The Labour government has announced "a new deal for farmers" which will include seeking a new veterinary agreement with the EU to reduce red tape and enhance food exports, protecting farmers from being undercut by low welfare and low standards in trade deals and using the Government's purchasing power to back British produce.
·The Soil Association is to run the Future Farm Resilience programme on behalf of Defra. Business planning advice will be provided to help farms adapt to new support policies.
The Royal Veterinary College has been awarded £1.2 million from the Bezos Earth Fund to research how methane-inducing microorganisms colonise the gastro-intestinal tract of calves in the first 6 weeks of life and how they impact on the developing immune system. The project is designed to provide information on the optimal way to administer any potential vaccine to reduce methane production.
·A report from the National Audit Office reveals that the UK produced 62% of the food it consumed last year but expresses concern that the removal of the Basic Payment System and the introduction of the Sustainable Farming Incentive could see 40% of farms close unless they are able to implement productivity improvements.
A survey conducted by Investec Wealth & Management has revealed that 70% of UK farmers have invested in renewables with 68% having invested in biomass energy, 51% in wind energy, 39% in solar energy, 23% in hydropower and 14% in battery energy storage systems. Only 2% claimed not to be involved in any renewable energy operations. 90% claim to have received approaches from third parties seeking to purchase carbon credits.
Covering the year to Feb 2023, Defra statistics on farm management practices show that 86% of farms undertook at least one business management practice, with 60% producing an informal business plan. 81% of livestock farms had no animal health insurance and 97% of farms accessed technical advice with the farming media the most common source at 70%.
·Market background - Sterling closed unchanged against the Euro and marginally up against the US dollar having been weaker against both during the month. Both the gold price and the crude oil prices remained moderately volatile this month, albeit with a level trend.
The average UK all milk price for June, reported in August, was 38.92 p/l:2.84 p/l above the price a year earlier. The EU average for June has yet to be reported.
Defra has announced a new strategy to eradicate bovine TB which includes: the first badger population survey since 2011-2013, a new national wildlife surveillance programme to provide an up to date understanding of the disease in badgers and other wildlife such as deer, establishing a new Badger Vaccination Field Force to increase badger vaccination at pace to drive down TB rates and accelerating work on the development of a cattle vaccine.
In the meantime, the Badger Trust and Wild Justice, represented by litigation lawyers Leigh Day, have begun a legal challenge against the Government claiming that Natural England has issued additional badger culling licences against scientific advice from its own experts.
With effect from 30 August, the TB-isolation filling period has been extended to 60 days allowing calves or store cattle from TB-restricted holdings an additional 18 days to fill the unit.
Results published by People and Nature have reported that the vaccination of 260 badgers across 12 farms in Cornwall in a 4 year period reduced the number of badgers testing positive for bovine TB from 16% to zero.
As at April, AHDB estimates there were 7,130 dairy producers in GB, down 440 on a year earlier.
Data from BCMS shows that births to dairy dams in the three months to June were down 2.1%, compared to the same period last year, at 298,000 head. In the year to date, registrations are down 0.5% at 704,000 head.
Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group is to reduce its contracted numbers from 400 farms following a reduction in demand.
During June, 1,225 million litres of milk were available to processors, down 8% on May.
Kantar data shows that Asda's market share has fallen from 13.7% to 12.8% this year and is down from 17.2% a year ago. Tesco's share has risen to 27.6%, Sainsbury's 15.3% and Lidl to 8.1%. Aldi fell by 0.2% to 10%.
Waitrose has introduced a free-range cream, the first supermarket so to do.
A survey conducted by AO.com has revealed that, while the average weekly grocery bill is £85.72, 10% is thrown away.
The Defra Farming Opinion Tracker for April has been published. It shows that 64% of farmers claim to understand Defra's vision for farming, whilst 53% would be making changes to their agri-environment schemes within the next year. 64% of farmers are not confident that changes to the schemes and regulations will lead to a successful future for farming but from this tracker 40% feel positive about the future with 6 % very positive.