This Week in Farming: Wheat up, pork down and two new motors

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

First, here’s your markets (opens as PDF), with a welcome nudge higher for most of the arable markets. More information here on why that’s happening now.

And we’ve also got your monthly agchem input price tracker update right here.

Now, on with the show.

Cutting crew

Sticking with the cropping theme, we have a run-through of how harvest is going across the nation, with the expected hit to yields on lighter land but some positives elsewhere.

Bedfordshire farmer and former FW Awards winner Andrew Robinson runs us through his cropping plans for next year, based on the trials he runs at Herne Manor Farm, and our Arable Insights farmers do likewise.

Elsewhere, we have this timely guide to making the most of slurry on stubble.

Key headlines

Farmers in England who are eligible for the smaller farm SFI application window had better hurry if they want a chance of getting a contract, with Defra announcing this week that 75% of the £60m pot has now been allocated.

Form-fillers may not have time for an alpine retreat at the moment, but more of our produce may soon be making its way up a mountain after a UK-Switzerland trade deal was announced, with the NFU saying it was “a great example of a balanced deal”.

But English pig producers have been left underwhelmed by Defra’s refusal to follow Holyrood’s £2m support package for its pork sector, with forecasts of a continuing oversupply into autumn.

Business class

Not one but two commercial-spec vehicles get reviewed in the machinery section this week. The chunky Toyota Land Cruiser is given the once-over, as well as the latest iteration of the Land Rover Discovery.

And apropos absolutely nothing, we also look at how you can legally reinstate rear seats into commercial vehicles like those above, which are sold with them taken out in order to enjoy tax privileges.

Planning with purpose

Two key articles from the Land and Property special in the magazine this week, both focusing on building projects.

First, a close look at what a major overhaul to the planning permission system means for farmers, with new rules set to come in this autumn.

Second, once you have that considerable challenge done and dusted, we also look at how to manage commercial construction projects on farm.

Who’s up and who’s down?

Two ups this week to end on a cheery note. First a hearty cheer to everyone who donated to FUW’s fundraising campaign for the Welsh Air Ambulance, which saw them raise £65,000 to keep the choppers flying.

And bravo to this rescue service that gives working dogs a second chance. You can meet founder David Pitbladdo at this year’s Game Fair.

Listen to the FW Podcast

Don’t forget to listen to the latest Farmers Weekly Podcast, brought to you by Johann Tasker, Hugh Broom and Louise Impey.

This week the gang examine what a Burnham government might mean for farmers, discuss the farmer acquitted for shooting an intruder, and ask: could chickpeas be the crop that beats the summer heatwave?

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