The Rural Bulletin: 22 February 2018

First lady president at NFU

Minette Batters has become the first lady to ever be elected as president of the NFU. A beef farmer from Wiltshire, she has been elected for a two-year term alongside Guy Smith as deputy president and Stuart Roberts as vice president. “British farming is in the spotlight like never before and this is a great opportunity to reposition the sector in the eyes of the nation,” says Ms Batters. “Together, as a new officeholder team, we will hit the ground running and I look forward to sharing our new vision for farming at the earliest opportunity.” 

Above: NFU President Minette Batters

New measures to tackle unfair practices

Defra plans to introduce new measures to help protect the rights of farmers, including a £10m collaboration fund, compulsory dairy contracts and standard sheep carcase classification. However, it has ruled out extending the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, disappointing farm leaders throughout the UK. Other measures include improving transparency and access to prices along the supply chain, tackling late payments, and assessing whether more retailers could come under the remit of the GCA.

Farmland values dip as uncertainty continues

The average value of bare agricultural land in England and Wales fell by 1.5% in the final quarter of 2017, according to the Knight Frank Farmland Index. This brings the total drop to 4% during the year, to an average value of £7,201/acre. However, there is no reason to believe that the quarterly decline is the beginning of a larger slide during 2018. It appears more likely that the market is in for a prolonged period of limited activity with small quarterly dips, plateaus and rises the order of the day. For more information visit https://content.knightfrank.com/research/157/documents/en/english-farmland-index-q4-2017-5295.pdf. 

Gove announces review of farm inspections 

Environment secretary Michael Gove has proposed a “thorough and comprehensive” review of the current farm inspection regime. Led by Dame Glenys Stacey, the review will consider how inspections can be altered or removed to reduce the burden on farmers – without compromising animal and plant standards.

Speaking at the NFU conference this week, Mr Gove said: “Despite several recent attempts at simplification [the farm inspection regime] remains as unwieldly as ever. Every year, farmers are confronted by a barrage of inspections from different agencies, often duplicating costs in both time and money.”

£1m woodland grant on offer for HS2 landowners

New funding from the Woodland Trust will enable landowners within 25 miles of the HS2 link to establish new, or manage existing, plantations and ancient woodlands to create a new green corridor. Grants will cover a range of capital items, paying 100% of the associated standard cost, with a 10 year-maintenance payment of £200/ha also available for woodland creation. The maximum amount available for capital items is £8,500/ha for native woodland creation and £4,000/ha for ancient woodland restoration. Funding is due to close in April 2020, subject to budget availability.