South-west Scotland is now a bluetongue zone for at least two years. Its farm minister says the virus is not going away.

The stories

6 stories on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

1. 01

   South-west Scotland is now a bluetongue zone for at least two years. Its farm minister says the virus is not going away.

   20 farms

   in Scotland with bluetongue since 8 August, holding 64 infected cattle and 15 infected sheep

   the farms are around towns including Newton Stewart, Lockerbie and Gretna [1]

   2 years

   free of the disease before south-west Scotland's restrictions can be lifted

   the zone came into force on 10 September [2]

   4,300 rams

   entered at the Kelso ram sale despite the restrictions nearby

   entries were up 9% on last year, across 17 breeds [2]

   What happened

   • Much of Dumfries and Galloway, in south-west Scotland, became a bluetongue restricted zone on Thursday 10 September, joining England and Wales. [1]
   • Bluetongue is a virus of sheep and cattle.
   • It kills many of the sheep it infects and causes fertility problems in cattle. [2]
   • It does not affect people or the safety of food. [2]
   • Experts believe infected midges, tiny biting flies, were blown over the border from England, where there are many more cases. [1]
   • The strain, called serotype 3, has infected 64 cattle and 15 sheep on 20 Scottish farms since the first case on 8 August. [1]
   • Cattle, sheep and similar animals now need a licence to move from the zone to the rest of Scotland. [1]
   • The restrictions will only be lifted once the region has been free of the disease for two years. [2]
   • Scotland's agriculture minister, Jim Fairlie, said the evidence shows the virus is circulating in south-west Scotland. [1]
   • He said farmers should prepare for it gaining a permanent hold in the rest of Scotland, and called vaccination the only long-term strategy. [1]
   • Because dropping temperatures lower the risk, fattening and non-pregnant female animals no longer need testing or vaccination to leave the zone.
   • Some breeding animals still do. [1]
   • Europe's biggest single-day ram sale is going ahead at Kelso in the Scottish Borders, with more than 4,300 rams entered and over 5 million pounds expected to change hands. [2]
   • Several smaller shows in the area have cancelled their sheep and cattle sections since the outbreak began. [2]

   Who is involved

   • Jim Fairlie Scotland's agriculture minister; he made south-west Scotland a restricted zone and told farmers to prepare for the virus to stay
   • NFU Scotland the main union for Scotland's farmers; it has asked Scotland's government for more support for farmers inside the zone
   • The Animal and Plant Health Agency the UK government agency for animal disease; any animal showing signs of bluetongue must be reported to it at once
   • The Border Union Agricultural Society the farming society that runs the Kelso ram sale, which goes back nearly 190 years; the sale is going ahead despite the restrictions

   How it unfolded

   1. 8 Aug bluetongue is found in Scottish livestock for the first time, at Creetown [1]
   2. August a temporary control zone covers much of Dumfries and Galloway and parts of Ayrshire [1]
   3. 10 Sep the area becomes a restricted zone, and testing rules ease for some animals [1]
   4. Two years clear the earliest point the restrictions can be lifted [2]

   Why it matters

   Watch whether new Scottish cases stop as the weather cools, and whether cases appear outside Dumfries and Galloway, which the minister has told farmers to prepare for. [1]

   The truth

   • What is really going on Scotland's government now treats bluetongue as a disease that is staying, and its agriculture minister has told farmers to prepare for it across Scotland. [1]The farmers in Dumfries and Galloway carry the licences and movement rules for at least two years, to slow it reaching everyone else. [1][2]
   • Who gains Livestock farmers in the rest of Scotland — Animals leaving the Dumfries and Galloway zone need a licence, which is meant to stop the virus spreading to their farms. [1]
   • Who pays Farmers in Dumfries and Galloway — They need a licence to move cattle and sheep out of the zone for at least two years. [1][2]
   • Who pays Sheep and cattle farmers whose animals catch the virus — Bluetongue kills many infected sheep and causes fertility problems in cattle. [2]
   • Who pays Small agricultural shows in the Scottish Borders — Several cancelled their sheep and cattle sections after the outbreak began. [2]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How many Scottish farms have bluetongue today.

