2023: What made the farming news in September and October?
Our review of 2023 in agricultural events continues with a look at September and October – technical hiccups, food production worries, flea beetles, price rows, Britain’s Fittest Farmer, AHDB levies, outspoken politicians, Red Tractor backlash, FW Awards winners, storm havoc and swimming sheepdogs were all hot topics.
See also: Video: British farming ‘on its knees’ – Riverford founder
September
Technical issues with the Rural Payments Agency’s new IT system meant that common land farmers in England faced having to submit their applications for Defra’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) on paper rather than online.
For other farmers – particularly those who had just been through a costly and difficult harvest – the prospect of sowing more crops for pollinators and wild bird food under the SFI, rather than food crops, took on a broader appeal.
Food production also took a potential knock in West Penwith, Cornwall, where some farmers and landowners started to sell up in response to Natural England’s previous decision to designate more than 3,000ha of the Land’s End Peninsula as a site of special scientific interest.
A late summer heatwave created ideal conditions for flea beetles, leaving fields of oilseed rape vulnerable to attacks, with reports of damage to emerging crops in some counties.
More than 100 food and farming groups signed an open letter to the chief executives of six leading retailers demanding they “get fair about farming”.
Prince William and Princess Catherine visited Herefordshire farmers Sam and Emily Stables to learn more about their mental health charity We Are Farming Minds.
As the Scottish government prepared to launch its new Agriculture Bill, NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy wrote to first minister Humza Yousaf, insisting food production be put at the heart of future policy.
Welsh farmers demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Welsh government’s new interim Habitat Wales Scheme and called for a simple rollover of the existing Glastir scheme amid fears they will lose vital funding before the new Sustainable Farming Scheme starts in 2025.
At its party conference, the Lib Dems promised an extra £1bn into the annual farm budget in England if elected, which was welcomed by the NFU and the Nature Friendly Farming Network.
But the ruling Conservative government questioned where the money would come from.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer appointed Croydon North MP Steve Reed as shadow Defra secretary in his shadow cabinet reshuffle following the resignation of Jim McMahon due to health reasons.
BFF winners Richard Peck, Heidi Wilson and John Carlisle © Telling Photography
Heidi Wilson was crowned Farmers Weekly Britain’s Fittest Farmer in the women’s under 40 category; John Carlisle won the men’s under 40 category; and Richard Peck the mixed over 40s.
The number of cattle slaughtered over a year in England due to bovine TB dropped below 20,000 for the first time in 15 years.
October
AHDB levy payers were warned to brace themselves for a substantial increase in their payments, as the organisation set out its case for a planned 20-33% increase – the first rise in more than a decade.
Farming organisations recognised the need to boost the budget, but almost half of farmers responding to a Farmers Weekly poll objected.
Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg sparked fury when he called for more imports of hormone-treated Aussie beef – a product he described as “absolutely delicious”.
NFU president Minette Batters labelled him “morally bankrupt”.
Defra secretary Therese Coffey used her platform at the Conservative Party conference to rule out a ban on disposable barbeques.
Draft legislation was tabled in Scotland to pave the way for a new post-Brexit farm support policy, from 2026, but NFU Scotland said it lacked the necessary detail and needed attention.
A special service of thanks for farmers was held in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, with a combine harvester strategically parked on the forecourt.
Red Tractor faced an unprecedented backlash as it unveiled its planned Greener Farms Commitment, designed to help supermarkets show off their “green credentials” to consumers, without paying farmers for their environmental delivery.
The NFU council demanded a review of both Red Tractor governance and of standards more generally.
Yorkshire tenant farmers Emma and Robert Sturdy had cause to rejoice as North Yorkshire Council turned down a planning request for a massive solar farm that would have decimated their holding.
FW‘s Farmer of the Year: Claire and Craig Grant © Tellling Photography
Mixed farmers Craig and Claire Grant, from Aberdeenshire, celebrated too, as they scooped the Farmer of the Year title at the Farmers Weekly Awards in London.
The SNP launched a search for a new National Park in Scotland, making good its promise to the Green Party as part of their power-sharing deal.
And Welsh farmers were told they could continue applying muck at 250kg N/ha for another year.
But there was fury as the Welsh government cut its rural budget by £37.5m in response to budgetary pressures.
British Sugar and NFU Sugar appointed an “external facilitator” to try and resolve a bitter row over contract prices for 2024/25.
A Swaledale tup smashed the breed record at Kirkby Stephen, selling for £105,000
Storm Babet wreaked havoc on farms in Scotland, but much of the rest of the country suffered too with river banks topped and crops ruined.
In Flintshire, Llyr Jones’ sheepdog Patsy found social media fame as a video showed her swimming through the floods to rescue three stranded ewes.