This Week In Farming: Easter, eggs, and fertiliser shortages
© Adobe Stock Welcome to a bumper Easter edition of This Week in Farming, your regular round-up of the best Farmers Weekly content from the past seven days.
April showers, following a very dry March, have provided some much-needed rainfall for those lucky enough to receive it.
However, drought concerns are building for others, and one Norfolk grower has already started irrigating cereals to protect yields.
In this week’s markets (opens as PDF) rapeseed prices bounce back and red diesel prices ease further.
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Easter exclusive
As the masses get ready to tuck into luscious legs of lamb this Easter, chief reporter Phil Case takes a look into which UK retailers back British farmers.
It wouldn’t be an Easter edition without a mention of eggs, and new RSPCA Assured welfare standards for laying hens have been unveiled, which will require both barn and free-range egg producers to provide natural daylight into all sheds by 2035.
The Easter break will also see the public descend on the countryside, and farmers are braced for dog attacks – with a National Sheep Association survey revealing almost all respondents experienced at least one incident of sheep worrying in the past year.
Fertiliser shortages
Extremely tight supplies of fertiliser in the UK and strong spring demand have left farm businesses scrambling for inputs and facing lengthy delivery delays, with some orders not being fulfilled on time.
FW editor Andrew Meredith writes in his leader column this week that the absence of domestic production and importers wary of buying large shipments (after being left out of pocket in 2022) have both played a part in the fertiliser shortage.
Buoyant beef
The beef sector continues to go from strength to strength, with finished steers lifting above the £7/kg deadweight barrier for the first time.
Great British Beef Week will get under way next week (23-30 April) and the NFU has released its 10-year vision for the sector to coincide with it, outlining plans to tackle falling cattle numbers and increase production by 5% by 2035.
Finished pig prices are also on the up, with values on the Continent lifting by 10% since the start of April.
Pig producers could see changes further down the line with an industry campaign launched to end farrowing crates.
Bittersweet sugar beet
Lower average yields for sugar beet in the 2024-25 campaign have left many growers closer to breakeven than they would have liked.
However, its not all doom and gloom with a new insecticide being made available to sugar beet growers this spring to manage aphids carrying virus yellows.
Tractor torque
The machinery desk has unveiled its ultimate guide to buying a tractor 2025, which covers all the major new models from the big brands in the past year.
New tractor registrations so far this year have been slow, however, with high-horsepower tractors losing favour in a squeezed arable sector.
Best of the rest
Anne Dunn from the News desk has delved into how the UK government’s plans for 100% clean energy by 2030 will impact farm businesses through major infrastructure projects.
The NFU has outlined a fresh approach to lobbying against the government’s controversial changes to IHT, moving away from mass rallies and focusing on engaging directly with Labour MPs.
Meanwhile, business editor Suzie Horne considers how a company structure could help IHT planning.
FW Podcast and in-person
Don’t forget to tune in to the FW Podcast, with Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom.
You’ll find it anywhere you listen to podcasts, or free to listen to on the FW website.
Farmers Weekly will also be on the road in May, hosting its annual Transition Live 2025 event in Yorkshire, so get your tickets now to come along.