Monthly farming update

1 The NFU has called for a British agricultural policy to include the best possible access to the EU market; a continuation of the trade agreements the EU holds with other countries; support to UK farmers to be the equivalent of that received by EU farmers; banning imports of products produced to standards lower than those prevailing in the UK; an agricultural workers scheme open to worldwide students; and regulation and product approval to be based on sound science.

1 The EU has announced a £420 millions fund available to dairy farmers to compensate for the global market downturn. The UK will receive the third highest share at £25 millions.

1 The Agri-Tech Catalyst Fund has awarded grant funding to: the University of Lincoln and Garford Farm Machinery to develop a 3D vision-based weed discrimination system for automated weeding; the University of Strathclyde, the University of West Scotland and the James Hutton Institute to develop a low-cost hyperspectral crop camera for optimum agriculture; the James Hutton Institute to develop solutions to reduce potato greening; Lancaster University, the University of Greenwich and Exosect of Winchester to develop a biopesticide formulation technology for caterpillar pests; Cornerways Nursery, Thanet Earth, Stockbridge Technology Centre, the Shadow Robot Company and Sharp Laboratories to develop a robotic system to monitor and harvest glasshouse tomatoes; Thanet Earth, East Malling Research and Nail Vision Europe to develop TomVision, an imaging system and PredictTomPro, a mathematical model to accurately predict tomato yields; East Malling Research and Berry Gardens Growers to assess the use of stress pre-conditioning, sensors and mycorrhizal fungi to improve the sustainability of raspberry production; Avalon Produce to improve apple storage; and Johnson Matthey and Cranfield University to develop modified-atmosphere materials to control respiratory gases to extend storage and reduce waste.

2 The Prince’s Farm Resilience Programme has been launched with the aim of providing business support guidance to 300 farm businesses across the UK each year.

3 ADAS has launched an “Insects as Food & Feed” business network to exploit the use of crop waste as a feedstuff and the production of feed for fish in aquaponic systems.

1 Defra has published its analysis of the profitability and resilience of farms in England for 2014/15. The average level of liabilities per farm was £186,000; 13 per cent had liabilities in excess of £400,000 while 26 per cent had liabilities of less than £10,000; dairy farms carried the highest level of debt at £367,000 while less favoured area grazing livestock farms had the lowest at £67,000; the largest farms had the largest debt at an average of £1,900 per hectare. The average net worth was £1.6 millions, with cereal farms averaging £2.4 millions and general cropping farms averaging £2.6 millions while horticultural units averaged only £770,000 and less favoured area grazing livestock farms £758,000. The average gearing ratio was 10 per cent with 49 per cent of units having gearing below 5 per cent but pig and poultry units had gearing of up to 26 per cent. Average liquidity was 229 per cent with two-thirds in excess of 200 per cent but 19 per cent had liquidity of less than 100 per cent. Net interest payments averaged 11 per cent of Farm Business Income, up from 6 per cent in 2011/12.

The median Return on Capital Employed fell to -0.5 per cent, down from 1.6 per cent in 2011/12, dairy was positive at 1.3 per cent, cereals at 0.4 per cent and general cropping at 0.3 per cent but all other sectors were negative.

2 In May the monthly agricultural price index for all outputs fell by 4.2 per cent compared to a year earlier while inputs fell by 3.9 per cent.

3 The University of Newcastle has suggested that profitability for organic horticultural producers is £1,705 per hectare compared to £1,197 per hectare for non-organic producers.

4 NatWest has committed £1 billion to agricultural lending with new loans carrying no arrangement or repayment fees.

5 Savills has reported an increase of 6.6 per cent in global land values in the past five years. Since 2002 Western Europe has seen annual growth rates of 8 per cent with average annual rises of 20.4 per cent in Central Europe. In North America the annual growth rate has been 9 per cent but there was a fall of 5 per cent in 2015.

6 The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board has invited universities, colleges and research institutes to apply for funding of up to £70,500 per post to fund 15 PhD students to develop a new tranche of agricultural and horticultural scientific expertise.

7 Lloyds Bank has launched a “pullet finance” loan scheme which provides an initial repayment holiday with capital repayments matching the productive life of the flock.

