This Week in Farming: Buggies, Brussels and political tussles

Welcome to another edition of This Week in Farming, your weekly round-up.

You know the drill by now… here are your markets and now let’s get into the best content from the past seven days.

Politics round-up

With conference season over, a bit more politics is starting to happen around the country.

In Scotland, farm lobby groups are split over a forthcoming extension to the Scottish Rural Development Programme, while in Westminster, Defra secretary of state Steve Reed revealed a plan to review red tape.

Meanwhile, he was warned by a coalition of environmental groups that the SFI is incentivising the ploughing of permanent pasture, potentially causing unwanted carbon emissions, and attacked by the Tories over Labour’s future plans.

And a delay by Brussels to deforestation legislation has come as a relief to the beef industry as it will postpone a potential barrier to livestock exports, as well as a higher soya price.

Labour’s first 100 days

This week marks the Labour government’s first 100 days in office, with pressure from farmers now mounting on the Defra team to flesh out their plans for office, although there is little prospect of this happening before the Budget on 30 October.

We have an in-depth analysis of what has been achieved in the first Labour government in 14 years, and I’ve also written my Editor’s View on the topic in which I compare Labour to an underpowered electric buggy.

We have also facilitated a letter from our Transition partners to the government on what the barriers to progress are on the twin goals of promoting food security and improving the environment.

On test this week

That electric buggy I referred to was the Corvus Terrain EX4, which was reviewed in our Machinery section, with plenty of positives despite being a little underpowered for some tasks.

Also featured in the section is how the combi planter market is getting more competitive in the potato sector, with four manufacturers jostling for market share amid a renewed focus on cost-cutting by growers.

Farms for sale

If it’s a whole farm you’re in the market for, then this time of year is normally relatively quiet, but Scotland is currently bucking the trend as this week’s land update shows.

Top of the list is an Aberdeenshire farm that has blended successful farming operations with environmental conservation.

And if you’re wondering how to monetise the latter, we have an article on how farms are generating income from the environment in our Transition supplement.

Who’s up and who’s down?

On the up is Sir James Dyson, after the latest filings for his farming operations revealed it had been a year of healthy profits for Britain’s biggest farming business.

Feeling glum this week are some grain traders, amid fears that there may be headwinds to come for the wheat price if we can’t get the EU regulatory filings needed to continue selling into its biofuel market.

Listen to the podcast

Don’t forget to tune into this week’s FW podcast, with Johann Tasker and guests.

You’ll find it anywhere you listen to podcasts, or free to listen to on our website.