     The latest figure we could read is 20 farms, published on 8 and 10 September, and nothing newer was in what we found. [1][2]

   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Scottish farmers can get enough vaccine.

     The minister calls vaccination the only long-term strategy, but neither article says how many doses are available in Scotland. [1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     What the zone costs farmers inside it, and who pays.

     NFU Scotland has asked for more support, and the Scottish government said it aims to limit the harm to farms as much as possible, without naming any payment. [1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     What the Kelso ram sale actually made.

     The article was written before the sale, and gives only the expected figure of more than 5 million pounds. [2]

   Good news

   • From 10 September, fattening animals and non-pregnant females in south-west Scotland no longer need a bluetongue test or vaccine to leave the zone, because cooler weather has lowered the risk.

1. 02

   Heat cost Lea Valley 40% of its peppers

   What happened

   • Lea Valley Growers' Association says its members lost up to 40% of their peppers this summer, about 27,000kg over the 10-week picking season. [3]
   • Its glasshouses in London, Essex and Hertfordshire grow about three-quarters of Britain's cucumbers and sweet peppers. [3]
   • The association blamed heatwaves, and said the heat also exhausted the bees it buys, so tomato output fell 3% to 5%. [3]
   • Its secretary said members lost about 15 million pounds as energy and fertiliser prices rose because of the Iran war. [3]

   Why it matters

   Growers say most supermarkets refused to raise the price they pay, and some growers have gone into administration, the process for a company that cannot pay its debts. [3]

   The British Retail Consortium, the trade body for shops, says the higher costs will reach prices later. [3]

   How it works

   Why every living thing on a farm works only in a range of temperatures

   Midges, bees and pepper plants each work only between certain temperatures, so a hot summer spread a sheep virus in Scotland and cut a glasshouse crop in Essex.

   The twist

   A farmer cannot tell midges to stop biting or bees to keep working. The temperature does that, so one hot summer spread a sheep virus in Scotland and cut a pepper crop in Essex.

   Step by step

   1. 1 Midges, bees and plants cannot set their own temperature, so each works only inside a range
   2. 2 In warm weeks midges fly and bite, and carry bluetongue from farm to farm
   3. 3 As the weather cools the midges slow down, so Scotland eased testing on some animals
   4. 4 Above the range, bees collapse and pepper roots are damaged, so glasshouse crops fall
   5. 5 Where frost rarely comes, a farm can grow plants that colder farms cannot

   The same force, elsewhere today

   Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

   • Heat cost Lea Valley 40% of its peppers

     The heat went past what the pepper roots and the bought-in bees could take, and tomato plants that need bees to pollinate them set less fruit.

   • Britain's flower farms multiply

     Petalon Farm near Newquay gets very few frosts, so it can grow flower varieties that farms in colder places cannot.

   Where you've seen this

   Malaria

   mosquitoes spread it most in the warm months, and it reaches higher ground as those places warm

   Ticks and Lyme disease

   ticks are most active when it is mild, so most bites come in spring and summer

   Coral reefs

   when the sea stays too warm for too long, coral loses the algae that feed it and turns white

   The catch

   Temperature is one cause among several. Bluetongue also needs wind to carry the midges and unvaccinated animals to infect, and the pepper growers were also hit by fuel and fertiliser prices.

   And the whole of it

   A sheep farmer near Dumfries, a pepper grower in Essex and a flower grower in Cornwall all went through this summer. Each can see what it did to their own animals or plants, and none of them can see the rest.

   The truth

   • Who pays Lea Valley glasshouse growers — They lost about 15 million pounds this year as energy and fertiliser prices rose, and most supermarkets would not pay them more. [3]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether shoppers will pay more for British peppers and tomatoes.

     The British Retail Consortium says higher costs will affect prices later, and gives no figure or date. [3]

   • Nobody knows yet

     How many Lea Valley growers have closed.

