The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has joined forces with a number of other healthcare professionals to launch a petition on business rates relief.

Businesses in other sectors, such as retail and childcare, have been eligible for some form of business rates relief across the UK. This petition calls on the Government to allow veterinary practices to access the same financial support offered to other businesses during the pandemic.

The FUW previously wrote to Welsh Economy Minister, Ken Skates, to ensure that covid-19 did not lead to future reductions in veterinary capacity and to ensure that those roles which protect our status as producers of safe quality food are protected.

The petition can be found here. Template letters are also available on the BVA website for people to send to their local MPs or representatives.

The NTSag Team at the University of Aberdeen which carries out research on farm safety has recently launched a new tractor situation awareness app - SA Go.

The app makes their original tractor situation awareness checklist easily accessible in order to carry out routine checks and address any issues through practical advice before using agricultural machinery.

After a number of uses, the app will also highlight recurring issues in an attempt to improve farm safety and reduce incidents by addressing bad machinery use habits. The app does not share any personal data and complies with data protection guidelines. Only the individual user can access their own history and data.

The app can be downloaded onto both apple and android devices and be used with or without internet connection. Full instructions and details can be viewed here.

On average, there are 33 fatalities as a result of agricultural related activities every year across the UK; with machinery incidents being the biggest cause.

A small team looking at food resilience have prepared a survey in an attempt to gather information from producers and consumers to promote local food production.

The data collected will be used to create a new digital solution for reconnecting local producers with their consumers. The survey for both consumers and producers can be found here. All details will be anonymous.