Highlights of agriculture minister Jim Paice's speech at the Oxford Farming Conference 2012.

The poultry industry gathered in London this week to celebrate individual achievements that have boosted the sector in the past or will do so in the future.

The Dairy Event and Livestock Show is to be rebranded as Livestock 2012 in a bid to continue to build on the recent success of the exhibition.

The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) said the annual two-day specialist business-to-business event, staged at The NEC in Birmingham, will be called Livestock Incorporating Dairy Event from next year and will be held during the first week of July from 2013 onwards.

The 2011 Eblex conference outlined the challenges and opportunities of the British beef and lamb industry. Exports outside the EU and halal products should both be developed to ensure a bright future for the sector.

Rothbury Family Butchers has scored 98% or over for each of the six creations presented at the Foodservice Pork Sausage of the Year competition. The shop’s pork, pear, and black pudding sausage was judged ‘best of the best’ and will compete in the finals on 21 October 2011 in London.

Bpex has revealed the finalists of its Foodservice Pork Sausage of the Year competition. Contestants in the five sausage categories will be judged at Butchers’ Hall in London on 21 October 2011, and only one of them will be crowned champion.

Red meat’s health attributes will be at the forefront of the Nursing in Practice conference in Wales this month.

Butchers flocked in their hundreds to the northern premier of Meat Trades Journal’s Butchers’ Fair this month, an event that was voted “superb” by exhibitors and visitors alike.

MTJ held its first-ever National Pie Competition at the Butchers’ Fair in Bolton last weekend.

Competition is hotting up to see which businesses take home the bacon, or beef, in this year's Meat & Poultry Processing Awards.

Last-minute entries are now in and judges are limbering up as they prepare to pick out some of the UK's best businesses when it comes to meat and poultry processing.

The Eblex and Bpex export teams said they had a successful first-time visit to the Meatmania exhibition in Bulgaria earlier this month.

A fresh take on the traditional BDCI dinner is already paying dividends, with table sales booming, according to this year's festival chairman Carsten Jakobsen, chairman of Tulip.

The third annual Have a Better Barbi Day© will be held this August bank holiday.

The day celebrates the joys of alfresco dining and continues the summer long promotional and sampling activities organised by the National BBQ Association.

The exhibitions are coming thick and fast at the moment. Adam Baker previews four potential days out under one roof at the International Food & Drink event (IFE09) and Pro2Pac.

A new date has now been set for the Outlook Conference, jointly hosted by EBLEX and BPEX.

Industry event IFE09 has announced a unique visitor attraction to show brand new innovations in the food market, in association with market research company Mintel.