This Week in Farming: Grease guns, bluetongue and budgets

Welcome back to This Week in Farming, your regular round up of the best content from Farmers Weekly.

But first, here’s your markets – including another welcome dip in red diesel prices. Cherry is now almost 38% lower in price than this time last year.

Now, on with the show.

Bluetongue update

Troubling developments this week as bluetongue has spread wider, with further cases in Norfolk and Suffolk leading to the imposition of one large restricted zone, which was then extended to Essex.

A case of the abortion-causing disease was also discovered in East Yorkshire.

However, Defra has granted emergency approval for a vaccine. More details on the use of the vaccine were issued by Defra later in the week.

Harvest update

There’s still plenty of crops to cut out there, particularly in Scotland and the southwest, as this week’s chat with traders and co-ops reveals.

Over in Northern Ireland, Farmer Focus writer Richard Orr has seen a few bright spots, including his winter oats, but sums up the mood of he and his fellow arable farmers as ‘bad yields, bad prices and bad weather’.

If you’re wondering how your variety choices stacked up against rivals, here’s our latest handy maps of the regional best-yielders for spring barley, winter barley and winter wheat.

Sustainable Farming Incentive in the rotation

For many growers in England, a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement is now part of the rotation – with others formally expressing an interest in the 2024 scheme.

That’s why the arable team has taken a close look at the scheme from a practical perspective this week with three articles.

Firstly, all those SFI 2024 scheme changes in detail. Secondly, a closer look into how to incorporate the no-till option introduced in the 2024 scheme.

And finally, a practical look at how to maximise the benefit from pollen and nectar flower mix options – in both scheme years.

Grease is the word

We know a lot of you love a gadget and this week has not dispelled that notion, with our battery-powered grease gun test setting tongues wagging online.

Several of you have asked why there was no DeWalt in the mix. Unfortunately, when we asked them to participate, they never replied.

And there’s a whopping 25 pieces of news in this latest dealer update, including which dealership has been let go by New Holland owner CNH and the latest acquisitions by Ernest Doe.

Who’s up and who’s down?

Feeling fit, fine and on the up this week are the finalists for our Britain’s Fittest Farmer competition. They’ll be competing for one of three trophies in just a week’s time.

Feeling glum this week are lobbyists and farmers upset at early news trickling out of where Defra’s budget cuts may come from, with NFU president Tom Bradshaw warning that it may further undermine farmer confidence.

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.