Recently in arable farming Category

One has to admire Norwegian fertiliser manufacturer Yara's sense of "sang-froid" given all that has happened in the past six weeks.

At the time of its initial bid for US rival Terra Industries in early February, the company insisted it was "business as usual" as far as it's UK operations were concerned.

That was fair enough given that the deal was pretty much a done deal and bearing in mind Yara's existing relationship with Terra - the joint venture they have in GrowHow UK.

But then came news in early March that there was a rival bid on the table, from US fertiliser giant CF Industries, and that this bid was a superior bid.

Yara's response to what must have been a severe blow to the corporate knackers was a controlled "no comment" while directors conducted an evaluation.

And now the news has emerged that Terra has terminated its proposed merger with Yara (worth $4.1bn) and entered into a definitive merger with CF Industries (worth $4.7bn)...

Checking through the SPS application form must be one of the most dreaded tasks any farmer has to undertake during the course of the farming year.

And as an agricultural journalist, writing our annual "SPS special" in Farmers Weekly is also one of my least favourite jobs.

First there is the briefing with the RPA - stuck in a small room in Reading with four civil servants, plus two more by video-link from Newcastle, advising me as to this year's changes. (I did feel a bit outnumbered.)

Then there is the job of deciphering my notes and cross-checking this with the briefing notes handed to me at the RPA and the guidance booklet which arrived in the post a few days later.

And then it's time to write it all up - 2500 words of elegant prose on a subject I find, quite frankly, mind-numbingly dull....

Yesterday (Thursday) I had the pleasure of attending one of the Andersons spring seminars at Salisbury racecourse on Opportunities in a Changing Agriculture.

Surprisingly it was the first of these annual events I'd been to - and sadly one of the last that well-known agricultural consultant and analyst Francis Mordaunt would be giving before his impending retirement.

Explaining complicated issues in simple and engaging terms is a gift, and one that Francis has in abundance.

In just 30 minutes he gave a crash course on the current state of British agriculture, encompassing most of the external factors affecting it, giving an assessment of the health of the industry and providing some useful pointers as to where we might be heading.

The key points were as follows:

* UK farming has weathered the recession better than most sectors. Total Income From Farming (TIFF) in 2008 and 2009 came to over £4bn each year - well up on the £2-3bn seen in the previous eight years.

* At this level, TIFF was finally in excess of direct payments, showing that farming is making a small profit even without subsidy...

Everyone knows that a weak pound is good news for British agriculture.

Primarily because of the weakness of sterling, farm incomes in England last year were limited to just a 6% fall, despite the slump in global commodity prices, while farm incomes in Wales enjoyed a 60% increase.

So yesterday's jitters for sterling on the foreign exchanges, amid fears of a hung parliament this summer, will have been viewed with some satisfaction by many in the farming industry. (The pound reached a ten month low against the dollar and a three month low against the euro.)

The effect of the weak pound can be clearly seen in latest figures from UK Trade and Investment - the government department responsible for international business development.

These show that meat exports rose by 9% to £1.27bn in 2009, while fruit and veg exports were up 10% to £763m and cereal and animal feed exports were up 3% to £2.35bn...

Assemble a bunch of farmers and a bunch of politicians in a room together, and don't expect to find a whole lot of positivity.

That was certainly the case in the morning "political" session at the NFU's annual conference on Tuesday. Despite valiant attempts by president Peter Kendall to remain upbeat, it was not long before the delegates started castigating the invited MPs for their manifold failings.

From badgers, Brussels and battery cages, to red tape, retailers and the RPA, many of the industry's usual gripes got a good airing. One group of farmers from the south-west even stood to attention during DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn's speech, wearing black armbands with TB written on them, in protest at the government's policy on animal health.

It was therefore refreshing to move on to the afternoon "business" session of the conference where some much more positive messages were in evidence...

Columnist David Richardson has been waxing lyrical in this week's Farmers Weekly about the joys of February conferences - and the "chance for malice-free mickey-taking" that they present.

They are very much part of farming life, he explains, and a crucial opportunity to catch up on recent developments, exchange business ideas and, of course, engage in a spot of banter with kindred spirits.

As agricultural journalists we go to our fair share of conferences too.

Unfortunately for us, they are usually more about work than pleasure and its pretty much "heads down", capturing those words of wisdom and then deciding how best to present them for a multi-media audience.

My recent trip to the Sentry Conference at Chilford Hall, Cambs was a case in point, with six excellent speakers taking to the podium during the course of the day...

This week's announcement that the country's two major fertiliser suppliers Yara and Terra are to merge is hardly a major surprise.

Since Yara took over Kemira in 2007 and became a joint venture partner with Terra in GrowHow, many in the industry have considered it just a matter of time before the companies cemented their relationship.

Yara has always been seen as "acquisitive" and eager to grow its 7% share of the world market to something in double figures - and this takes it another, significant step on the way.

It is understood that the planned merger with Terra will give it 9% global market share.

More importantly, it will also give the combined group a 30% stake in the US market and this is where Yara sees the greatest opportunity for growth and profit.

But what will it all mean for British farmers....

Peas and beans have never been my favourite vegetables - that particular accolade goes to braised red cabbage, followed closely by honey roasted parsnips.

But they have certainly gone up in my estimation following what amounted to three hours of "hard sell" at the PGRO (Processors and Growers Research Organisation) in Cambridgeshire last Friday (29 Jan).

Speaker after speaker sung the praises of peas and beans, making the attendees wonder what the world would be like without them.

PGRO chief executive Salvador Potter described them as the "ultimate break crop", fixing nitrogen and clearing up weeds and other pests.

Nutritionist Judith Buttress explained how pulses counted towards the "five-a-day" target and were especially good at providing fibre and iron...

More good news has emerged this week from the IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution), this time in the form of a survey looking at the consumer trend to buy more local food.

According to the report, 30% of shoppers have specifically purchased locally-produced food in the past month, compared with 15% just four years ago.

A similar number (31%) also said they would like more local products available to them, compared with 12% in 2006, as consumers look to improve freshness, reduce food miles, support farmers and keep jobs in the countryside.

The growing demand for local food does not come as a complete surprise, however - least of all to us at Farmers Weekly who were very much behind the push for local food with our Food Miles Campaign in 2006...

The latest TIFF (Total Income From Farming) figures from DEFRA published this week come as quite a surprise.

OK, everyone was expecting that these new figures would differ significantly from the "first estimates" issued by the department's statistical bods last November.

Then the data seemed to suggest that farm incomes had actually increased by 25% during 2009 - which was plainly total nonsense. At the time on this blog I said that DEFRA's track record of getting it right first time left a lot to be desired.

So the fact that this week's figures suggest UK farm incomes actually fell by 6% in 2009 was not unexpected.

What was a complete surprise, however, was that this turnaround had not come about because of any major revision to the 2009 TIFF figure - which has been recalculated at £4.1bn instead of £4.3bn....