     The association says some growers have entered administration, and does not say how many. [3]

1. 03

   China widens insurance for farmers

   What happened

   • China's finance ministry published a plan on Friday 11 September to strengthen insurance for farmers. [4]
   • China's government says the plan will steady farmers' incomes and protect the food supply. [4]
   • It widens insurance covering the full cost of growing rice, wheat, corn and soybeans, and insurance on the income from planting them. [4]
   • It also asks for more cover for potatoes, rapeseed, peanuts, sugar beet and highland barley, and for farms growing rice, wheat and corn seed. [4]

   Why it matters

   It asks insurers to use tracking technology for livestock and to adjust cover for breeding sows, fattening pigs and dairy cattle. [4]

   The Reuters summary gives no budget, so how much money reaches farmers is not stated. [4]

   The truth

   • Who gains Chinese farmers growing rice, wheat, corn and soybeans — The finance ministry plan widens insurance covering the full cost of growing those crops. [4]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How much money China's insurance plan carries.

     The Reuters summary lists the crops and kinds of cover, and no budget. [4]

2. 04

   US cuts inspection fees for small meat plants

   What happened

   • The US Food Safety and Inspection Service, the agency that inspects meat and poultry plants, has extended its cut in overtime and holiday inspection fees to 30 September 2027, while the money lasts. [5]
   • Small plants pay 30% less and very small plants 75% less.
   • They can claim back part of what they paid since 5 October 2025. [5]
   • On 10 September the US under secretary for food safety, Mindy Brashears, spoke to California's poultry processors. [5]

   Why it matters

   She said the agency is moving from testing whether salmonella is present to counting how much there is, so it can spot rising trends earlier. [5]

   A small plant may need an inspector outside normal hours only in busy seasons or when short of staff. [5]

   The truth

   • Who gains Small and very small US meat and poultry plants — Their overtime and holiday inspection fees stay 30% or 75% lower until September 2027, with part-refunds back to October 2025. [5]
3. 05

   A collar that replaces the fence

   What happened

   • NoFence, a Norwegian company that makes GPS collars for cattle, sheep and goats, has launched its third collar, the N3, with software to manage a herd. [6]
   • A farmer draws a boundary in a phone app.
   • An animal that walks into it hears a rising tone, and gets a mild electric pulse only if it keeps going. [6]
   • The company says the N3 is five times tougher than the last model. [6]
   • It also connects through collars passing signals to each other, or by satellite where there is no phone signal. [6]

   Why it matters

   The software writes grazing records for each field, which can serve as paperwork for US conservation programmes. [6]

   NoFence says virtual fencing is used by under 5% of the US sector, while in Norway it has been in commercial use for more than a decade. [6]

   The truth

   • Who gains NoFence — It calls the US its strongest growth market, where virtual fencing is still used by under 5% of the sector. [6]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether NoFence's collars hold cattle as well as the company says.

     The 99.7% containment rate is the company's own figure, and the article cites no independent test. [6]

4. 06

   Britain's flower farms multiply

   What happened

   • Flowers from the Farm, a British trade body for flower growers, has about 1,100 members, and about 240 of them are in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. [7]
   • Its founder, Georgie Newbery, says she could find maybe five growers selling flowers when she started 16 years ago. [7]
   • The body estimates the sector brings 30 million pounds a year to the UK economy. [7]
   • Petalon Farm near Newquay went from cutting a few hundred flowers for a few weeks a year to about 15,000 a week. [7]

   Why it matters

   Newbery says Britain still imports 85% of the flower foliage bought at market. [7]

   She says flower farming gives farmers a way to diversify, because flowers are worth more than cabbages. [7]

   How it works

   Petalon Farm near Newquay gets very few frosts, so it can grow flower varieties that farms in colder places cannot.

   The idea, in story 02: Why every living thing on a farm works only in a range of temperatures →

   The truth

   • Who gains Flower growers in south-west England — Buyers want homegrown flowers, and one Cornish farm now cuts about 15,000 flowers a week. [7]

   Good news

   • When Georgie Newbery began growing flowers for sale in Britain 16 years ago, she could find maybe five people doing it, herself included. Her growers' group now has more than 1,100 members.