Hello and welcome to This Week in Farming, Saturday’s round-up of the best stories in agriculture.
Here’s the five biggest agenda-setting topics from the past seven days, as well as a look ahead to this week’s Farmers Weekly Podcast.
Tenancy review
This week’s biggest farm policy news was the publication of the Rock Report, an independent analysis for government by Tory peer Baroness Rock of what is needed to help the tenanted sector in England thrive.
The review was conducted with eight experts who represented landlord and tenant interests, including George Dunn, Tenant Farmers Association chief executive and recent recipient of the Farmers Weekly lifetime achievement award.
It recommended a slew of changes including a demand that “tenants should not need landlord consent to enter tenanted land into [ELM and productivity] schemes, and landlords should not be allowed to enter tenanted land into schemes unilaterally”.
This should apply when the length of the scheme commitment is no longer than the length of the tenancy remaining, it says.
The government will publish a response to the recommendations in due course.
Meanwhile, two new eye-catching tenancy opportunities hit the market this week.
One is to be the only dairy producer on the Channel Island of Alderney, the other to participate in a televised competition to win a 10-year contract from the National Trust to manage a 137ha grassland farm at the Wallington Estate, Northumberland.
Red-hot demand for mince
Fears are growing that the suckler herd is continuing to contract, with higher cull cow volumes and cows not being replaced.
Strong demand for cheaper meat products has meant cull cow prices have resisted the usual seasonal drop in values, helping those who are cutting numbers or exiting the industry, reports FW senior reporter Michael Priestley.
Aberdeen and Northern Marts auctioneer Tim McDonald said: “The sad reality is a cow is worth more empty than she is in-calf or with a calf at foot.”
For those looking to hold down rampant feed costs, check out how an Oxfordshire beef farm managed to extend their grazing season by two months.
Suzuki Jimny refurb
Our stats don’t lie – we know you can’t get enough of stories on the pocket-sized Suzuki Jimny.
So here’s another helping from top machinery freelancer James Andrews, who went to see just how Yorkshire firm Yomper is giving them a custom refurb, including many with a pickup back for extra carrying capacity.
If cutting-edge kit is more your bag, check out this run-through of the new machinery that will be on show in a few weeks at this year’s Sima Show in Paris. It includes the next generation of Claas Variant balers.
And don’t miss our full round-up of all the square balers coming to market in 2023.
Fuel costs
There was another blow this week for those keeping machinery moving as fuel costs jumped again following the announcement of a global cut in oil production.
Some business owners may be able to take the sting out of that by snapping up urea at a lower price.
Prices are keenest for those close to ports, as distributors are under pressure to move product before more imported shipments arrive.
October deliveries are currently priced at £830-£860/t, with merchants saying further reductions are likely in the coming weeks.
Veteran opinion writer David Richardson had his say this week on the cumulative impact of these cost increases.
He warns: “Failure to target urgent support to farming and horticulture runs the risk of farm bankruptcies and food shortages. We’ve already seen what lack of action has done to the pig industry.”
Grapes move north
We’ve all heard of vineyards on the warm downlands of Kent and Sussex, but how about sandwiched between Peterborough and Leicester?
This week, writer Tim Relf visits The Rutland Vineyard – home of the Beaver family, who have launched a seven-acre operation with 13,000 vines selected to suit the area’s Jurassic limestone soils and relatively cool climate.
Read the full story on their plans, along with advice on what makes the ideal grape-growing soil from the appropriately named Matthew Berryman, a farm business and viticulture consultant at CLM.
Listen to the FW Podcast
Don’t forget the latest edition of the Farmers Weekly podcast with Johann Tasker and Hugh Broom, too.
Listen here or bring us with you in the cab by downloading it from your usual podcast platform.
