This Week in Farming: Clarkson, beef, beet and cheese

Hello and welcome to This Week in Farming, your catch-up on this week’s unmissable content from Farmers Weekly.

Here are five hot topics that we’ve been taking a close look at this week, and a reminder of where you can listen to the FW podcast.

Scottish turbulence

Scottish farmers and crofters were left lamenting rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon’s speech to the NFU Scotland conference last week as a missed opportunity to shed light on the future of farm support.

This is pushing farmers to scale back and pause long-term planning investments, as deputy editor Abi Kay reported, as well as leading to fears that there is a cohort in Holyrood that favour an anti-meat agenda that will see cattle numbers slashed.

In my editorial this week I note that with Nicola Sturgeon’s subsequent departure, yet more delays are likely – putting Scots farmers in the same unfortunate position that those south of the border had to endure last year.

Clarkson’s Farm

Plenty of you have been watching Clarkson’s Farm series two this week as Jeremy, Kaleb, Lisa and others tackle bovine TB, the local planning authority and telegraph poles.

Clarkson’s attitude to health and safety did not go unnoticed, but many farmers were again left pleased with how the show portrayed the challenges of farming, although the memories of what he said about Megan Markle still linger.

Have you watched Clarkson’s Farm 2? Let our reporter Matilda Bovingdon (matilda.bovingdon@markallengroup.com) know whether you think he’s having a good or bad impact on our industry.

Pork and beef hit new highs

Costs of production may still be ahead of the output price for many farmers, but declining production in the beef and pork sectors is starting to narrow the gap.

Pig marketing group Thames Valley Cambac said the German market was the major talking point at the moment, rising in the past week by the UK equivalent of 11p/kg to average 195p/kg and helping drive UK markets higher.

Meanwhile, a shortage of finished beef cattle in the UK and Ireland is driving up prices on both sides of the Irish border with UK liveweight steers and heifers both up for the week ending 14 February, averaging 264.54p/kg and 273.69p/kg, respectively.

One beef producer feeling cheerful is FW Farmer Focus writer Dafydd Parry-Jones, who scanned his cows recently to find all of them in-calf, but work still needs to be done to improve cow efficiency, he says.

The beet goes in

With drilling time approaching, sugar beet growers are asking themselves the same question as cereal growers – what’s the right amount of nitrogen to use this year?

Despite the increased beet value of £40/t, current nitrogen prices mean the standard 120kg N/ha is no longer economically viable, so arable reporter Emma Gillbard went to find out what can be done.

It’s not just merchant invoices that are striking fear into the hearts of beet growers, but also a new pest first seen last year – beet moth.

Here’s the latest information on what’s known about this hungry beast and how it can be managed.

It ain’t easy. Being cheesy

Since his move to the back page of the magazine, Will Evans hasn’t been afraid to tackle the big topics.

And it’s more of the same this week as the fromage-fancying North Walian asks whether heaven really is a place that strikingly resembles a cheesemonger’s shop.

As he says, blessed are the cheesemakers indeed.