This Week in Farming: Forage appeal, harvest and new Fendt

Welcome back to This Week in Farming, your one-stop shop for the best Farmers Weekly content from the past seven days.

First, here are your markets (opens as PDF), with a sharp fall in the lamb price this week as well as a further small slip to cereals.

Now, on with the show.

Poll axe

Not a single one of the farmers and landowners polled by the County Land and Business Association (CLA) will vote for Labour at the next election, with more than 80% believing their business won’t last for another decade.

The grim findings, published by the CLA this week, reveal just how anxious many in agriculture are about the future.

Problems are compounded in the arable sector by achingly low prices and poor yields for many in the worst drought-hit regions.

Lincolnshire farmer and Cereals event host Andrew Ward spoke out this week about his plans to restructure his business to cut costs, but as I note in my editorial this week, the number of farm machinery sales advertised at the moment indicate he is not alone.

And as columnist Jo Franklin notes, going bigger may not be the solution this time around.

Harvest update

Data about this year’s harvest continues to roll in as growers pushed to get spring crops in the shed ahead of the very welcome rain that many received this week.

Deputy editor Emma Gillbard spoke to farmers around the country, while markets editor Charlie Reeve reported on the record-breaking stocks of imported grain sat in the sheds of merchants around the country.

And Suffolk farmer Graham Denny’s dilemma going into the next growing season is this: tear out an environmental scheme early to get a crop in, or wait till it lapses in December but miss a drilling window.

New launches

But despite the ongoing decline in tractor and machinery sales, long-planned launches are still going ahead.

The wrappers came off the refreshed Fendt 800 series this week, which will now come with Agco engines in place of the disliked Deutz that powered the previous generation.

Elsewhere, Claas have revealed details of its revamped Jaguar forage harvester range, which will be topped by the 1200 – a 1,110hp model that will surely get tongues wagging.

And both Horsch and Kuhn have both expanded their range of cultivation equipment.

Forage forecasting

It isn’t just arable farmers grappling with the dry weather of course, but livestock farmers as well.

Specialist charity Forage Aid has launched an appeal for donations of cash and fodder as its services are likely to be called upon, with many farmers set to run short of feed before next spring.

Animal nutritionists advise getting silage stocks tested now to help get the right balance of bought-in rations to supplement it.

And in other livestock news, we’ve got an important update for pig farmers on contingency planning for African swine fever, which will help producers swing quickly into action in the event of an outbreak.

Who’s up and who’s down?

Going down – for a well-deserved prison stay – are four men convicted of fraudulently diverting food not fit for human consumption back into the food supply chain.

And rightly earning plaudits this week are the farming family of 18-year-old Isaac Davies, who have raised £75,000 for the cancer charities that have helped care for him since his diagnosis with a brain tumour.

Listen to the podcast

Don’t forget to tune in to the Farmers Weekly podcast, with Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom.

This week, the tremendous trio discuss pig and poultry pollution, the Yorkshire farmers fighting a moorland fire, soaring demand for hay and straw, and a fresh warning for young farmers about dangerous driving.

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