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OPINION

Editor's View: Tight times ahead for arable - who can win?

Two trips in the past two weeks have given a fresh perspective on the challenges posed to the arable sector by the current ultra-low prices, and how farmers will be…

OPINION

Opinion: Confusion as TB hits Hinton Ampner – or does it?

Regular readers will know that I don’t often do “serious”. In nearly three decades of columns, I’ve never strayed into “glass half empty” territory. Alas, not this week. You see,…

OPINION

Opinion: Farming under threat from cyberattacks and AI

To misquote Terminator 2: Judgement Day: "I need your clothes, your boots and your farm subsidy." It’s my favourite instalment from the film – Schwarzenegger switching sides, a young street-smart…

OPINION

Opinion: Stop defending Brexit fantasy and tell the truth

In the years since Brexit, British agriculture has become caught in a peculiar double bind. We’re told to look forward, not back. To embrace change. To take responsibility. But at…

OPINION

Editor's View: What will your cab musings be this harvest?

“First come the dreamers. Then the bankers. Then the salesmen. Then the sharks. Then the desperate. Then the thieves.” So said the fictional Tommy Norris, Billy Bob Thornton’s character in…

OPINION

Opinion: IHT stance is 'incompetence and intransigence'

The online newspaper that I read enables comments under most articles. When it comes to farming, there is a cohort of contributors who are furious that farmers will pay only…

OPINION

Opinion: Mindset matters when it comes to climate change

Every farming decision is a risk calculation. Whether it’s when to buy in feed, how long to hold finished stock, or whether to invest in that new handling system, farmers…

OPINION

Opinion: Reeves' Spending Review could have been worse

In the end, Rachel Reeves’ Spending Review on 11 June was widely regarded by farming and countryside groups as not as bad as it could have been, given the positively…

OPINION

Opinion: Welsh bluetongue hard border appears futile

There is something almost regal about Wales’s deputy first minister Huw ­Irranca-Davies – tall, distinguished-looking beard, worldly wise facial expression… His decision to hold a bluetongue “roundtable” in early June…

OPINION

Opinion: 'Disappointment and distrust' on ag policy

It feels like a lifetime ago that I sat at the 2018 Oxford Farming Conference and listened to Defra’s plans to replace EU subsidies with a new system based on…

OPINION

Opinion: You can't love Skye without loving its crofters

“I didn’t move here for the people, I came for the place.” I was surprised by this statement from the pleasant lady I met on a dog walk. A recent…

OPINION

Editor's View: Defra not out of woods after Spending Review

At last, a glimmer of clarity as to how much spending power Defra has for the three financial years from April 2026 onwards. The combined budget for the Sustainable Farming…

OPINION

Opinion: The case for not taking IHT-avoiding action

olbn Sometimes one observes bravery in plain sight. In this case, it was a senior partner of a firm of land agents suggesting to his audience of farmers that, shock-horror,…

OPINION

Opinion: EU trade deal farming anger mirrors UK frustration

British farmers have staged an impressive number of tractor rallies and demonstrations in recent months, triggered by a host of seemingly hostile government policies. But Continental farmers have their grievances…

OPINION

Opinion: My 30-second elevator pitch to Sir Keir Starmer

Daydreaming about bumping into the prime minister isn’t something I often do, but recently I’ve been curating my perfect pitch for our sector, because when those 30 seconds in the…

OPINION

Editor's View: The speech I wish Steve Reed would give

This week Defra secretary Steve Reed ducked out of a scheduled appearance at the Royal Cornwall Show. Here’s what I wish he’d said to farmers at the showground if he’d…

OPINION

Opinion: 'Soft' society is keeping next gen out of ag work

As a society we are letting our young adults down and, as an industry on the continual hunt for staff, why are we not encouraging, or indeed lawfully allowed to…

OPINION

Opinion: What if you became mentally incapacitated?

A farmer all his working life, my grandfather Dick died late last year, having suffered with Alzheimer’s disease for a decade or more. I will remember him only as a…

OPINION

Editor's View: Hot air aplenty from climate change committee

The War of the Executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies 2025 may not trouble historians in years to come, but those of us who lived through it will remember it as a…

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