Levelling up, Fashion & farming, Covid resilience

The President of landowning lobby group the CLA and the Labour Mayor of London might not seem natural bedfellows, but both have laid into the government over its Levelling Up white paper. Although creating polices that satisfy everybody is nigh on impossible, it does seem a shame that such a fundamental part of the government’s plans to make the UK a better place to live largely ignores the countryside, which is feeling more misunderstood by the day. A belated recognition of the importance of ensuring environmental support schemes work for tenanted farmers and HMRC’s U-turn on its silage wrap tax are welcome, but as the government’s own new revised farm income figures show, agricultural policy needs to be considered carefully if the sector is to flourish.

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Andrew Shirley, Head of Rural Research

In this week’s update:

• Commodity markets – Wheat speculators retreat
• Farm incomes – More resilient to Covid than expected
• Tenanted farming – Defra appoints independent advisor
• Levelling up – Government plans slated
• Land use – The battle begins
• Silage wrap – Tax plans scrapped
• Rewilding – A nuanced perspective on our podcast
• The Rural Report – Sign up to watch our ground-breaking video
• Overseas news – Fashion brands regenerate

Commodity markets – Wheat speculators retreat

According to trader Frontier, some of the speculators circling around wheat markets waiting for a potential conflict between Russia and The Ukraine to send prices soaring have sold out their positions as diplomatic efforts to avoid a conflict continue. It notes, however, that markets will react quickly if hostilities do occur.

Farm incomes – More resilient to Covid than expected

Defra’s newly updated English Total Income from Farming (TIFF) figures for 2020 are almost £1 billion higher than the first estimates published last September. Survey data from the Farm Business Survey showed that output from diversification in 2020 proved far more resilient to Covid-19 restrictions than had been forecast. “Inseparable non-farming activities” accounted for £1.1bn of 2020’s £3.6 billion TIFF, which was 5% down on the figure for 2019, despite the upward revision. Subsidy payments accounted for £2 billion of the total.

Tenanted farming – Defra appoints independent advisor

Baroness Kate Rock has been appointed to lead a new independent working group that will advise Defra as to how tenant farmers and tenancies can be better supported during the shift to its post-Brexit vision for farming.

There had been criticisms from the tenanted sector that Defra had not taken its needs into account when creating new environmentally focused support schemes.

“Tenant farmers are crucial to our farming industry, our farmed environment, and our farming future. Access to the new schemes will be of utmost importance to secure the long-term sustainability of tenant farming in England,” said Baroness Rock.

The group will provide Defra with its recommendations later this year.

Levelling up – Government plans slated

The CLA has criticised the government’s new “Levelling Up” whitepaper for not recognising the needs of the countryside. President Mark Tufnell said: “This white paper was billed as a programme for economic growth in left behind areas – but it is nothing of the sort. Rural communities desperately needed an ambitious and robust plan to create jobs, share prosperity and strengthen communities, but government has failed to deliver it.”

Land use – The battle begins

I’ve touched on it before, often in relation to rewilding, but a quick skim through the articles in this week’s Farmers Weekly illustrates just how quickly the arguments around land use in the UK are heating up. In Wales, one of the UK’s largest forestry investment funds has been “persuaded” by farmers not to plant conifers on 40 hectares of grazing land it purchased. Meanwhile, the Solar Campaign Alliance has just launched a parliamentary petition to ensure new solar parks don’t compromise food security by using too much productive arable land. It’s a debate that will become increasingly interesting as competing interest groups jostle over the countryside.

Silage wrap – Tax plans scrapped

A 200/t mooted tax on plastic silage wrap has been kicked into touch after vociferous lobbying by farming groups. They pointed out that the wrap was not being used as packaging but was an integral part of the silaging process.

Rewilding – A nuanced perspective on our podcast

We’ve received some great feedback on our recent Knight Frank Intelligence Talks podcast where Tom Heathcote, Head of our Agri-Consultancy team, and I discuss rewilding and the government’s plans for landscape restoration and environmental support payments for landowners and farmers. If you haven’t tuned in yet have a listen to see if you agree with our thoughts on this increasingly controversial topic.

The latest edition of The Rural Report, our unique publication for rural landowners and their advisors, was launched with a video highlighting some of its key content around the topic of ESG. If you missed it, you can sign up to watch on demand at your leisure. It was a lot of fun making it and includes a thought provoking interview on diversity, with Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones AKA The Black Farmer. I think you’ll find it both entertaining and informative.

Sign up to watch The Rural Report launch video

Overseas news – Fashion brands regenerate

Sponsored by international fashion brands including Kering and J. Crew, a new report by the Textile Exchange examines the importance of regenerative agriculture in assisting the long-term health of the fashion and textile industry.

The Regenerative Agriculture Landscape Analysis is the first report that “gives the fashion and textile industry a framework and toolkit to credibly understand, implement and describe the benefits of work in this space. It emphasizes regenerative agriculture’s roots in Indigenous and Native practices and promotes a holistic approach that puts humans and ecosystems at the center”.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash