This Week in Farming: Ag fabricators, IHT and EU deal

Welcome back to another edition of This Week in Farming, the fastest way to find the best Farmers Weekly content from the past seven days.

First, here’s your markets (opens as PDF). I think we can now say officially that red meat prices are definitely in retreat for the time being, with beef and lamb both well down on the week.

In more exciting market prices news, we are proud to announce we’ve added some new data to our roster – arable chemical input prices. We’ll be updating the table monthly with the most commonly used chemicals for the season.

Now, on with the show.

Reed adds fuel to IHT row

If the test that Defra secretary Steve Reed set himself for his appearance at the Efra committee this week was “don’t say anything interesting”, then he failed.

He drew swift condemnation for saying IHT revenue would help fund rural mental health services – even as the threat of the planned changes has led to an outpouring of anguish in the farming community.

Elsewhere, farming lobbyists have renewed their criticism of the Treasury’s role in this debacle, this time for refusing to publish its rationale for rejecting their alternative tax proposal – a clawback mechanism that would see it levied only on farmland at point of sale.

UK-EU deal: What does it mean for agriculture?

This week’s much anticipated announcement of a closer alignment on standards between the UK and the EU has been welcomed by businesses up and down the food supply chain.

Why? Because there’ll be much less form filling and cost for food flowing from here to the continent and the return of trade in some now-banned goods, such as seed potatoes.

Questions remain about how far the scope of this dynamic realignment – us agreeing to abide by their standards – spreads, with questions remaining about gene editing and emissions taxes.

Yet I offer a cautious welcome to the deal in my editorial this week as farming appears to be the beneficiary, rather than offered up to sweeten the deal, as appeared to be the case in the US trade deal.

Musical chairs

What a week for chopping and changing in big jobs. First came the news that Janet Hughes, the well-known Defra civil servant who has played a leading role in the development of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, is off to pastures new.

Then the AHDB revealed that its new chairman will be Farmers Weekly columnist Emily Norton (read her latest missive here on what the Batters profitability review is a sop to angry farmers) before announcing the following day that its chief executive Graham Wilkinson is to depart before the end of the year.

I enjoyed the hasty phone call from a senior AHDB staffer to tell me those two events are emphatically not connected.

And to end the week, Red Tractor revealed that its new chairman will be Alistair Mackintosh. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s already in post in an interim capacity.

Made in Britain

Our superb cover story this week comes courtesy of the Machinery team who have profiled two of the best up-and-coming British agricultural fabrication business owners, Lincolnshire’s George Merrison and Hertfordshire’s James Silk.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of farmers are also trying their hand at making their own parts, as machinery editor Oli Mark found out when he spoke to plasma cutter manufacturer Swift-Cut.

Farming fabricators may also be interested to hear that machinery manufacturing firm Blaney Group is offering up to £50,000 worth of design, engineering and prototyping support to “turn smart ideas into working innovations”.

Who’s up and who’s down?

On the up this week is columnist Will Evans who, despite not enjoying farming in this current spell of unusually dry weather, is feeling highly accomplished after trying the “snake method” of barbecuing a British White beef brisket.

Farmers in the widening bluetongue restricted zone may be feeling glum this week following Defra’s pronouncement that Lancashire and the rest of North Yorkshire needed to be included after it identified historic cases of the disease in these areas.

Listen to the podcast

Don’t forget to tune in to the FW Podcast, with Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom. 

You’ll find it anywhere you listen to podcasts, or free to listen to on the FW website.