The value of the GB cheese market has increased by 7.2% to £2.6bn in the last year, due partly to an average price rise of 5.2% to £6.35/kg.

Despite this price rise, volumes sales of cheese increased by 1.9% in the 52 weeks to 18 March 2012 to 409,604t, boosted particularly by soft continental cheese, which grew by 10%. Cheddar cheese still makes up the majority of cheese sales by volume, at 55%.

It appears that conumers are also buying cheese more often as purchase frequency also increased year-on-year by 2.1% to 34 times a year.

Current potato stocks look set to last until the new crop, despite the bad weather which has delayed planting, according to the Potato Council.

The most recent estimate (based on an industry sample of 295 producers) is 855,000t on-farm storage of producer-owned stocks and 92,000t producer-held at the end of March.

“It looks a lot lower than last year, but this is because we’ve changed the methodology we use to avoid counting duplicates,” said market specialist manager David Swales.

“It’s hard to say what the exact difference is but if there was a shortage we’d see prices shooting up, which is just not the case.”

Total plantings up to 11 May are estimated at 85,165ha, compared with 122,270ha in 2011.

UK tractor registrations rose by 16.8% in April compared with the same month last year, to 1,808 units larger than 50hp. In the first four months of this year sales totalled 5,533 units, a 12.5% increase on the same period in 2011.

The rise is still partially attributable to the change in capital allowances, says AEA.Some orders placed to take advantage the 100% capital allowance on the first £100,000 of expenditure were still being delivered through April.

Precision farming doesn’t come cheap but could improve efficiency, which makes some of the kit eligible for grant funding through the Farming & Forestry Improvement Scheme, points out Mark Wheeler of Brown & Co, Spalding.

This is part of the Rural Development Programme for England and aims to help farming, forestry and horticultural businesses in England use resources more efficiently. It provides grants of between £2,500 and £25,000 to invest in projects and new machinery which enable environmentally friendly growth of the business.

In previous rounds, Brown & Co has successfully gained grant funding for projects including on board and base station GPS technology, claiming 40% of the capital cost. Electrical efficiency devices such as inverters for grain drying fans and rain water harvesting and storage projects are also eligible. Applications for the current round of the scheme must be made by 17 July.

Seven leading agricultural businesses have joined forces to form a seed technology group that aims to improve the process of variety selection and seed supply to farmers.

The “alliance” includes JE & VM Dalton Ltd, Dunns (Long Sutton), Gleadell Agriculture, H. L. Hutchinson, Pearce Seeds, Woodheads Seeds and Wynnstay Group.

All companies will continue to operate independently in their normal businesses, but will share information on plant breeding, seed multiplication, production and supply, as well as variety trials. The initial focus will be on providing independent information and services to growers on new breeding and crop protection technologies within wheat, barley, oilseed rape, maize and forage crops.

The Institute of Agricultural Management’s annual survey of farm managers’ pay and conditions aims to answer this question by providing objective and up to date information about pay and employment conditions.

Farm managers and managers of farm business units are invited to take part in the survey and submit responses by 25 May. The survey is open to both members and non-members of IAgrM and information is given in confidence.

To request a form please contact the Institute of Agricultural Management on 01275 843825 or email victoria@iagrm.com
 
 

Farmers need to regularly check their sums insured - increases in commodity and farm input prices mean that some may not be adequately covered, warns rural insurer Cornish Mutual which has about 24,000 members across Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

“Most farmers usually look at their policies on a yearly basis, but because the cost of commodities such as red diesel, domestic fuel, oil, grain, chemicals, fertilisers and livestock are changing all the time, they need to take account of this and review them more often,” said Philip Wilson, business development manager at Cornish Mutual.

“We’re also seeing increasing investment in new machinery and buildings on the region’s farms and if farmers have bought equipment, perhaps a vehicle or piece of expensive kit recently, it’s important they speak to their insurer to make sure they‘re covered. If they don’t, they could find they are significantly underinsured when it’s too late.”

After a difficult few days for the dairy sector, it was nice to hear some good news from north Wales milk processor Tomlinson’s Dairies.

The company, which buys all milk from farms within an average of 10 miles from its dairy, has just won a contract to supply milk to all schools in Wrexham, Denbighshire and Conwy, equivalent to 146 primary schools and 16 high schools.

The news coincided with the opening of its new 150m-litre capacity dairy, which will handle all of the company’s production when it is fully operational later this year.

“We are delighted to have won this contract, and to be able to produce the milk in our new dairy at the same time is just wonderful for us. We’re already producing 100,000 189ml school-size cartons of milk a week there,” said Philip Tomlinson who co-owns the business with his brother, John.

The company said it had moved towards more sustainable packaging made from wood fibre and had also recently rebranded with a new “Love milk” concept across its products, vehicles, website and livery.

First Milk has bought Manchester based sports nutrition company CNP Professional, which it describes as market leading and profitable. CNP was founded in 1998 and is official nutritional supplier to the British cycling team.

CNP operates in a rapidly growing market, says First Milk, which is not disclosing any financial details of the deal. “Last September we set up a joint venture with the New Zealand company Fonterra to produce premium whey proteins to go into functional food products for consumers across Europe,” said First Milk chairman Bill Mustoe.

“That experience and the growth projections on functional foods sharpened our interest. We were particularly attracted to the sports nutrition sector where the market in Britain has more than doubled in the last 5 years, with this strong growth predicted to be maintained over the next 5 years.

“With the acquisition of CNP Professional, we believe that we have invested in a strong company in a rapidly growing sector, and all of this will allow us to drive more cash for our farmer shareholders.”

 
 

The NFU says figures showing that almost 90% of biofuel supplied in the UK is made from imported feedstock, are a “slap in the face” for farmers.

The Department for Transport figures show that of the 983m litres of biofuel supplied under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation in 2010/11, just 12% came from UK feedstocks, with most coming from US maize, as well as used cooking oil.

NFU chief arable adviser Guy Gagen said the government had dithered over biofuel policy and had ignored the efforts of British farmers and certification bodies to meet EU sustainability criteria.

British production capacity was lying idle and homegrown and processed biofuel feedstocks were progressively being replaced by imports, he said.

“A combination of policy delay, inaction and extending timescales for renewable transport fuel targets has hit UK use of home-produced biofuels hard.”