2025: What made the farming news in July and August?

Our review of 2025 continues with a look at what made the news in July and August – from the earliest ever start to harvest to the arrival of bovine TB at Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm.

See also: Video: Earliest ever barley harvest for Merseyside grower

July 2025

• July marked the start of the driest summer on record, as drought conditions spread across much of the UK. For many farmers, the extreme dryness brought crops to maturity fast, making it one of the earliest starts they had ever experienced.
• Farmers across England faced severe water-abstraction curbs, including full bans, even though shrinking supplies threatened harvests and national food security. With many unable to irrigate, the prolonged dry spell hit production hard. The NFU said the crisis underscored the urgent need for long-term investment in water infrastructure.
• The Sustainable Farming Incentive 2024 reopened on 7 July for about 800 farmers in designated exception groups, giving them a six-week window to complete applications. This was in response to concerted industry lobbying, and the threat of legal action, following the closing of the scheme by Defra in March without the promised six weeks’ notice period.
• A cross-party group of 29 MPs and peers wrote to the prime minister urging immediate action to safeguard high-quality farmland from large-scale solar developments in England. Rural protection group CPRE also released a report calling for rooftop solar to be prioritised and for productive agricultural land to be protected.
• Farmers in several regions reported “better than expected” harvests, despite widespread fears of major losses after the prolonged dry spell and summer heatwave. Arable fields were cleared weeks ahead of schedule, and early wheat yields proved surprisingly resilient.
• July saw the full uptake of all £150m of capital grants available in England in just five weeks, during which time more than 8,000 farmers submitted applications. The uptake marked the fastest response to a government farming grant to date.
• A stranded cow stuck on an embankment near Talog, Carmarthenshire, was rescued after nearly five hours’ effort by firefighters. The Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service used lines, tools, and machinery to free and assist the animal back up the embankment.
• Labour’s standing in rural Britain collapsed, with a Country Land and Business Association poll suggesting not a single farmer would support the party in a general election. The survey of 500 farmers and landowners found 80% feared their farms wouldn’t survive the next decade, and more than 60% had considered leaving the industry.

August 2025

• Livestock farmers across England and Wales faced a worsening crisis in forage and bedding supplies, with months of drought pushing the sector to the brink. Those affected were able to apply for temporary adjustments to Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive grazing rules.
• One of Britain’s biggest producers of bioethanol and carbon dioxide, Ensus, started urgent talks with the government in a last-ditch effort to avoid collapse, just as rival Vivergo closed. The plants had been rendered uneconomic by the tariff-free trade deal with the US.
• Farmers Weekly concluded its four-month Farm Safety Stars campaign, which encouraged children living on farms and in rural areas to become ambassadors for farm safety. The initiative featured weekly worksheets highlighting the dangers posed by heavy machinery, livestock and other common farm hazards.
• Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s local council, Camden, announced plans to go fully vegan at all internal meetings and events, sparking controversy amid rising calls for sustainable British food. This followed a wave of London boroughs adopting similar policies, including Lewisham and Hackney.
• Farmers and industry leaders urged the Welsh government to accelerate plans to ease bluetongue movement restrictions across the Welsh border, warning that delays could severely impact the vital autumn breeding livestock trade. Meanwhile, farmers were urged to get their livestock vaccinated.

Farmers were advised to vaccinate sheep against bluetongue © Oli Lees

• Further outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza were recorded across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, heightening concern in the poultry sector. Cases were confirmed at a Norfolk turkey unit, a Devon duck unit, a free-range egg farm in Aberdeenshire, and a small backyard flock in County Donegal.
• News that Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm had been struck by bovine TB reignited the debate over the government’s handling of the disease, in particular the lack of clarity on transmission routes, ineffective testing, and the cost of prolonged breakdowns.
• Farmers across the globe picked up instruments and headed to their fields as a social media trend encouraging jazz serenades for cows swept the internet. The viral clips, viewed millions of times on social media platform TikTok, showed cows gathering curiously as saxophones, trumpets and portable speakers filled the air with smooth jazz.