Agricultural News Archive
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01 April 2011 - CAP Reform Timetable
We reported previously that the timetable for CAP reform appeared to be slipping. This is reinforced by the latest news that the draft legislative proposals for the CAP will not be published until the 12th October 2011...
04 March 2011 - CAP Reform Update
Despite the Coalition’s talk of the UK adopting a different attitude to CAP reform, the latest policy from DEFRA seems more of the same. In a response to the EU Commission’s 18
November (2010) proposals, the Department states that it would like to see a substantial reduction in the CAP budget...10 February 2011 - World Grain Reserves
Graham Redman, partner and economist at The Andersons Centre, was asked by the Appropriate Technology Journal to comment on the growing school of thought that a globally managed grain bank might be a suitable mechanism for preventing the extreme fluctuations in grain availability and therefore prices. Download the article by following the link below...
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04 January 2011 - EU GMO Plans
Last summer the EU Commission published its proposals to give flexibility to Member States to decide whether to allow, restrict, or ban the cultivation of GM crops in their country or region. Any limitation would have to be justified for ethical or societal reasons...
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13 December 2010 - Andersons Outlook 2011
Andersons have launched their 'Outlook 2011' publication. Consultants from across the Andersons group give insight into the prospects for the agricultural industry for the year ahead and provide expert analysis and comment. Please see the 'Free Downloads' page to download a pdf version of Outlook 2011 or Contact Us to request a free hard copy.
01 December 2010 - Higher Level Stewardship Scheme Update
The situation with regard to Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) applications is starting to become clearer. There had been a temporary suspension in accepting new HLS agreements whilst the impact of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) was considered. The budgets for the HLS for the current and following three years have now been set...
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01 November 2010 - CAP Reform Update
The next reform of the Common Agricultural Policy will be driven by two processes – the setting of the overall EU Budget, and changes to the rules of the CAP itself. Last month saw moves on both fronts...
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30 September 2010 - Single Payment Conversion Rate 2010
UK farmers will generally receive smaller Single Payments this year than last. The ECB's official exchange rate on the 30th September is used to convert Single Payments from Euro's to Sterling. The rate has been fixed at €1 = 85.995p...
01 September 2010 - RDPE Spending Update
There has been much talk of there being ‘no money’ for Environmental Stewardship as a result of government austerity measures. We have produced a Briefing Note on the future funding of the Rural Development Plan for England (RDPE) and what this might mean for environmental schemes. It also considers the other strand of the RDPE – the capital grants administered by the soon-to-be-abolished Regional Development Agencies...
01 August 2010 - Farm Profitability Forecast
As we pass the mid-point of the year, it seems an opportune time to look at farm profitability prospects for 2010. The benchmark indicator is Total Income from Farming (TIFF). This is the aggregate return to all the entrepreneurs in UK agriculture and horticulture for their management, labour and their own capital in their businesses - in simplistic terms, it is the profit of ‘UK Farming Plc’...
For more infomration on our range of regular detailed agricultural news update services, please contact us.
01 July 2010 - DEFRA Budget Cuts to Hit RDPE
We recently reported on the £162m cut to DEFRA’s budget for 2010-11.
This reduction is before any further cuts arising from the spending plans announced in the Budget which apply to future years. It seems the relatively small initial cuts are already filtering down into spending programmes...
01 June 2010 - Mercosur Talks Restart
The EU is to restart free-trade talks with the Mercosur grouping; if these are sucessful there could be big impacts on some EU commodity markets - especially meat...
04 May 2010 - Arable Markets
As the last futures contract for the 2009 harvest crop comes to an end (May 2010), the remainder of the old crop market is left in a situation of ever decreasing volume and therefore falling fluidity. The market will therefore become less predictable (not that it ever is). Prices will increasingly move because of position squaring and regional hot spots rather than fundamentals. This could, of course, go either way for grain long-holders such as farmers with unsold stock...
08 April 2010 - CAP Post 2013
With the Commission expected to issue a paper on the CAP post 2013 towards the end of this year lobbying continues to gather pace. Each week there seems to be a new report or paper delivered on the future of the CAP. It seems most are agreed that a future CAP will need to ensure that agriculture is equipped to address food security concerns, but do so in a more sustainable way....
12 March 2010 - DEFRA Attitude to CAP Reform
In an interview with the Farmers Guardian, the DEFRA Farming Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, has indicated that the UK will be adopting a more pragmatic stance in the next round of CAP reform. The UK government’s stance was set out in the 2005 Treasury paper ‘A vision for the CAP’. This called for the phasing-out of direct payments over a relatively short time period, with funding diverted to Rural Development programmes....
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08 February 2010 - Farm Incomes Fall (From a Height)
Total farm incomes fell in 2009 compared to 2008. The latest Total Income from Farming (TIFF) data shows a 6% real-terms drop. This will come as little surprise to those in the industry, and corresponds with what has been happening at an individual farm level (unlike DEFRA’s pre-Christmas estimate)....
