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The cost of producing milk is higher than that being paid by milk processors, leaving farmers operating at a loss
“Every morning that I roll out of bed at 4.40am, I know I’m losing £1,800 that day, just by getting up.” This is the stark daily reality for Paul Tompkins, as he and his fellow dairy farmers struggle in the face of plummeting milk prices.
Tompkins, who is the third generation to run his family’s 234-hectare (600-acre) farm in the Vale of York, can produce milk for about 40p a litre from his 500-strong herd of black and white Holstein cows. However, he is being paid only 29p a litre by his milk processor, leaving him operating at a loss, despite trying to run his business as efficiently as possible.
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Virunga park ranger says babies are well cared for by mother Mafuko but high infant mortality makes first weeks critical
It was noon by the time Jacques Katutu first saw the newborn mountain gorillas. Cradled in the arms of their mother, Mafuko, the tiny twins clung to her body for warmth in the forest clearing in Virunga national park, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Katutu, head of gorilla monitoring in Virunga, has seen dozens of newborns in his 15 years as a ranger. But, he tells the Guardian, even he was touched by the sight of the fragile infant males, who face serious obstacles if they are to become silverbacks one day.
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As international treaty comes into force, bill to make it law in Britain is moving at ‘glacial pace’ through parliament
The UK risks being shut out of a historic oceans summit because parliament has failed to ratify the UN’s high seas treaty, environmental charities and campaigners have warned.
The high seas treaty, formally known as the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, comes into force on Saturday, after two decades of talks.
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Cranbrook, Kent: I have a stretch of leggy hawthorn that needs attention, so I head out into the cold with my axe and billhook
Wire netting is everywhere in the Kent Weald – barbed boundaries to ancient pastures where sheep and cattle still idly graze. But what did farmers do for the hundreds of years before stock fencing was invented?
Hedges, so rooted in what we wistfully consider to be our natural landscape, are in fact human-made features, planted almost solely for the purpose of enclosure. Unmanaged hedges are not a permanent solution, though: young trees mature, trunks become bare, and animal‑sized holes appear, rendering them useless. To remedy this, the practice of hedge laying was developed; unlike bricklaying, it is an act of maintenance rather than creation.
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Todolí foundation produces varieties from Buddha’s hands to sudachi and hopes to help citrus survive climate change
It was on a trip with a friend to the east coast of Spain that the chef Matthew Slotover came across the “Garden of Eden”, an organic farm growing citrus varieties he had never heard of. The Todolí Citrus Foundation is a nonprofit venture and the largest private collection of citrus in the world with more than 500 varieties, and its owners think the rare fruit could hold the genetic secrets to growing citrus groves that can deal with climate change.
The farm yields far more interesting fruit than oranges and lemons for Slotover’s menu, including kumquat, finger lime, sudachi and bergamot.
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This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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Architects and designers have recycled ancient practice of collecting rainwater to make buildings ecologically friendly
When the legendary Taiwanese rock band Mayday were due to perform in Beijing one evening in May 2023, some fans were worried that the rainy weather could affect the show. Mayday were taking to the stage in Beijing’s National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, built for the 2008 Olympics. Like the real-life twig piles that give the building its nickname, the stadium is built with an intricate and highly porous lattice, made of steel.
“Don’t worry too much,” reassured an article published by the official newsletter for China’s ministry of water resources. “The Bird’s Nest also has its ‘secret weapon’!”
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Guardian analysis shows electricity bills were up 6.7% last year, and much higher in some states, and gas bills up 5.2%
Donald Trump has comprehensively failed to meet a key election promise to slash Americans’ energy bills in half within the first year of his presidency, with power prices instead surging across the US.
The average household electricity bill in the US was 6.7% more expensive in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to a Guardian analysis of data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Department of Energy’s statistical arm. The increases meant that, on average, US households paid nearly $116 more across 2025 than they did in 2024.
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From Sydney’s northern beaches to the bottom of the Atlantic – the story of a man who won a trip of a lifetime in a local supermarket competition
Bandra, Mumbai, 1998.
Andrew Rogers, a 34-year-old Sydney greenkeeper, was visiting family in India with his wife, Winnie, and one-year-old son, Terence. Inside, as aunties prepared breakfast – the kitchen a sanctuary from the humid, honking streets – the phone rang.
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From ride-to-work challenges to waste-conscious catering, making your office more environmentally minded doesn’t have to be a slog
January marks the start of a new work year, and as Australians head back to the office, site or shop floor, it’s a good opportunity to revisit and refresh some wasteful work practices.
Most people spend a considerable amount of time at work so actions we take there can be meaningful, says Helen Oakey, chief executive at Renew, a not-for-profit that advocates for people to live sustainably.
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