NFU Briefing
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Current situation in agriculture & horticulture: October 2014 NFU Briefing Circulation: NFU Council Date Issued: 8th October 2014 Andrew Clark 024 7685 8510 Current Situation for Council, 13th & 14th October 2014 Table of Contents FOOD & FARMING ISSUES .................................................................................................................... 2 Livestock ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Dairy ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 Poultry ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Pigs ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Combinable Crops & Seeds .................................................................................................................. 8 Sugar ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 Horticulture & Potatoes ....................................................................................................................... 10 Food Chain .......................................................................................................................................... 11 Farm Policy ......................................................................................................................................... 12 TB Eradication ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Hill and Uplands Group ....................................................................................................................... 12 Government and Parliamentary Affairs ............................................................................................... 13 POLICY SERVICES ISSUES ................................................................................................................. 14 Economics & International .................................................................................................................. 14 Rural Affairs ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Science & Regulation .......................................................................................................................... 19 Land Management Services ............................................................................................................... 22 Knowledge exchange and sustainable intensification ......................................................................... 24 Industry-led Environmental Initiatives ................................................................................................. 24 Single Payment Scheme (SPS) .......................................................................................................... 26 High Speed 2 ...................................................................................................................................... 32 Tenancy .............................................................................................................................................. 33 Environment ........................................................................................................................................ 34 Climate Change & Renewable Energy ................................................................................................ 39 Legal ................................................................................................................................................... 41 The voice of British farming Although every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, neither the NFU nor the author can accept liability for errors and or omissions. © NFU Current situation in agriculture & horticulture: NFU Briefing Legal Assistance Scheme ................................................................................................................... 41 LAS Pilot Review ................................................................................................................................. 44 Legal Panel Firms ............................................................................................................................... 44 Tax ...................................................................................................................................................... 44 FOOD & FARMING ISSUES Livestock 1. NFU calls for a Ministerial summit on the beef industry led to a cross-industry meeting being held in early July. The NFU highlighted the damage to farming businesses from the rapid fall in farm beef prices, the changes to specifications and deductions that had taken place with little notice for producers, the need for retailers clearly differentiate and actively promote British beef on shelves and the urgent need for risk management options to help farmers deal with volatility. Since this meeting, the NFU has been working with the British Meat Processors Association on a code of practice to improve the transparency of terms and conditions and stop specifications changing at short notice, leaving farmers without a market. We have also employed a graduate trainee for a project on processor terms, conditions and charges and a report will be prepared containing proposals for the livestock board, Defra and AHDB by the end of October. 2. The NFU organised high profile, public facing events at agricultural shows this summer highlighting the pressure that farmers were under in the beef and sheep industries and the need for support from major retailers. A widely reported protest at the Royal Welsh Show outside the Tesco stand was convened following their decision to run summer promotions on New Zealand lamb. We have worked to remind consumers and retailers this summer that British lamb is plentiful, available and delicious and have received assurances from several retailers that they will have British lamb front and centre of displays in the coming months. The NFU have also continued to highlight poor practice on British beef and lamb sourcing using surveys such as EBLEX Beef and Lamb Watch. At the time of writing, the lamb price is around 10% lower than this time last year and below 2012 levels, largely on an increase in UK lamb numbers and carcase weights, increased numbers of out-of-spec animals being marketed and subdued demand. However, overall New Zealand imports this year are down and New Zealand export lamb production is forecasted to decline by three per cent, year on year. 3. The NFU launched a joint report with the National Sheep Association in July entitled “A Vision for British Lamb Production”. The report highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the sector and identifies the opportunities ahead and barriers that must be tackled in order to meet them. It is intended to provide a united front on our ambitions for the industry and will be used to frame and guide NFU and NSA activities to inform and convince policy and decision makers of the potential the sheep sector offers and what they can do to clear a pathway for its continued success. The NFU have already used it in discussions with retailers. 4. The NFU has responded to a consultation on pre-movement TB testing in SOAs, post movement testing in the low risk area, compulsory information at sale and fines for overdue tests. Although Defra will no longer permit movements further than ten miles in a SOA without a pre- movement test, following NFU lobbying, they will allow farmers to remove land over ten miles from the SOA to allow the remaining land to benefit. Defra continues to dispute that there is a need for farmers to set up interim SOA agreements between now and 2016 when the holding number system is due to be reformed. The NFU have surveyed members this summer and over 70% of respondents asked for interim SOAs within ten miles. We are also working with Defra on a project to provide better information to farmers on new TB breakdowns. Page 2 Current situation in agriculture & horticulture: NFU Briefing 5. The NFU have teamed up the Royal Agricultural Society for England (through the Innovation for Agriculture initiative) and Warwickshire Rural Hub to run a series of events focused on the next generation of livestock farming with a sheep event on 22 October at Moreton Morrell College, a beef event on 19 November, hosted by Adam Quinney and livestock conference at Stoneleigh Park on 3 December. All events are focused on using the latest technology across the supply chain to meet market demands, improve animal husbandry create more competitive farms. Dairy 6. Dairy market. The most recent Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction result (1st October 2014) saw all products on average fall by 7.3% to $2599/t. Indicating that downward movement in volatile global markets are continuing to impact on UK dairy farmers. 7. The biggest factor to impact dairy prices in the Europe and the world in the past ten years has been the rise in global dairy commodity prices to a point where intervention, no longer smoothes the EU market. We call