Farmer Focus: Might upset some, but 450p/kg beef is needed

Hats off to the Ukrainians for standing tall in their fight against the Russians. It just shows where national pride can get you.

Commodities and supply chains were already under pressure before the conflict started. Most of the Midwest was in drought conditions and experiencing higher freight costs and supply disruptions due to Covid.

A lot of my “long contracts” for product bought forward, which have so far cushioned the blow of the increase in feed costs, run out in April. Some of this price rise can be mitigated with substitutions, diet tweaks and blending, but not at the cost of performance.

See also: Video: Beet and grass mix gives 57p/day winter for grazier

About the author

Doug Dear

Doug Dear farms 566ha (1,400 acres) of arable crops and runs a custom feedyard, contract-finishing about 4,000 cattle a year near Selby, North Yorkshire. Most cattle are finished over 90-120 days for nine deadweight outlets, as well as Selby and Thirsk markets.

Read more articles by Doug Dear

We are now dealing with rapidly rising farm input costs, and feeders need an increase in base price to somewhere above 450p/kg for commercial “factory” cattle. The processors know this, but are feeling the pain themselves because the supermarkets don’t want to upset consumer buying patterns.

For once, the farmer is on the front foot and should take full advantage of this set of circumstances and renegotiate supply contracts, as now there is no second choice of supply to fall back upon.

Yes, I know low-income families are going to feel this the hardest, but that is why the welfare state is so important.

I find it astounding the number of people who seem to treat access to social media as so important, yet food is taken completely for granted.

Consumers are going to have to think about whether they need that £900 iPhone, Sky TV and Spotify premium, or pay the real price for food as UK agriculture goes into an unsubsidised world.

There is a disconnect between government and agriculture, and the longer this goes on, the more chance it will lead to the systematic destruction of an industry. Currently, and far into the future, it’s an industry with so much to offer.

I’ve taken to listening to Greatest Hits Radio – it’s like Radio 2 but better, as you don’t have to listen to the sanctimonious Jeremy Vine (Richard Bramley, the NFU environment chair, was a highlight, though).

But now I’m bombarded with ads for the England Woodland Creation scheme. There’s one literally every half-hour – sometimes you just can’t win.