This Week in Farming: Kit dealers ranked, oat juice and SFI
© Agricar Welcome back to another edition of This Week in Farming, your regular round-up of the best Farmers Weekly content from the past seven days.
First, here are your markets (opens as PDF). There’s a pleasing jump for oilseed rape prices this week to complement some broader gains since the start of the year, as reported by markets editor Charlie Reeve.
Now, on with the show.
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SFI’s march to mediocrity
English farmers are set to receive payments below the value of the income forgone from implementing them, according to deputy editor Abi Kay’s latest findings on Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).
In her accompanying editorial, she warns that the likely resulting decline in participation rates may even be welcomed by elements within the department as it matches their declining ambition for the scheme, already well below its inception.
Declining ambition for the environment is being matched by dwindling food production.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw recently reiterated warnings that domestic output of staples such as poultrymeat, cereals, vegetables and red meat were all in decline despite the UK ranking highly for overall food resilience.
Dealer woe
Half of machinery dealers surveyed by Farmers Weekly achieved a lower turnover in their most recent filings than in the year previous, according to analysis conducted as part of our annual ranking of the country’s biggest machinery sales businesses, with tractor sales last year the worst since records began.
One network of dealers that may be feeling pleased this week is the distributors for the Ineos truck range, after Ineos unveiled updates to its Grenadier and Quartermaster vehicles, including the steering.
Rooting around
There’s a big focus on sugar beet and potatoes in this week’s arable section, with growers of the former treated to advice on improving weed control and mitigating the risk of beet moth.
We also reported on the latest forward contract option for sugar beet growers, which will allow them to sell up to 10% of their forward-contracted tonnage on index-linked contracts if they wish.
For spud growers, there’s a report on the troubling discovery last autumn of a new fungicide-resistant late blight strain that appears to have swept across from Europe.
We also go for another visit to well-known potato agronomist John Sarup, who was named the 2025 Farmers Weekly Arable Adviser of the Year.
Lambing live
Keeping a lid on disease is one of the biggest challenges at lambing time, and we’ve got two pieces for sheep farmers on that topic this week – with the first a general look at how to minimise bacterial build-up in the shed.
Then there’s this specific piece on tackling orf disease – an unpleasant threat to man and beast alike.
And wrapping up lambing content is treatment advice on vaginal prolapse in ewes.
A salute to our Farmer Focus writers this week who have, like so many of you, borne the brunt of the heaps of unpleasant weather this year.
Dan Philips unpacks his strategy for tackling maedi visna and Louise Elkington is cheered by her flock scanning results.
Who’s up and who’s down?
On the up this week are a group of Cotswolds farmers celebrating getting the UK’s biggest ever farmer-led nature recovery project over the line.
And feeling glum are the top brass at oat juice manufacturer Oatly, after Supreme Court judges ruled that the term “milk” cannot be used, or incorporated into trademarks in the UK for anything other than dairy products.
Listen to the FW Podcast
Don’t forget to tune in to the Farmers Weekly Podcast, with Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom.
This week, the team discuss the SFI news and meet the farmer who walked to London during Mind Your Head week.
You’ll find it anywhere you get your podcasts, or listen free on the FW website.