8 Defra has published an updated list of eligible water technologies and products on which 100 per cent First Year Allowances can be claimed without the overall restriction which applies to the Annual Investment Allowance.

A. Crops

1 Crop prices have strengthened further this month, less as a result of currency fluctuations and more as a result of concerns over anticipated yields and quality of the 2016 harvest. Sterling did weaken further against the Euro in the early part of the month (reaching 86.0p/€) but settled back to 84.4p/€. On a similar trend, the US$ closed stronger against Sterling at 75.57p/$. Despite the price suppressing effect of improved conditions in Australia and central US, the poor initial results for the harvest in Northern Europe (UK included) have lead to concerns in the marketplace. Milling wheat premiums have gained significant momentum as concerns grow over the potential milling quality of the 2016 harvest. Oilseed prices have also improved as early harvest results, combined with the lowest EU acreage in four years, suggest tight supply. LIFFE feed wheat futures closed up, having had another volatile month with a swing of between £6 and £7 depending on timeframe. In late July, deliveries for November 2016 and 2017 stood at £124/tonne (+4) and £131/tonne (+3) respectively, whilst March 2018 movements were also up at £133 (+2) and November 2018 deliveries opened at £136.

Average spot prices in late July (£/tonne ex-farm): feed wheat 110 (+1); milling wheat 135 (+8); feed barley 97 (+1); oilseed rape 280 (+10); feed peas 129 (+5); feed beans 137 (+4).

2 The GB potato market shifted from old season to new season this month, as the supplies of 2015 crop started to dry up. There were insufficient transactions to enable either an average price or an average free-buy price to be quoted but the cross-over to the new crop has seen most buyers’ requirements satisfied for the short term and average prices fall back. Development of the 2016 main crop remains slightly delayed but the recent warmer and sunnier weather has enabled crops to add bulk, the corresponding water consumption leading many growers to reactivate irrigation systems.

2015 crop prices for the small remaining tonnages of grade 1 in late July: samples of Estima with material baker content were marginally relaxed, at between £350 and £400 per tonne, whilst Maris Piper prices were weaker and tighter, at between £230 and £250 per tonne.

B. Livestock

1 Cattle prices bounced back this month to a small degree. The average finished steer price, from its opening position of 177p/kg lw, peaked at 188p/kg before closing at 184p/kg lw (a gain of 7p/kg in the month, to sit 2p/kg below the closing average a year earlier). The average finished heifer price improved from the opening position of 194p/kg lw, to peak at 199p/kg before eventually closing at 196p/kg lw (2p/kg up for the month to sit 2p/kg below the price a year earlier). The average dairy cow price reverted to a less buoyant level, spending most of the month below £1,000 per head, peaking at £1,109 per head but closing down at £915 per head (£1,030 in late July 2015).

2 The average finished lamb price (SQQ live weight) remained volatile, first dropping below its opening position of 195p/kg lw, then improving to peak at 202p/kg, before dropping back to 183p/kg where it closed (12p down in the month but 38p above the closing average in July 2015).

3 The average UK all pig price (APP) continued the improving trend, making further gains this month. From an opening position of 125.0p/kg dw, the continuing tight supply saw the average price improve to a late July close of 130.7p/kg (5.7p/kg up in the month and 6.6p/kg below DAPP from a year earlier).

4 The UK average milk price for June (published in late July) reported an average of 19.85ppl, 3.90ppl below the price a year earlier; the lowest monthly average since July 2007. The UK improved by two places in the EU farmgate milk price ‘EU28’ rankings for May (to 13th) with an average of 21.06ppl, in comparison to a lower EU28 weighted average of 20.97ppl (down 1.30ppl).

1 The International Grains Council has raised its total wheat production forecast by 7 million tonnes to 729 million tonnes and production exceeding demand by 3 million tonnes although adverse weather conditions are expected to have a negative impact on quality.

2 AHDB Recommended List trials in north Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Suffolk have posted the first barley harvest results. The overall yield average at 3.5t/acre is below the 5-year average of 3.7t/acre.

