Scottish farming future, pork to Mexico, Cheese slide

Our weekly dose of news, views and insight from the world of farming, food and landownership

Liz Truss is excited that British pork is heading back to Mexico after a long hiatus, but it won’t be enough to encourage many producers who are suffering losses on every animal they sell to remain in the industry. With the pig sector receiving far lower levels of subsidy than other parts of agriculture it has always been more exposed to the volatility of commodity markets and offers a salient lesson to those farmers not yet preparing for the imminent loss of their basic payments.

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Andrew Shirley, Head of Rural Research

In this week’s update:

• Commodity markets – OSR up, pigs in turmoil
• Scottish agriculture – Have your say on future farm policy
• Food exports – Cheese slumps as overseas trade declines
• The Rural Report – Sign up to watch our ground-breaking video
• Overseas news – Mexico welcomes UK pork again

Commodity markets – OSR up, pigs in turmoil

A potential 40% drop in Canadian oilseed rape yields is helping to sustain the crop’s current bullrun, but with a potential record-breaking crop forecast in Australia prices could come under pressure later in the season. Talking of pressure, the latest AHDB figures reveal that pig producers really are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Rising feed costs and poor prices mean the average producer lost £24 per animal in the second quarter of the year with many looking to leave the sector as a result.

Scottish agriculture – Have your say on future farm policy

Unlike Defra, the Scottish Government has not rushed out proposals for how it plans to support the farming sector post-Brexit. Now, however, landowners and food producers do have the opportunity to have their say on shaping the future of farming in the country. A new consultation, open until 17 November, “provides an overview of the key themes and recommendations emerging from the Farmer Led Group process, setting out a number of key questions to inform wider work on the development of agricultural policy and in particular the replacement to CAP”.

Trade – Cheese slumps as EU trade declines

The latest trade figures from the Food and Drink Federation show that food and drink exports from the UK to the EU fell by almost £1 billion year on year during the first half of the year. Trade with Northern Ireland was the hardest hit – down 22%. Cheese suffered the most with sales dropping by a whopping 26%. However, non-EU exports were up 13% over the same period, with China a particular bright spot, but total exports were still 4.5% down compared with 2020.

The Rural Report – Sign up to watch our ground-breaking video

This year’s edition of The Rural Report, our unique publication for rural landowners and their advisors, launched last month 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 – Mexico welcomes UK pork again

International Trade Minister Liz Truss has announced that after years of tough negotiations Mexico will now accept UK-produced pork imports. “This is a huge win for our farmers and food producers and I look forward to seeing high-quality British pork being enjoyed in Mexico very soon,” said Ms Truss. The deal is expected to be worth around £50m over the next five years. The minister said a more ambitious trade deal with Mexico would be announced soon.

Photo by Chris Flexen on Unsplash