* A new All Party Parliamentary Group has been established to tackle unfairness in the supply chain and increase food self-sufficiency to 70%.
* The NFU, AHDB,NFU Cymru, NFUS and UFU commissioned an independent appraisal of farm to fork livestock assurance schemes.
* The Scottish Gov has introduced the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill which includes measures to prohibit sales of holdings of more than 1000 ha until the impact on local communities have been assessed.
* The average Basic Payment in 2022/23 fell to £22,700,25% of average Farm Business Income, compared to £28,400 and 55% in 2021/22.
* Red Tractor has dropped its Greener Farms Commitment module following feedback from its members.
* Soil Association Exchange is to deliver environmental measures for farms in public sector purchasing as part of the Crown Commercial Services Buying Better Food and Drink Agreement.
* The Agri-Climate report shows total agricultural greenhouse gas emissions fell by 12% between 1990 and 2021.In the same period, emission intensities from cattle fell by 4%,from dairy by 23% and from pigs by 44% but sheep emissions increased by 5%.In terms of million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent, total agricultural greenhouse gas emissions fell from 54.4 million tonnes (mt) to 47.9 mt, nitrous oxide emissions fell from 16.6 mt to 13.6 mt and methane emissions fell from 32.5 mt to 27.9 mt but carbon dioxide emissions increased from 5.3 to 6.5 mt. The 2023 Farm Practice Survey showed that 62% of farmers thought it important to consider greenhouse gases when making farm business decisions but 32% did not.
* Defra has published the forecast of Farm Business Income for 2023/24 which shows that average income is expected to fall for all sectors apart from grazing livestock and specialist pig units. Dairy farmers will see a fall of 78% due to the reduction in milk price
* The Scottish Gov has reported that average farm incomes grew to £69,100 in 2022/23,up £14,600 on the previous year and the highest since 2012/13.Dairy incomes rose to £248,700.
* The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation has launched the Clean Grow Financing Initiative to provide discounted lending to help the British agricultural sector transition to more sustainable practices.
* The UK average "all milk" price for January, reported in March, was 37.68 pence per litre,0.15 p/l below the December average,11.52 p/l below the price a year earlier but 3 p/l above the rolling 5 year average of 34.68 p/l. The EU average for Jan was 41.32 p/l;0.02 below the Dec average and 9.32 p/l below the price a year earlier.
* Livestock populations in England as at 1 Dec 2023 have just been released. The dairy breeding herd fell by 0.9% to 1.09 million
* Defra has issued a consultation on proposals to restrict badger culling as an option in targeted parts only of the High Risk and Edge areas until the UK's Chief Veterinary Officer has deemed the disease situation to have improved. Elsewhere vaccination will be used.
* In the three months to Dec, the number of new herd bovine TB incidents in England fell by 17%,compared to a year earlier, with falls of 19% in the High Risk area and 9% in both the Edge and Low Risk areas. There was a fall of 18% in Scotland but a 6% increase in Wales. The number of herds not officially TB Free fell by 8%.
* Arla is to invest £179 millions in its Taw Valley Creamery in Devon to create a global mozzarella business.
* During Jan, average butterfat was unchanged at 4.32%,compared to a year earlier. Average protein increased by 1.6% to 3.45%
* Arla has increased its conventional manufacturing milk price by 0.88 p/l to 40.066 pence per litre whist Muller has increased its price by 1 p/l to 37.5 pence per litre.
* During January, milk available to processors was 1,168 million litres, up 1.6 % on December.
* The Dairy Export Programme has been awarded additional funding of £1 million by the Government.
* The Sustainable Farming Network has been launched by Morrisons in association with Harper Adams University's School of Sustainable Food and Farming.
Hope that's of interest.
Happy to answer any questions/queries.
Tim
Tim Brigstocke
Policy Director, RABDF