3 A study by Monsanto has found that the average yield gap between first and second winter wheats has grown to 1.18 tonnes per hectare, 13 per cent greater than in 2011. The second winter wheat area has fallen from 38 per cent to 33 per cent but is still grown on 70 per cent of farms while 50 per cent grow winter barley, 30 per cent spring barley and 20 per cent spring wheat.

4 FranceAgriMer has reported wheat stocks of 3.3 million tonnes compared to a forecast level of 6 million tonnes.

5 The overall price index for crop products rose by 1.4 per cent in May compared to a year earlier but fell by 0.8 per cent compared to April; cereal prices rose by 0.8 per cent from April but were down 6.5 per cent on May 2015; potato prices rose by 9.8 per cent over the month and were up 57 per cent on a year earlier; and the fresh fruit index fell by 19 per cent compared to a year earlier mainly caused by a 26 per cent fall in strawberries.

6 In May, animal feed production rose by 1.8 per cent for poultry and by 8.3 per cent for sheep but fell by 4.7 per cent for pigs and by 3.6 per cent for cattle, all compared to a year earlier. The usage of wheat increased by 1.8 per cent but the usage of barley fell by 1.8 per cent.

7 Tesco is to offer potato growers direct contracts together with a 3-year rolling commitment which will guarantee volume purchase. The price paid to the Tesco Sustainable Farming Group will reflect production costs.

8 The Processors and Growers Research Organisation has reported a new destructive pathogen, Aphanomyces euteiches, has been added to the foot-rot complex which affects peas. The pathogen is a soil-borne oomycete which produces spores which can survive in soils for over 10 years and even low numbers of resting spores can devastate yields.

9 The NFU and British Sugar have agreed the terms of the 2017/18 contract which provides for a guaranteed minimum price of £22 per tonne for beet together with a market bonus if the sugar price exceeds £400 per tonne up to a maximum price of £585 per tonne.

10 Commodity broker Czarnikow has raised its forecast for the world sugar output shortfall in 2015/16 to 12.5 million tonnes and has forecast a deficit of 9.8 million tonnes in 2016/17.

11 Profel, the European fruit and trade vegetable body, is forecasting that growers in Northern Europe are facing their worst losses for 40 years due to adverse weather. Pea and carrot crops have suffered the most damage while green bean sowing is way behind schedule. Glasshouses have been extensively damaged in the Netherlands with a significant effect on cucumber production.

12 Latest figures show that home produced vegetables were worth £1.3 billions in 2015, 3.9 per cent up on the previous year with carrots, mushrooms and cabbages the main drivers behind the increase. Home produced fruit increased by 9.6 per cent to £695 millions. Vegetables provided 57 per cent of the total UK supply, down 0.6 per cent on the previous year and down 4 per cent on 2010 while the home production of tomatoes rose to 20 per cent of supply, the highest level since 2002. Home production of fruit rose 3.5 per cent to 18 per cent of total supply while fruit exports rose by 28 per cent with apples up 25 per cent. Field vegetable production by volume increased by 0.7 per cent with peas up by 41 per cent to the highest figure ever; carrot production fell by 3.1 per cent; leek production fell by 4.4 per cent; broccoli production rose by 6.1 per cent; and overall the vegetable production area rose by 5 per cent. The value of protected vegetables rose by 5.6 per cent and is now up 58 per cent on 2005 but the volume increase was only 1.7 per cent; tomato production fell by 1.3 per cent; lettuce production rose by 13 per cent; and overall the area of protected vegetables rose by 0.7 per cent. The total value of strawberry production rose by 16 per cent while volume was up 11 per cent; raspberry value increased by 14 per cent but the volume fell by 2.9 per cent; cherry volumes rose by 18 per cent but the overall value remained unchanged; and overall the fresh fruit production area rose by 1.4 per cent.

13 Armand de Durfort, a graduate from Ecole Polytechnic who has been studying at the University of Cambridge, has developed the SoftHarvest system in association with G’s Growers. The harvester can distinguish a lettuce from other green plants and can cut it near to the ground and collect without damage.

14 Plumpton Estate, the vineyard of Plumpton College, has been awarded gold medals for its sparkling wines “The Dean Blush” and “The Dean Brut” at the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships.

