This Week in Farming: SFI update, NFU changes and River Wye
Defra secretary Therese Coffey was on farm this week © Defra Hello and welcome to This Week in Farming, in what’s been another bumper week of news and features on the Farmers Weekly website.
Here are five lively topics that you won’t want to have missed out on, and a look ahead to what’s coming up in this week’s edition of the FW Podcast.
ELM update
This week’s big farm policy news has been the long-awaited announcement of a slew of additional actions the government’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) will pay farmers and landowners for.
There was also fresh information on Countryside Stewardship, and the news that the top tier Landscape Recovery scheme will be open for further applications again this summer.
With 100 pages of new information to sift through, experts will be poring over the detail in the days and weeks ahead, and we’ll bring you further analysis soon.
I’d love to hear what you think is particularly eye-catching – you can drop me a line at the email address below.
About the author
For now, here’s my cautious welcome in this week’s Editor’s View, and comments from Therese Coffey on farm the morning after the announcement, defending herself against claims her administration is not making farming a priority.
NFU restructuring
The NFU is to close three regional offices in a bid to cut costs, in a move which will see it consolidate down to four administrative regions in England in the next year.
The plan, revealed to office holders and staff at a closed meeting of the NFU Council this week, will likely see some redundancies at the organisation.
In 2021, it employed a total of 833 persons, of which 334 were headquarters staff at Stoneleigh, 121 regional staff and 378 group secretaries.
River Wye latest
How to clean up the nation’s rivers is never far from the top of the political agenda lately, and the River Wye is often the focus of controversy.
In a piece for our Transition project, freelance journalist Louise Impey returned to see how Herefordshire farmer Martin Williams and others from across the farming community are progressing with solving the issue of phosphate pollution arising from chicken sheds and other sources in the area.
Poultry firm Avara Foods, which takes birds from some 120 farms in the area, has come up with an action plan which will see more manure go into anaerobic digestion and incinerators rather than being spread directly onto the land.
The whole of this edition of the Transition supplement is focused on water quality. Buy a copy of this week’s magazine to read it in full or read each of the stories online.
End of doorstep delivery helps cow health and profit
Direct selling or other forms of diversification can be a handy extra source of revenue, but they all come at a cost in time and money.
For the Wheelwright family near Halifax, a move to selling to a dairy, alongside the introduction of a robot milker and zero grazing system, has helped improve profitability and work-life balance.
And if your appetite has been whetted for more information on robot dairying, you’re in luck – we’ve got another piece this week on a £1m setup in Pembrokeshire.
Record-breaking wheat yields
The world wheat yield record is back in British hands again after seasoned competitor Tim Lamyman, from Lincolnshire, took the title back from a New Zealand grower.
His 17.96t/ha result, despite last summer’s drought-like conditions, was well clear of the previous record of 17.4t/ha held by South Island grower Eric Watson.
Mr Lamyman has now won gold for his wheat crops in seven of the 10 years the competition has been running, putting him alongside sporting greats such as Phil Taylor and Ronnie O’Sullivan in terms of domination of a niche pastime.
You can hear more from him on this week’s Farmers Weekly podcast.
Many farmers, of course, will be just as focused on the financial margin of a crop as its yield nowadays, and you can also get the latest advice this week on crop marketing in this second article from deputy arable editor David Jones.
Ex-farm feed wheat was averaging £213/t for spot collection, according to the Farmers Weekly price survey on 25 January, compared with an average of £217/t a week ago.
Listen to the FW Podcast
Don’t forget the latest edition of the Farmers Weekly podcast with Johann Tasker and Hugh Broom. As well as more from Tim Lamyman, they’ll be bringing you the very latest ELM reaction and news of a special farming cookbook.
Listen here or bring us with you in the cab by downloading it from your usual podcast platform.