Food & Farming · Monday, 14 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

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

Food & Farming 7 sources

Bluetongue, a sheep and cattle virus spread by midges, has reached 20 Scottish farms, and animals leaving Dumfries and Galloway now need a licence until the region is free of it for two years.

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]

The lead story — 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

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

Where this points

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]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

The hottest summer on record High↓

Growers in Essex blamed heatwaves in the hottest year on record for losing up to 40% of their peppers. [3] A BBC report on Cornwall's flower farms said the hottest summer on record made growing hard for all farmers. [7] In Scotland, cooler weather has now lowered the bluetongue risk enough to ease some testing. [1]

Farm costs climbing High↑

Lea Valley's glasshouse growers say their fuel costs rose 120% in a year and fertiliser 60%. [3] They say most supermarkets refused to pay them more. [3] Scotland's farmers' union says farmers in Dumfries and Galloway carry a significant burden to protect the rest of the country. [1]

Governments paying part of the bill Building↑

China's finance ministry plans wider insurance for farmers growing rice, wheat, corn and soybeans. [4] The US meat inspection agency extended cuts of 30% to 75% in overtime fees for small plants. [5]

Tracking farm animals Building↑

NoFence, a Norwegian company, launched a GPS collar that keeps cattle inside a boundary drawn on a phone. [6] China's insurance plan asks for tracking technology to be used in insuring pigs and dairy cattle. [4]

The rest of the day

5 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Heat cost Lea Valley 40% of its peppers

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]
03
China widens insurance for farmers

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]
04
US cuts inspection fees for small meat plants

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]
05
A collar that replaces the fence

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]
06
Britain's flower farms multiply

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]

02 Lesson why it matters

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.

How it works

Midges, bees and plants cannot set their own temperature, so each works only inside a range
In warm weeks midges fly and bite, and carry bluetongue from farm to farm
As the weather cools the midges slow down, so Scotland eased testing on some animals
Above the range, bees collapse and pepper roots are damaged, so glasshouse crops fall
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.

03 Truth what's really going on

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]
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]
Chinese farmers growing rice, wheat, corn and soybeans — The finance ministry plan widens insurance covering the full cost of growing those crops. [4]
Flower growers in south-west England — Buyers want homegrown flowers, and one Cornish farm now cuts about 15,000 flowers a week. [7]
NoFence — It calls the US its strongest growth market, where virtual fencing is still used by under 5% of the sector. [6]

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]
Sheep and cattle farmers whose animals catch the virus — Bluetongue kills many infected sheep and causes fertility problems in cattle. [2]
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]
Small agricultural shows in the Scottish Borders — Several cancelled their sheep and cattle sections after the outbreak began. [2]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

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]
02

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]
03

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]
04

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]
05

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]
06

How many Lea Valley growers have closed.

The association says some growers have entered administration, and does not say how many. [3]
07

How much money China's insurance plan carries.

The Reuters summary lists the crops and kinds of cover, and no budget. [4]
08

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]
09

What else happened in food and farming this week.

Our searches found nothing dated today on this beat, and these six stories were published between 8 and 12 September. A thin record is not proof of a quiet week.

04 Hope carry this

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.

Also true today

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.