Starting in the late 18th Century and running into the 19th Century, the clearances saw townships occupied by generations of families cleared to make way for large-scale sheep farming and the rearing of deer.

BBC: Attempts to topple Duke of Sutherland statue

Starting in the late 18th Century and running into the 19th Century, the Highland Clearances saw townships occupied by generations of families cleared to make way for large-scale sheep farming and the rearing of deer.

BBC: Sutherland Clearances influenced composer's new work

Thanks to revenues from fishing licences, Falklanders are no longer poor folk dependent on a dying sheep-farming industry.

ECONOMIST: Wary partners in the South Atlantic

While sheep and cattle losses have already been extensive, there are other farming sectors at risk, too, such as wine.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Compassion in World Farming, a lobby group, says that half the sheep killed in France are conscious when their throats are slit.

ECONOMIST: Seal hunting

"We're going through a very bad time in arable farming, but that is nothing compared to the hardship the sheep farmers are going through, " he said.

BBC: Sheep in the snow

The farming crisis has hit Maurice Vellacott so badly he has begun shooting his sheep - because he says they are worthless.

BBC: Special Report

Stewart Moffat, farming at Wigton in the Lake District, lost all his cattle and sheep on 4 April, the 1, 000th confirmed case in what the NFU is now terming "the world's worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth".

BBC: Disease 'stranglehold' on farmers

As a result of the negotiations, the Farming Minister Jane Kennedy has confirmed farmers in England will not now have to electronically tag sheep intended for slaughter before they are 12 months old when the new rules come into force.

BBC: Fears over sheep tagging 'folly'