Latest news with #NFU
The Independent
a day ago
- Climate
- The Independent
Heatwave latest hit to farmers struggling with increasingly extreme weather
The heatwave is piling more pressure on farmers who were already struggling to produce food in the face of the very dry conditions. Much of the country is sweltering in a heatwave, with temperatures set to climb above 30C in many places over the weekend and an 'amber' heat-health alert issued warning of 'significant' impacts for health services. For farmers, the heatwave threatens to worsen the outlook for food production already struggling off the back of a record-hot and the driest spring in decades that has left north west England and Yorkshire in drought and other regions in prolonged dry conditions. The hot, dry spring came after a record wet spell which left many farmers struggling to sow crops last autumn, and led to warnings earlier this month of potentially the worst harvest on record for major arable crops if conditions did not improve. Farmers say the heatwave, following the dry spring, is putting 'real pressure' on farms across the country, and warn it will affect not just this year's harvest, but food availability into next year. They are warning of the need for investment in more resilient water supplies to help them cope with the more unpredictable extremes that climate change is bringing. National Farmers' Union (NFU) vice-president Rachel Hallos said: 'As the Met Office forecasts a heatwave this weekend, it's yet another reminder of the increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather our farmers and growers are facing. 'After warnings of thunderstorms at the start of the month, this switch to hot, dry weather reinforces just how urgently we need long-term planning and investment in water resilience. 'Drought puts immense pressure on crops, livestock and grass growth and threatens the availability of homegrown fruit and veg. 'Investing in water infrastructure – from on-farm rainwater harvesting to more flexible abstraction rules – will help farmers manage these extremes, grow more fresh produce here in the UK and reduce reliance on imports from other water scarce countries.' Martin Lines, chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), who farms in Cambridgeshire, said: 'The ongoing heatwave, following an already dry spring, is putting real pressure on farms across the country. 'Crops are struggling, harvests are coming earlier and lighter, and many farmers are seeing yields fall without any meaningful uplift in prices to offset the loss. 'What's worrying is that this doesn't just hit the current harvest – it will affect food availability into next year too.' He warned most farms do not have infrastructure to store water, and without rainfall they do not have reserves to draw on, and he called for long-term support for water storage and better planning across river catchments. He also said nature-friendly farming plays a 'vital role' in building resilience to weather extremes. 'Practices like improving soil health, using cover crops, and integrating habitats into fields are helping farmers stay productive while cutting back on inputs. 'More support would help farms go further – it's practical, makes business sense, and helps protect the land they rely on,' he said. Earlier this week, the Environment Agency warned England faces 'huge' water shortages of billions of litres a day by the middle of the century to provide for public water supplies as well as for areas such as food and energy production, without action to cut leaks, curb use and build new infrastructure.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Heatwave latest hit to farmers struggling with increasingly extreme weather
The heatwave is piling more pressure on farmers who were already struggling to produce food in the face of the very dry conditions. Much of the country is sweltering in a heatwave, with temperatures set to climb above 30C in many places over the weekend and an 'amber' heat-health alert issued warning of 'significant' impacts for health services. For farmers, the heatwave threatens to worsen the outlook for food production already struggling off the back of a record-hot and the driest spring in decades that has left north west England and Yorkshire in drought and other regions in prolonged dry conditions. The hot, dry spring came after a record wet spell which left many farmers struggling to sow crops last autumn, and led to warnings earlier this month of potentially the worst harvest on record for major arable crops if conditions did not improve. Farmers say the heatwave, following the dry spring, is putting 'real pressure' on farms across the country, and warn it will affect not just this year's harvest, but food availability into next year. They are warning of the need for investment in more resilient water supplies to help them cope with the more unpredictable extremes that climate change is bringing. National Farmers' Union (NFU) vice-president Rachel Hallos said: 'As the Met Office forecasts a heatwave this weekend, it's yet another reminder of the increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather our farmers and growers are facing. 'After warnings of thunderstorms at the start of the month, this switch to hot, dry weather reinforces just how urgently we need long-term planning and investment in water resilience. 'Drought puts immense pressure on crops, livestock and grass growth and threatens the availability of homegrown fruit and veg. 'Investing in water infrastructure – from on-farm rainwater harvesting to more flexible abstraction rules – will help farmers manage these extremes, grow more fresh produce here in the UK and reduce reliance on imports from other water scarce countries.' Martin Lines, chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), who farms in Cambridgeshire, said: 'The ongoing heatwave, following an already dry spring, is putting real pressure on farms across the country. 'Crops are struggling, harvests are coming earlier and lighter, and many farmers are seeing yields fall without any meaningful uplift in prices to offset the loss. 'What's worrying is that this doesn't just hit the current harvest – it will affect food availability into next year too.' He warned most farms do not have infrastructure to store water, and without rainfall they do not have reserves to draw on, and he called for long-term support for water storage and better planning across river catchments. He also said nature-friendly farming plays a 'vital role' in building resilience to weather extremes. 'Practices like improving soil health, using cover crops, and integrating habitats into fields are helping farmers stay productive while cutting back on inputs. 'More support would help farms go further – it's practical, makes business sense, and helps protect the land they rely on,' he said. Earlier this week, the Environment Agency warned England faces 'huge' water shortages of billions of litres a day by the middle of the century to provide for public water supplies as well as for areas such as food and energy production, without action to cut leaks, curb use and build new infrastructure.
