Latest farming opinions NEWSOpinion: No 'normal' season since 2018The period since October 2023 has been merely the latest and most extreme example of the future that awaits agricultural production in the UK as the world’s climate warms. Space… NEWSEditor's View: Could FW event be your first spring day out?Open the arable section of Farmers Weekly this week (3 May issue) and the widening diversity of the sector is laid bare. In one lane is an admirable farmer pushing… NEWSOpinion: Straw prices are giving me heart palpitationsOne way or another, we are in the process of waving goodbye to winter 2023-24. As I’m sure is the case with every farmer, the waving is predominantly being done… NEWSOpinion: More inclusivity helps raise farming's productivityWhen I was at school and sat in front of the careers advisor, the answer that came from the tick box survey was “veterinary”, which I guess did have some… NEWSOpinion: Build fairness in farming from the bottom upThe oddest whinge I received about my last column was that it was easy for me to be opinionated because I don’t rely solely on farming for my income. This… NEWSEditor’s View: In praise of average farmersHow do you build a farm business that has the highest possible chance of long-term success? Is it by being a great farmer, or by building a great system where… NEWSOpinion: It isn't a binary choice between farming and wildlifeI’ve never thought long and hard about the great bustard, but now is the time. Rewilding enthusiasts have been celebrating news that farms in Wiltshire and Derbyshire are to be… NEWSOpinion: Let's not make the same mistake as the minersPolmaise Colliery near Stirling was the first to walk out over pit closures in the miners’ strikes of 1984. I wonder if, back then farmers ever thought they’d need to… NEWSEditor's View: Smoking ban has got me thinking about farmingRoll up, roll up. Well, anyone born after 2009 won’t be in future after this week’s vote in parliament to ban sales of tobacco. Smoking, like recreational tillage, has been… NEWSOpinion: The days of ‘weapons-grade’ tractor hi-fi are overI had a bit of a shock when we finished speccing up options on what might be our new tractor. We’re down to just one now, and while it isn’t… NEWSOpinion: Environmental schemes are hurting rural communitiesThere are now more than 17,000 applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), and uptake is steadily increasing. Link that with the Landscape Recovery Scheme and, from an outside perspective,… NEWSOpinion: Why Scotland needs more radical land reformIt has been 21 years since Scotland first introduced land reform legislation, in an effort to allow communities, crofters and tenant farmers to take ownership of their land and drive… NEWSEditor's View: Pro food production, but not at any priceIt’s not uncommon for an email to arrive in my inbox from a farmer wanting to know – often in blunt terms – why Farmers Weekly is supporting certain initiatives… NEWSOpinion: Online auction of 'blue-bloods' marks the futureAs regular readers of this column know, I pride myself on being at the cutting edge of my profession. Imagine, then, my excitement at the opportunity to enter some of… NEWSOpinion: Input prices static despite likely poor cropsThink back to the first few days of February. The long-range forecast mentioned 14mm of gentle rain, and some of our better fields had dried sufficiently for our dualled-up combi… NEWSEditor's View: Meat scandal reminds us fraud needs fightingA year has passed since Farmers Weekly published shocking allegations about tonnes of imported pork being relabelled as British at a significant meat processing firm, as well as the alleged… NEWSOpinion: Where to put solar generation is the key question"How much solar is enough?" That was a question I posed at a recent Farmers Weekly Question Time event at Rothamsted. The answer isn’t a number. In fact, the answer… NEWSOpinion: More collaboration needed for River WyeDenzil Tweed is the pseudonym of an arable and poultry farmer in north Herefordshire, with farms situated either side of Leominster. As a Herefordshire farmer, I wish to offer a… NEWSOpinion: Scottish Land Reform Bill divides farmersWhen my husband’s family fought the government and local estate for land in the 1920s, they were fighting for survival. Home from the Great War, they’d been promised land in… More articles
