This Week in Farming: Monster combine and beef price surge
© Tim Scrivener Welcome back to another edition of This Week in Farming, the easiest place to find riveting reads from Farmers Weekly’s last seven days of content.
Before we start, here’s your latest market prices.
Now, on with the show.
Food security
Food production in the UK could decline by up to 25% if the government meet their most ambitious climate change targets.
Not scare-mongering from farmers, but the calculation of civil service boffins at quango Natural England.
The revelation came in the same week that the NFU published their annual warning over the dangers of neglecting homegrown food production.
Yet the more you dig into this topic, the more complicated it gets, as I noted in my editorial on the topic this week, with columnist Joe Stanley weighing in as well.
Beef price booms
One sector where production is better than average for self-sufficiency is beef (92%) but dwindling suckler herds have taken their toll with analysts noting that demand is now running ahead of supply, which is why prices are some 30p/kg ahead of last year.
That didn’t stop Aldi cheerfully celebrating becoming Britain’s biggest beef retailer this week, while Charolais farmer Ben Harman is keeping everything crossed for a long-awaited upgrade to the cattle movement system.
Harvest update
It’s been another kind week for those bringing in the cereal harvest, with plenty of hours of sunshine.
Our social media audience were thrilled by this video of some classic machinery cutting on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border, including two Ransome Super Cavalier combines, built in 1974 and 1975.
Meanwhile, our nationwide ring round of traders and farmers revealed plenty more evidence of low yields but acceptable quality crops, with rapeseed growers in Herefordshire seeing yields of 1.2t/ha-3t/ha.
Cutting crew
For those in a hurry to clear the fields (and deep pockets), New Holland has the answer – the biggest production combine yet.
Whether it can take market share away from John Deere and Claas remains to be seen, but the latter has recently been celebrating passing the huge milestone of half a million combine harvesters manufactured.
Machinery editor Oli Mark looks back over the notable models down the years and throws the voting open for you to have your say on which was the best ever.
Who’s up and who’s down?
Feeling a little glum this week is Queen guitarist and bovine TB campaigner Sir Brian May.
He’s fronting a soon-to-be aired BBC documentary called Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me and shared with FW chief reporter Phil Case how disappointed he’d been by Jeremy Clarkson coming out so strongly in favour of a badger cull.
We’re yet to see the detail of the show but it’s certain to reignite the debate on what can be done to keep battling the terrible disease.
Feeling cheerful this week is Farmer Focus columnist Annabel Hamilton. She writes very persuasively on the topic of the benefits of stepping out of your comfort zone.
Listen to the podcast
Don’t forget to tune into this week’s FW podcast with Johann Tasker and guests.
You’ll find it anywhere you listen to podcasts, or free to listen to on our website.