#rural-politics

#rural-politics

Trail hunting is set to be banned in England and Wales as part of a new animal welfare strategy to be published by the government on Monday. The practice sees an animal-based scent trail laid for dogs to follow rather than a real animal, while a group of hunters follows the pack on horseback. It has remained legal since the 2004 hunting ban came into force, because it does not explicitly involve the killing of animals.

The enlightened gentlemen of Europe are always coming up with new things," thundered Socorro Cuevas, 63, a long-time farmer who is the far-right Vox party's agriculture councillor in the central municipality of Socuellamos.

In Tioga County, where President Donald Trump won 75 percent of the vote in 2024, farmers are losing patience with the White House's promise of a quick solution for farm workers do. Their urgent need is highlighted by stories like those of a multigenerational dairy farm that sold off all its dairy cows because the owner could not find workers and another where a farmer's job listings have received no responses.