1. Defra have announced a range of measures to support farmers. Most of these are not very lowland livestock orientated and a fair few of the measures are to promote exports, based on the UK’s high food and welfare standards. So £2 million will be committed to boost the programme of global trade shows and missions whilst £1.6 million will be provided for the GREAT food and drink campaign.
2. An additional £1 million will be used to help dairy business export opportunities particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
3. £30 million of investment will help drive forward the use of precision breeding technologies.
4. The Scottish Government has created a Food Security Unit to monitor food system resilience and engage widely so that government and industry are able to react as quickly as possible to any future shocks.
5. Defra have announced that environmental land management schemes will be equal for both upland and lowland farms where they are carrying out the same operations, whilst a further £15 million of funding has been announced for projects to help create new habitats for wildlife, help protected sites and boost efforts to reach net zero alongside sustainable food production.
6. Following the publication of the Rock Review, the government has accepted the reviews key recommendations. These include a new Farm Tenancy Forum. There will be a Call for Evidence about the need for a Tenant Farming Commissioner.
7. The UK Average all milk price for April was 39.43 pence per litre,9.5 % (4.15 p/l) below the price in March but 2.2 % up on a year earlier.
8. During March, liquid milk production increased by 12% compared to February to 531 million litres; cheese production increased by 13% to 44,300 tonnes; butter production increased by 29% to 19,300 tonnes and milk powder production increased by 104% to 7,700 tonnes.
9. The number of British dairy farms is estimated to have fallen by 4.8% since a year ago and by 4.5% since last October. However the average volume per farm has remained high at 1.65 million litres per year.
10. The NFUs latest Digital Technology Survey has revealed that only 21% of farmers have reliable mobile phone signals across the whole of their farm while fewer than 50% have broadband speeds which are acceptable for business needs.
11. The Agriculture Universities Council, which represents 16 universities has developed a new research strategy to strengthen the impact of its research. Scientists at Aberystwyth University are investigating the most effective methods of using livestock cells to grow cultured meat.
Hope that the above is of interest. Happy to answer any questions/queries.
Tim Brigstocke
Policy Director