15 A survey conducted by Cambridge Market Research has revealed that Driscoll Elizabeth is the top tasting strawberry.

16 Scientists at the University of Wageningen are increasing the growing area devoted to Taraxacum kok-saghyz, the Russian dandelion, in an effort to provide an alternative to commercial rubber production.

1 The overall price index for animals and animal products fell by 8.4 per cent in May compared to a year earlier; the pig price index fell by 12 per cent but rose 2.4 per cent compared to April; the animal products index fell by 15 per cent and by 4.4 per cent compared to April; and the milk price index fell by 15 per cent and by 5.3 per cent compared to April. The index for animal feedstuffs fell by 6.8 per cent compared to a year earlier.

2 June 2016 cattle slaughterings rose by 6.4 per cent compared to a year earlier while beef and veal production rose by 5.9 per cent to 72,000 tonnes; sheep slaughterings fell by 4.5 per cent, mutton and lamb production fell by 9.2 per cent to 22,000 tonnes; and pig slaughterings fell by 0.8 per cent but pigmeat production rose by 0.9 per cent to 74,000 tonnes.

3 New herd bovine TB incidents rose by 4 per cent in England compared to a year earlier with increases of 2 per cent in the High risk area, 19 per cent in the Edge area and 20 per cent in the Low risk area. In Scotland there was a 3 per cent increase but a 17 per cent fall in Wales. The numbers of herds not officially TB free rose by 3 per cent in England, with increases of 2 per cent in the High risk area, 19 per cent in the Edge area and 11 per cent in the Low risk area, and by 4 per cent in Scotland but fell by 11 per cent in Wales. The number of animals slaughtered rose by 11 per cent in England and 41 per cent in Wales but fell by 19 per cent in Scotland.

4 The NFU has advised the Environment Food and Rural Affairs committee that British beef is losing over £1 million per month due to changes to cattle payment grids and grading systems which are being used to drive down the value of cattle.

5 Defra has announced that bluetongue vaccines are now available for sheep and cattle from Zoetis and MSD Animal Health.

6 There have been four new outbreaks of bluetongue virus in cattle in the central region of France in July.

7 Milk production in June fell by 8.5 per cent on May and by 7.1 per cent compared to June 2015. Butterfat levels fell by 0.05 per cent to 3.94 per cent but were 0.04 per cent higher than a year earlier. Protein levels also fell by 0.05 per cent to 3.23 per cent, down 0.07 per cent on a year earlier.

8 During May, dairies in England and Wales used 927 million litres of milk, a fall of 3.4 per cent on a year earlier. Of the total, 47 per cent was used for liquid milk, 25 per cent for cheese, 2.3 per cent for butter and 2 per cent for cream.

9 The US Department of Agriculture has raised its forecast for 2016 Chinese whole milk powder imports to 375,000 tonnes, most of the total arriving from New Zealand, while liquid milk imports are forecast to rise to 650,000 tonnes, mainly from the EU.

10 The latest Rabobank survey has revealed that sales of the world’s top 20 dairy businesses fell by 13 per cent to £148 billions in 2015.

11 The UK Statistics Authority has instructed Defra to remove the National Statistics badge from dairy figures from February 2015 on the grounds the figures were “misleading”.

12 Freshways has threatened its producers with financial penalties if they fail to produce their agreed weekly litreage.

13 Defra has published an updated list of approved sheep and goat ear tag suppliers.

14 UK commercial layer chick placings fell in June, compared to a year earlier, by 3.1 per cent to 3.1 million chicks; broiler chick placings fell by 1.7 per cent to 75.9 million chicks; turkey chick placings fell 2.3 per cent to 1.4 million chicks; turkey slaughterings fell 9.3 per cent to 900,000 birds; broiler slaughterings rose 0.6 per cent to 72.8 million birds; and overall poultry meat production fell 0.2 per cent to 129,000 tonnes.

15 Further outbreaks of avian influenza have been reported in France, the most recent an outbreak in a broiler flock in Dordogne and in a free range duck flock in Aveyron.

16 The Oxford Vaccine Group has applied for authority to perform a deliberate release of genetically modified Salmonella Typhi.