05 January 2010 - Combinable Crop Markets
Compared with the market movements of the previous 12 months, 2009 was a relatively docile year. November 2009 wheat futures moved by £63 per tonne, but the November 2008 contract moved by more than £100...
11 December 2009 - Outlook 2010
Andersons annual ‘Outlook’ publication, now in its fourteenth year, has just been released. The widely-respected briefing aims to provide a realistic and objective assessment of the prospects for the faming industry over the next 12 months and beyond...
01 December 2009 - Single Payments Start
With the 1st December reached, it becomes legally possible for Single Payments to be made (EU regulations state that they can only be paid after this date). There seems to be a bit of inter-agency competition as to who can get the most payments out quickest . . .
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25 November 2009 - Farm Incomes for 2009
Somewhat surprisingly, DEFRA is estimating that farm incomes will be a quarter higher in 2009 than they were in 2008. The department has released its first estimates for 2009 and 2010 Total Income from Farming (TIFF). This shows agricultural returns increasing by 25% in real terms for the current year, and then falling by around 9% in 2010 . . .
01 November 2009 - ELS Renewals
In 2010, nearly 14,000 Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) agreements will come up for renewal. Natural England (NE) has a target of 70% of the Utilisable Agricultural Area (UAA) in England being under an environmental agreement. Currently the area in schemes is just under 66%. Therefore, just to keep levels where they are, never mind increase them to the target figure, a high proportion of those ELS agreement holders will need to be persuaded to re-sign...
01 October 2009 - Single Payment Rate for 2009
UK farmers will get a welcome boost to their incomes this year. The ECB’s official exchange rate on the 30th September is used to convert Single Payments from Euros to Sterling. The rate has been fixed at €1 = 90.93p. This is a 15% increase on last year...
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01 September 2009 - Dairy Profitability
Dairy profitability could improve for the 2010-11 milk year. But for a fairly typical farm, the returns from producing milk are still marginal – it still requires support payments to bring about a reasonable level of business surplus. These are the messages from the latest figures produced for Andersons’ model dairy business ‘Friesian Farm’...
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The data was prepared for the forthcoming Dairy Event and Livestock Show due to be held at Stoneleigh on the 16th and 17th September 2009. Andersons will be exhibiting their usual indepth industry analysis in Hall 1 on Stand 128 and our consultants will be on hand to discuss the latest issues.
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The data was prepared for the forthcoming Dairy Event and Livestock Show due to be held at Stoneleigh on the 16th and 17th September 2009. Andersons will be exhibiting their usual indepth industry analysis in Hall 1 on Stand 128 and our consultants will be on hand to discuss the latest issues.
01 August 2009 - Harvest Progress
The combines are rolling in many parts of England eagerly harvesting oilseed rape, barley and oats. However, the showery weather has made the harvest a very stop-start affair so far. Progress is well behind the average for this point in the summer...
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The timetable for the next round of CAP reform has become clearer. This is the result of recent comments made by the EU Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel. As we have previously stated in these pages, what happens to the CAP is inextricably linked to the budget settlement for the 2014-2020 period...
02 June 2009 - Arable Profitability in 2009 and 2010
In preparation for the upcoming Cereals Event (to be held at Vine Farm, Wendy, Nr Royston, Cambridgeshire on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th June), Andersons have updated their Loam Farm Model. We think that this highlights some interesting trends in the profitability of cereals production...
01 May 2009 - Grazing Agreements and the NVZ Rules
It is the time of year when a lot of land is being let on grazing agreements - promoting a number of questions, especially on how cross-compliance is treated. This is because, under a licence, the landowner is almost always claiming the SPS, and is thus responsible for ensuring cross-compliance...
01 April 2009 - Rents and CAP Reform
Many tenancies, either new or renewals, are being negotiated based on 5-year terms. It should be remembered that this takes them beyond the current lifespan of the Single Payment Scheme which has its final year in 2012...
16 March 2009 - NVZ Livestock Manure Loading Derogation Confirmed
The EU has agreed to the NVZ derogation on whole-farm livestock manure limits. This will allow farmers in Great Britain to have a maximum whole-farm livestock manure application limit of 250 kg/Ha of Nitrogen rather than the existing 170 kg N/ha limit...
March 2009 - Land Prices Start to Fall
Land prices are starting to fall according to the latest figures from the RICS Rural Land Market Survey of Great Britain. According to the survey, the weighted average price (opinion based) of bare arable and pasture land fell from £12,965 per Ha in the first half of 2008 to £12,336 per Ha in the second half of the year, this represents a 5% decrease compared to a 24% increase in the first half of 2008...
February 2009 - Set Aside Replacement
There has been a lot of talk recently on how DEFRA is planning to deal with the environmental effects of the end to set-aside. Set-aside was always intended as a supply mechanism but it also provided considerable benefits to wildlife. Issues have recently been coming to a head...
January 2009 - Renewables Boost
Over the last couple of months there have been a number of policy moves that are likely to boost the renewables sector.
Firstly, EU Leaders agreed a ‘Climate and Energy Package’ during their December Summit that sets new targets for the use of renewable energy. The whole package is known as ’20-20-20 by 2020’ and has three elements...