Scotsman
a day ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Royal Highland Show celebrations overshadowed by a government failing farmers
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It is Scotland's biggest annual event celebrating all to do with agriculture, from internationally-recognised livestock breeds to the food and drink culture of the nation. But the sense of pride and cheers for competition winners at this year's Royal Highland Show are set to be a little subdued given the backdrop of political uncertainty around farming and what it stands for in this country under the current governments. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The latest discussions on signing a £1.6bm trade agreement with the Gulf states have prompted widespread concern in the agricultural community about opening Britain's doors to importing meat from countries with lower welfare standards to the UK. Cattle are washed and scrubbed in the washing area at the back of the Highland Hall | Lisa Ferguson Farmers have told Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that the deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council would go against a commitment he made at the National Farmers' Union (NFU) conference to protect high welfare standards, saying that the way most poultry is produced in Gulf states 'would be illegal in the UK.' The NFU said deals must be 'fair and balanced' so as to not undermine standards in Britain. While farming groups have said there are some benefits from recent trade deals with the UK and the US, including reduced trade barriers and increase in market access, some were dismayed at the regular drumming of the 'lower prices in supermarkets' narrative from the prime minister amid the handshaking. Growers and producers have said the tone makes them feel they are on a 'race to the bottom' when it comes to putting food on the table. 'Cheap food' slogans hardly uplifting Affordable and accessible food is a must. But the 'cheap food' slogans coming from the leader of the UK is hardly uplifting for farmers working hard to feed the nation in a challenging climate - both on the ground and in politics. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Meanwhile, Scottish farmers are also feeling deeply concerned by the Climate Change Committee's latest advice on carbon budgets to reduce Scotland's sheep and cattle numbers by 26 per cent. It seems a contradictory when conservation groups like Trees for Life and RSPB Scotland are 'reintroducing' the cow for nature recovery projects. Scottish minsters have regularly said farmers play a vital role in climate change mitigation. Yet they are still to confirm details of the four-tier subsidy system to replace pre-Brexit farm payments, which includes detail on funding for specific environmental projects, such as habitat management and water quality protection. Further clarity has been delivered on tier one and two, including direct payments, but farmers are still kept in the dark on what the subsidy scheme looks like under tier three - the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Detail is said to be finalised by 2028. But with the Scottish Government aiming to be "Nature Positive" by 2030, that doesn't give farmers much time to adapt in an industry that requires serious forward planning. And hanging over all of the above, of course, is the ongoing impact of the UK Government's changes to inheritance tax, otherwise known as the 'family farm tax'. It will be the first Royal Highland Show since the changes to APR and BPR were announced, a move which farming leaders said cut deep across the sector like they hadn't seen before. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Farmers call for UK animal welfare rules to be upheld in Gulf states deal
A trade deal with Gulf states could severely undermine British farmers by allowing the importation of low-welfare meat, the National Farmers' Union has said in a letter to the prime minister. The UK is close to signing a £1.6bn trade agreement with Gulf states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – amid deep dissatisfaction from farming and animal welfare groups over an expected deal for food imports. Human rights groups have also attacked the proposed deal for making no concrete provisions on workers' rights, modern slavery or the environment. Last week, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said there would be 'chapters in that agreement' on human rights that were not legally binding. 'You don't have that in trade deals, but it's important you have that ethos and that approach reflected,' he said. Farmers groups have told the prime minister, Keir Starmer, that the deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council would go against a commitment he made at the NFU conference to protect high welfare standards, saying that the way most poultry is produced in Gulf states would be illegal in the UK. The Guardian has previously reported that the deal included uncapped access to the UK's poultry market for chicken meat if imports meet UK hygiene standards. However, meeting these checks does not mean meeting UK animal welfare standards. The NFU president, Tom Bradshaw, said: 'Balanced and mutually beneficial trade deals can provide a real economic boost, including for farm businesses. A modern trade deal with the GCC, if fair and balanced, could offer huge potential for agricultural exporters. 'But, as always, this balance depends on the government upholding its commitments to not allow greater market access for food imports which have been produced in ways that are illegal here. This would undermine Britain's reputation for high animal welfare standards that our producers deliver, and consumers value and rightly expect.' He said the trading bloc 'only seems to have basic welfare provisions, which fall well short of the robust species-specific legislation in place in the UK'. 