IN BRIEF

22 January 1999

IN BRIEF

&#8226 THE charity FARM Africa urgently needs two runners who would like to take part in the London Marathon on Sunday Apr 18. There are two guaranteed places for anyone who can raise sponsorship and feels fit enough to run at such short notice. Last year seven people ran for the charity and raised a total of £24,700. This year it hopes to have at least fifteen runners.

For further details on the spare places please contact Rosie Rendall on 0171 430 0440 or at farmafrica@farmafrica.org.uk.

&#8226 EU farm commissioner Franz Fischler will address the NFU annual meeting in London next month, with farm minister Nick Brown and junior minister Jeff Rooker also scheduled to make appearances. Other speakers at the two-day meeting (Feb 2-3) include Sir Colin Berry, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides.

&#8226 THERE were fewer bankruptcies in the agricultural sector in the first half of 1998 than in the same period in 1997, according to figures from the Department of Trade and Industry. In a parliamentary written answer, junior farm minister Jeff Rooker said that 101 farmers were declared bankrupt between Jan 1 and June 30, 1998, with 111 in the same period the year before.