This Week in Farming: Policy updates galore and a new Toyota

Hello and welcome to another edition of This Week in Farming, your one-stop shop for all the best content from the Farmers Weekly website in the past seven days.

Here are five of the hottest topics that we’ve been keeping an eye on this week, as well as a look at what’s coming up in the next edition of the Farmers Weekly podcast.

Farm policy updates aplenty

It’s been a busy week for civil servants and their political masters across the UK, with updates on future farm policy in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Northern Irish farmers now have greater clarity on what’s ahead after a timeline was published mapping out the pace of future changes.

In Scotland, FW deputy editor Abi Kay got her hands on a leaked document that sets out the hurdles farmers may have to tackle to keep hold of some form of direct support.

And in England, farmers and landowners have 150 pages of fresh information on a slew of new standards they will be able to get payment for, after Defra published a significant update to the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

The changes are so significant that those already in the scheme will have to leave and apply again, with the department promising to compensate entrants for any financial loss arising from the developments.

Asulox uproar

Scottish and Welsh farmers have reacted with fury after being denied the chance to use the same bracken-controlling herbicide their English counterparts continue to have access to.

Farmers have been able to use the chemical under a so-called emergency authorisation which has continually been rolled over annually for the past decade.

English farmers learned this week that their use would continue uninhibited, but late on Wednesday the Scottish government said it would withdraw the chemical as it posed a risk to the environment and human health.

Fall in farm borrowing

With all the changes to farm policy feeding through, as well as a sharp rise in the cost of agricultural inputs, this week’s HMRC data showing that farm borrowing has fallen by more than £800m may come as a shock.

Business editor Suzie Horne digs into the details of why that may be in this timely sector-by-sector analysis published before the Bank of England’s rate-setting committee met on Thursday.

Investment in the future is something the Williams family in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire have managed to achieve, with father Phil and sons Rhys and Randall putting up a fresh calf rearing shed recently to improve calf health and make the job simpler.

Debbie James went along to find out how they managed to keep spend down to about £35,000 for the 140-berth unit.

Drastic action needed to tackle blackgrass

Weather conditions since harvest last year have been ideal for hampering blackgrass control, and the results are now clear to see, with a plethora of the pernicious plants standing strong above many crops.

Drastic action, including judicious use of the plough, may be necessary to bring the weed back under control, according to arable editor Richard Allison, who spoke to farmers and researchers for this timely piece packed with short- and long-term advice.

There’s more topical guidance on tackling grassweeds, including brome, from this week’s Crop Watch agronomist contributors.

They also note that harvest is rapidly approaching, with winter barley just a few weeks away in some areas where winter crops have suffered on thin and light soils.

Toyota tribute

“A gem in a mine of mediocrity” is how machinery editor Oli Mark describes the desperately unfashionable but much-loved Toyota Land Cruiser – now the only real spanner-friendly 4×4 that can still be bought new, as other simple runabouts have fallen by the wayside.

He takes the latest model for a spin and gives his verdict on the (very limited) changes, in this tribute to a vehicle that in tech terms has been only gently nudged into the current millennium.

Another fan of classic kit, Charlie Flindt, is also in the magazine this week with a cheerful column explaining why his wife Hazel happened to find him at one end of a hay field on his knees with the vicar.

Listen to the FW Podcast

Don’t forget the latest edition of the Farmers Weekly podcast with Johann Tasker and Hugh Broom too. This week they’ll be diving into the detail of the English and Scottish policy updates and talking through the Brexit survey results with news editor Phil Clarke.

Listen here or bring us with you in the cab by downloading it from your usual podcast platform.