It’s official! The 2009 single farm payment is going to be worth 15% more than last year, at least for those who opted to receive it in sterling
Archive | September, 2009
New Nix Pocketbook “a cracking good read”
When it comes to holiday reading, the John Nix Farm Management Pocketbook is never going to make to the list of “must be seen with” books to take to the airport.
Sterling’s slump is great news for SFPs
It’s that time of year again when many in the farming industry take an even closer interest in the value of sterling and what is going on in the international currency markets.
“Up horn, down corn” rings true as ever
A quick glance at the graphs’ page in this week’s Farmers Weekly just goes to show that the old adage “up horn, down corn” is as relevant today as it has ever been.
Milk anger boils over in Europe
It is said that a picture tells a thousand words – so rather than waffling on in my usual style about the causes and effects of this week’s milk strikes in Europe, here is a regional round-up in picture form
Hint of optimism to be found at Dairy Event
Dairy farmers have had a tough 12 months, with prices on the slide, the collapse of Dairy Farmers of Britain, a worsening TB situation, poor forage in some parts of the country and the looming threat of NVZs. Not surprising that farmers continue to quit the industry at an alarming rate.
Mariann Fischer Boel – enjoyed the common touch
So Mariann Fischer Boel has finally called it a day. News that she will not seek another term in office is not altogether surprising, though recent speculation in Brussels had suggested that she could be persuaded to stay on.
How accurate are the official harvest estimates?
Are government agencies exaggerating the size of this year’s global grain crop and are multinationals influencing the figures in order to move the market one way, then the other?
Tractor sales down, but not out
At face value, a 33% drop in anything looks like a bit of a slump, or in the case of the AEA’s monthly tractor sales data, a “depression”, given that this index is so often referred to as the barometer of the UK farming industry.
Do not return to dairy policies of the past
Long on rhetoric, short on action has to be the assessment of this week’s farm council meeting in Brussels, where 27 ministers and their aides discussed the dairy crisis for over three hours and came up with nothing.