*The Government has committed to support profitable farming businesses, improve food security and protect the British agricultural sector. Grants to farmers are expected to total £427 millions in the coming year with investment in productivity schemes doubled. An annual UK-wide Food Security Index will capture and present data needed to monitor levels of food security and the Farm to Fork Summit will be an annual event.
*NFU Cymru has called the Welsh Government's proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme nothing short of economic suicide. It claims there will be 5500 job losses with similar losses in the wider supply chain.
*AHDB farm performance figures for England show some startling differences between the Top 25% and the Bottom 50%.The difference in cereal farms was £104,060;beef and sheep farms £49,200 and dairy farms £126,500.The principal reasons were considered to be managing overheads, attention to detail, attitude to change and setting goals and budgets..
* Defra has approved increases to the AHDB Producer levies. From April the levy on cattle excluding calves will be £5.06/head; calves £0.10/head; lamb £0.75/head; cereals £0.58/t; oilseeds £0.94/t; dairy £0.08 pence per litre and pigs £1/head.
*The UK average all milk price for December was 37.83 pence per litre, virtually unchanged from November: down 13.77 p/l on a year earlier but up 3.15 p/l on a 5-year rolling average of 34.68 p/l..
* The British Cattle Movement Service has reported that more than 35,500 Wagyu-sired calves were born in 2023,up from 17083 in 2020.Of the total,33,347 were cross-bred with 2203 pure bred.
*According to the US Dept of Agriculture, as of 1 Jan there were 87.2 million head of cattle and calves on US farms, the lowest level in 73 years. Dairy cow numbers however were only slightly down at 9.36 million head.
*During December,1,146 million litres of milk were delivered to dairies, up 4.4% on November but unchanged on a year earlier.
*The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit has calculated the war in Ukraine has cost UK farmers an additional £1.45 billions in fertiliser costs to date.
*The latest AHDB Agri-market outlook shows that milk production will fall by 1.1% with UK beef production remaining stable although prime cattle slaughterings will increase by !%.Lamb production will fall by 1%,consumption will fall by 2% but sheepmeat imports will rise by 4%.
*Dairy exports in 2023 increased by 2.2% to 1.23 million tonnes. whilst imports fell by 2.1% to 1.15 million tonnes.
* Graham's Family Dairy has increased its produce in the United Arab Emirates in supplying 55 Spinney stores and 15 Waitrose stores in the country.
*The NFU has published the results of an independent review into Red Tractor governance which has found it is "sound" and there has been no "procedural breach". The review also reports that Red Tractor is significantly more transparent than other assurance schemes. However, it is also stated that farmers lack of trust is serious and potentially damaging and that the scheme is not capable of dealing with the challenges and there is a gulf of perception which is damaging. The review makes some interim recommendations largely on governance and process but highlights more effective stakeholder engagement as essential.
Tim Brigstocke
Policy Director, RABDF