1 Following its rejection of a takeover bid by Bayer, although a higher bid is reported to have been submitted, Monsanto is said to be investigating the purchase of BASF’s agricultural business.

2 The May 2016 price index for fertilizers and soil improvers fell by 22 per cent compared to a year earlier.

3 Defra has rejected an application for the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments this autumn.

4 Provisional figures for 2015 indicate the UK nitrogen balance as showing a surplus of 87kg per hectare of managed agricultural land but this is a decrease of 2 per cent on 2014 and 21 per cent compared to 2000. The reduction is considered to be caused by a fall in the application of inorganic fertilizers and lower manure production. Phosphorus balance was a surplus of 5kg per hectare, a fall of 7 per cent compared to 2014 and 47 per cent compared to 2000.

5 The Chemicals Regulations Directorate has rejected an application for the use of Equity to control leatherjackets on newly-sown leys and established grassland. The use of products containing chlorpyrifos was banned with effect from April.

6 Plantsystems, the technology arm of Agrovista, has launched a nitrogen-assessment system based on field scans by drones.

7 The British Society of Plant Breeders has clarified that where eligible farm-saved seed is used to create a cover crop, a declaration must be made to the relevant authority and a royalty payment made.

1 A YouGov survey has revealed that 62 per cent of direct suppliers had experienced problems with supermarkets in the past year compared to 70 per cent in 2015 and 79 per cent in 2014. Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Lidl are said to be the most compliant while 65 per cent of Tesco suppliers considered practices had improved. But suppliers which would take an issue to the Groceries Code Adjudicator remains unchanged at 47 per cent.

2 The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the US Department of Agriculture has recommended lifting the ban on imports of live sheep, goats and associated products from countries, including the UK, which had cases of Transmissable Spongiform Encephalopathies.

3 Vegetable exports in 2015 rose by 22 per cent to £97 millions while fruit exports rose by 24 per cent to £101 millions. However, fruit imports rose 6.7 per cent to £3.1 billions and vegetable imports rose 3.9 per cent to £2.1 billions. In volume terms imports rose 3.1 per cent while exports rose 29 per cent.

4 Final figures have been published for the total factor productivity of the UK food chain beyond the farm gate for 2014. Overall productivity fell by 2.8 per cent from 2013 compared to an increase of 1.2 per cent in the wider economy. Between 2005 and 2014 the average annual growth was 0.1 per cent, half that of the wider economy. Productivity in retail fell by 4.6 per cent compared to an average increase of 0.1 per cent over the previous 10 years while productivity in food manufacturing fell by 2.7 per cent compared to an average 10 year increase of 0.3 per cent.

5 The NFU has complained to the National Trading Standards Institute over “fake” farm branding by retailers.

6 PepsiCo is selling Boxford Farm, which produces Copella and Top50, to Belgian firm Konings.

7 Sainsbury’s has abandoned its Netto joint venture.

8 An application for protected geographical status has been lodged for Traditional Welsh Perry and Traditional Welsh Cider by the Welsh Perry and Cider Society Limited.

1 Figures from the Agricultural Engineers Association show that, in the first six months of 2016, 5,382 tractors with more than 50hp were registered, a fall of 9.8 per cent on the same period last year. However, the average size has increased by 2.7 per cent to 158.5hp.

2 Andrea Leadsom has been appointed the new Defra Secretary.

3 Steven Munday is to succeed Adrian Barlow as CEO of English Applies and Pears Ltd.

Glasgow Hospitals

Records generated by medical secretaries in the National Health Service, Greater Glasgow.

1. The patient has no previous history of suicide.

2. Patient has left her white blood cells at another hospital.

3. Patient’s medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past three days.

4. She has no rigours or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.

5. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.

6. On the second day the knee was better and on the third day it disappeared.

7. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.

8. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.

9. Discharge status: Alive, but without my permission.

10. Healthy, appearing decrepit, 69-year old male, mentally alert, but forgetful.

11. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.

12. She is numb from her toes down.

13. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.

14. The skin was moist and dry.

15. Occasional constant infrequent headaches.

16. Patient was alert and unresponsive.