argued that well-managed livestock systems can play a crucial role in tackling climate change.

Designing a new Sustainable Efficient Production index that can help policymakers and food producers track progress towards more environmentally friendly food production is key to improving the nation’s food security.

That was the verdict of a recent roundtable meeting of industry experts, hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science and Technology in Agriculture as part of its 30:50:50 project.

The project was launched at the start of this year and seeks to encourage a 30% increase in domestic food production with a 50% lower environmental footprint by 2050. The group is concerned that current domestic policy may be taking UK agriculture in the opposite direction, with food production shrinking, both for crops and livestock.

Defra has confirmed a major reduction in delinked Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) support for farmers in 2026 — a move expected to have significant financial implications for thousands of businesses.

In 2025, delinked payments amounted to £330m, with a cap of £7,300 per business — but in 2026, that pot will shrink dramatically to just £20m, with payments capped at a mere £600 per farm.

The news adds to growing pressure on the rural economy as many farmers continue to navigate squeezed margins, policy transition and rising input costs.

Scientists have invented a way to make farmed salmon healthier. Feeding fish with a new type of rapeseed oil, which includes a natural red pigment, makes pink seafood richer in omega-3 oils and filled with more antioxidants, a study has found.

The pinkness of a fish, whether shrimp, trout or salmon, comes from consumption of a chemical called astaxanthin, which is produced by some algae in the wild.

But a genetically modified variant of the crop, which is spliced with genes from the scarlet flax flower, creates a plant that naturally produces seeds rich in astaxanthin.

Scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed new cooling technology that promises to enhance crop yields and introduce new crops to arid regions like Saudi Arabia at affordable costs. The study can be read in Nexus.

The study shows how the technology, which is a combination of nanotech plastic and biodegradable mulch, lowers the temperature of miniature greenhouses in Saudi Arabia by 25 degrees Celsius and nearly doubles crop yields. In addition, it does so sustainably, as far less energy is consumed than that normally required to maintain greenhouses.

A major new UK study warns that evolving swine flu viruses in Europe could pose a serious future pandemic threat if left unchecked.

The Royal Veterinary College's (RVC) study emphasises the urgent need for robust pandemic preparedness and vaccine effectiveness in both animals and humans.

Swine flu is widespread in pig farming, affecting an estimated 50% of UK production pigs, although human cases remain rare.

Farmers and growers across England are being asked to help shape a major government-backed review into farming profitability, led by former NFU president Baroness Minette Batters.

In an open letter published this week, Baroness Batters urged industry bodies to identify the biggest barriers to farm profitability and submit evidence and practical solutions by 11 July.

“I want to be radical and embrace ‘blue sky thinking’ about what can be done differently,” she said. “But the solutions must be deliverable in the world we live in – not the world we’d like to live in.”

Defra and Apha would struggle to cope with a more severe outbreak of animal disease owing to a lack of Government planning, a new report has revealed.

The latest study from National Audit Office (NAO) said factors such as climate change and anti-microbial resistance mean disease outbreaks are becoming increasingly frequent, leaving livestock more vulnerable. Yet despite this, the Government lacked an action plan to improve resilience or meet the challenges.

Scientists are racing to develop the innovations that could save British farming from disaster as the UK faces its harshest drought in nearly 70 years.

As the UK sees its driest spring since 1956, researchers at the James Hutton Institute have highlighted their vital role in helping agriculture cope and to prepare for future challenges.

Cutting-edge techniques such as marker-assisted selection, genomic selection, gene editing, and precision breeding are used to identify and tweak genes that control drought response. Meanwhile, drones and sensors provide real-time monitoring to accelerate development of climate-resilient crops in field conditions.