This time last year it cost me about £7.50 a month to feed a pig on my small farm in Somerset; today it's nearer £15. In a year, wheat prices have doubled, leading not only to increased bread prices, but also to demonstrations by pig farmers, who are going out of business as fast as you can fry bacon. Almost all the food we eat - 95% - is oil-dependent, so as oil prices rise, the cost of food does too. Oil is central to fertilisers, mechanised production, transportation and packaging. However, between 1950 - when mechanisation and fertilisers transformed farming into agribusiness - and 1984, world grain production increased by 250%. The consequent cheapness of food kept inflation down and allowed for the postwar consumer boom.

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Landowners who "turn a blind eye" to fuel smuggling will be targeted under plans to bolster powers to tackle the crime. NIO Minister Paul Goggins wants to crack down on the people whose allow the 'Mr Bigs' to use their property to cross the border when new laws are drafted later this year.

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County Antrim residents are the most committed to making lifestyle changes to save energy in the home, the Energy Saving Trust has revealed. The residents of County Fermanagh, however, were least enthusiastic about making changes, the survey found. ommitments to help fight climate change were made by 103,000 households in Northern Ireland. If Antrim residents honour their promises, they will save over £900,000 a year on fuel bills.

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An assembly member has called for £30,000 fines to be imposed for the destruction of protected trees. Jim Wells of the DUP was speaking after about 50 trees were felled on a private estate on the outskirts of Newcastle in County Down.

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Huge water lilies are threatening the future of one of Belfast's best-loved lakes. The 25-acre Waterworks lake, near the Cave Hill, used to supply much of the city's drinking water. But the important facility has been invaded by the tropical fringed water lily. These can smother native species and destroy natural habitat. If the lake is not treated soon, in the future it could resemble a swamp.

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Motor industry calls for introduction of an EU-wide system of tax

Irish car buyers will continue to pay 'distorted' prices despite a new emissions-based taxation system kicking in from July 1, according to a new study from manufacturers.

Nearly every western European country now has an emissions-based system, the study shows.

But the levels of taxation vary so much from country to country that car makers will have no choice but to supply vehicles to different markets at widely varying pre-tax prices.

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UP TO 200 delegates from all over Europe are set to attend a major sustainable energy conference in Cork next month.

Energie-Cites, in conjunction with Cork County Council, is to hold its 13th annual rendezvous as well as its annual general meeting in Cork County Hall from April 9th to 11th.

This year's theme is "Towards Europe's sustainable energy future - local authorities are ready to act". With members in 24 countries and representing more than 500 towns and cities, Energie-Cites is the association of European local authorities to promote local sustainable energy policies.

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From the Sydney Opera House to Rome's Colosseum to the Sears Tower's famous antennas in Chicago, floodlit icons of civilization went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a worldwide campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

The environmental group WWF urged governments, businesses and households to turn back to candle power for at least 60 minutes starting at 8 p.m. wherever they were.

The campaign began last year in Australia, and traveled this year from the South Pacific to Europe to North America in cadence with the setting of the sun.

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COAL is our cheapest and most abundant source of fossil-fuel energy. We probably have enough to keep the world powered for hundreds of years. Trouble is, the carbon emissions from burning it all would make the planet uninhabitable long before then. Is there a way to get the energy without the emissions?

There certainly is, say coal technologists. So what are we waiting for?

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The initial public consultation process for the new Shannon bridge crossing, together with the Killaloe Bypass and R494 upgrade project, began last week.

Proposed plans from Roughan & O'Donovan engineering consultants are in circulation since last Friday (March 14) as part of a four-week public consultation process.

The plans include prepaid envelopes for members of the public to submit their observations. Plans and detailed brochures have been made available at six locations in North Tipperary and Clare, including the Killaloe Library and the local authority's Newport office.

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WEXFORD Green Party is asking people all over the county to get behind a new campaign to highlight the need for energy conservation.The worldwide campaign, first begun in Sydney, Australia, last year, asks people to turn the lights out for one hour at 8 p.m. on March 29.

WEXFORD Green Party is asking people all over the county to get behind a new campaign to highlight the need for energy conservation.

The worldwide campaign, first begun in Sydney, Australia, last year, asks people to turn the lights out for one hour at 8 p.m. on March 29.

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With almost 100% of farmers participating in the obligatory Farm Waste Management Scheme, the deadline for which was December 2006, this has meant a building boom for agricultural building contractors.

To access EU farm payments, Irish farmers are required to fulfil certain obligations under the waste management scheme.

It is estimated that the average cost of farm renovations under the scheme would be in the region of 120,000 per farmer, pending the size of their holdings, making the building boom worth at least 150 million in County Cork alone.

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FISHERMEN will have their incomes and industry transformed by new regulations aimed at making their lives easier and protecting fish stocks.

That's the view of Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan who launched the headquarters of the new Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) in West Cork yesterday.

The independent body will be responsible for protecting fish resources and supervising quality development in fishing.

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THE ESB is planning to spend €22 billion on developing its network and generating plants, in what will be the biggest investment of its kind in Ireland. Barry O'Halloran reports.

A corporate plan launched by the company yesterday will see it spend €11 billion on its networks, and ultimately spend €1 billion on a carbon-free coal-fired power plant, which is likely to be located at Moneypoint, Co Clare.

ESB chief executive, Pádraig McManus, said the strategy would see investment of €22 billion in developing the company's assets, eliminating most of the 15 million tonnes of greenhouse gas it produced every year, dramatically increasing its use of renewable energy and expanding its overseas businesses.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann wants to put the brake on a national conversion from conventional incandescent light bulbs to energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican, has sponsored the "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act," which would repeal the national phase-out of the old bulbs.

"This is about freedom, this is about consumer rights," she said.

President Bush signed an energy bill last December that mandates phasing in energy-saving light bulbs starting in 2012.

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The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has called for a Garda investigation into complaints of cruelty to a fox by the members of the Avondhu Hunt near Fermoy in North Cork earlier this month, writes Barry Roche.

The Irish Master of Fox Hounds Association has launched an investigation into the activities of the hunt, which was joined on the day by the Ormond Foxhounds from Tipperary and a hunt group from England.

Spokesman Brian Munn told The Irish Times that both Irish hunts had been suspended by the association pending an investigation, after complaints were received from a number of visiting master huntsmen of cruelty to a fox.

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SHELL E&P Ireland says it has received State approval to drill boreholes in Sruwaddaccon Bay, a special area of conservation (SAC) in north Mayo, as part of work on the Corrib gas project.

The company has also confirmed it is "reviewing" grant aid it has earmarked for a north Mayo community affected by the 2003 Dooncarton landslide, due to local dissent over the application.

The "geotechnical ground investigations" in Sruwaddaccon Bay are due to begin "shortly", as part of the continuing research work on a modified onshore pipeline route for the Corrib gas project, according to the company.

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