'It's vital the government takes the same balanced approach it took with the recent India and US trade agreements. This is the next test to see if the government will stand strong and protect the standards our country demands and values,' he added. Farmers have minimum standards to reach in terms of space for birds to live in, and there is mandatory pre-slaughter stunning in most cases. In the six Gulf countries involved in the deal, poultry must be slaughtered according to halal principles, though stunning is sometimes used. Poultry is often raised in intensive indoor systems, especially given the region's harsh heat. The UK has some of the strictest standards for chicken space in the world. Poultry farmers must give their flock a minimum of 750 sq cm of space per bird, and 600 sq cm must be usable. The deal, led by the trade minister, Douglas Alexander, is likely to be particularly beneficial for the car industry and financial services, though estimates suggest a free trade agreement would be worth less than 1% of GDP by 2035. Trade with the six-member bloc is worth about £59bn a year, according to UK government estimates, as the UK's seventh-largest export market, with a trade deal expected to increase trade by about 16%.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Labour cutting farming budget in England by £100m a year, figures shows
Labour is cutting the farming budget in England by £100m a year, spending review figures show. Despite the decrease, the budget has been cautiously welcomed by nature and farming groups, as there were fears the Treasury had wanted to reduce the funding further. Farmers have felt squeezed by the Labour government's policies over recent months, with mass protests over the introduction of inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m. Extreme weather and rising input prices have increased financial pressures on the sector, which has meant that a cut to the budget could have serious impacts. Ministers have also indicated that larger farms could be ineligible for the nature-friendly farming fund in future. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs was recently forced to U-turn on a freeze to new applicants for the fund after the National Farmers' Union (NFU) threatened legal action. Previous research by the RSPB has found that a £100m a year cut would lead to 239,000 fewer hectares (590,580 acres) of nature-friendly farmland. Defra said the funding paid to farmers under of environment land management schemes (Elms) would 'skyrocket' from £800m in 2023-24 to £2bn in 2028-29. However, the NFU has called this 'misleading' because after Brexit, farmers were promised that their subsidies would be the same as they were under the EU and were promised a figure of £2.4bn a year. The Elms programme was devised by the conservatives after Brexit: the goal was that rather than being paid per acre, farmers should be paid for improving nature. While the programme was being put in place,the acreage payments known as basic payments schemes (BPS) were kept, and cut each year as Elms increased. BPS is due to be phased out entirely by 2028. Farmers currently get the £2.4bn a year in the two streams as well as a smaller amount of money in grants for things such as robotics trials. Going forward, the government has promised an average of £2.3bn a year up to 2028-29 for the farming budget. By the end of the spending period the budget will shrink to £2.25bn, with £2bn allocated for Elms and the rest paid in productivity grants. Sanjay Dhanda, the NFU's senior economist, has said Defra has been 'misleading' in its claims. He said: 'A key pillar of Defra's budget is the continued investment in Elms, with funding set to rise to £2bn by 2028-29, compared with the £1.8bn earmarked in the Autumn 2024 budget. While the government has framed this as a significant uplift from the £800m spent in 2023-24, this comparison is misleading as Elms was not fully operational at that point, and delinked payments [BPS] absorbed a large share of funding.' However, Defra sources pointed out that although the previous government allocated £2.4bn a year for Elms, the Tories in fact underspent it by about £100m a year. That government had, however, promised that by the end of the spending period, which was cut short by the general election, the full fund was ringfenced and would be allocated to farmers. Tom Bradshaw, the NFU president, said: 'While the Defra secretary of state has listened and managed to maintain the overall funding for farming and nature recovery, from what we can see so far, the £100 million cut to farming means farmers and growers will need to do more with less.' Mark Spencer, a former farming minister who was in charge of issuing the farming budget, said the amount spent on Elms would have been higher than £2bn at the end of the spending period, under the Tories. 'The 2.4bn was meant for Elms. It was always our intention and emphasis to reduce BPS and pour the money into Elms and for the vast majority of it to go to Elms,' he said. Reacting to the cut, Spencer added: 'A part of me is angry, a part of me is just so sad. We made such huge progress and now it is in jeopardy.' Nature groups have credited Steve Reed, the environment secretary, for protecting the majority of the budget. Hilary McGrady, the director general of the National Trust, said the chancellor Rachel Reeves had maintained the budget for nature-friendly farming, adding: 'Steve Reed deserves credit for securing this budget in challenging financial circumstances.' A Defra spokesperson said: 'Contrary to media reports that the farming budget would be slashed by £1.2bn over the next three years, the government is investing a record £5.9bn into nature friendly farming schemes.'
