Food security debate is vital

Recent calls for the government, including an open letter to Andy Burnham last week signed by over 180 organisations, to take the UK’s food security more seriously are welcome. Their focus on the resilience of the entire food chain, from reliable access to agricultural inputs, such as fertilisers, to the readiness of local communities in the event of shortages, is also sensible. Food security goes well beyond food production, but providing farmers with the confidence to invest in their businesses so they can increase the amount of home-grown food that the UK consumes must lie at the heart of any government strategy.

As the articles in this week’s Update show, farmers are facing a biblical range of challenges, from extreme weather conditions to the rise of animal diseases. Policymakers should take care not to add to the burden with botched schemes like the recent Sustainable Farming Incentive debacle.

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In this week's update

•  Sugar beet price dip
• Input costs rising fast
• PM food security call
• Weather taskforce
• Bird flu re-emerges
• Bluetongue infertility
• BNG legal challenge
• Country house fall
• Win Wiston wine
• Bank note animal choice
• Property of the week

Commodity markets

Source: Farmers Weekly, AHDB

 

Sugar beet price dip

The NFU and British Sugar have finally agreed payment terms for the 2027 sugar-beet crop. Growers have a set of contract options to choose from depending on their appetite for risk. These include a one-year fixed-price contract at £28.50/t, for up to 50% of the contract; a one-year contract with a guaranteed base price of £25.50/t, plus a market-linked bonus for up to 100% of the contract; or an index-linked contract, for up to 50% of the contract starting at £25.50/t. The market-linked bonus will be triggered when British Sugar’s average white sugar selling price exceeds €560/tonne. Contract prices are about £1.50/t lower than current levels.

 

Input costs rising fast

The latest Andersons ‘Agflation’ report reveals that the cost of agricultural inputs, such as fuel and fertiliser, is rising at the highest rate since early 2023. The farm business consultant calculates that prices rose, on average, by 7.8% in the year to September compared with just 1.7% in January. Over the same period, the prices farmers received for their crops and livestock dropped by 1.3%.

 

The headline

 

PM food security call

Over 180 organisations, including academics, farmers and community food leaders, have written an open letter to Prime Minister Andy Burnham calling for the government to treat food as a national security issue.

“For too long,” the letter claims, “the UK has been complacent about food as a national security matter, even as the urgency of the matter has become irrefutable. Government agencies, the National Audit Office, parliamentarians, industry insiders and researchers have all warned of impending shocks and a scale of destabilisation that could make business-as-usual nigh impossible.

“The food system is exposed to shocks and threats from geopolitics, climate heating, ransomware, energy outages, software malfunction and disinformation. These shocks will fall upon a system that is highly wasteful, import-dependent, environmentally unsustainable, and driven by the pursuit of private profit rather than resilience.”

Recommendations in the letter that are particularly pertinent to rural food producers include renaming Defra as the Department for Environment and Food Security; boosting UK production of legumes, vegetables, fruit and nuts; and assessing the UK’s dependence on international upstream agricultural inputs needed for food security, such as fertilisers, vitamins for animal production and feed requirements.

 

News in brief

 

Weather taskforce

Defra is launching a new Flood and Drought Resilience Taskforce this week, which it claims will champion community voices and strengthen the nation’s ability to plan for and respond to extreme weather. The taskforce’s first meeting on 14 October, chaired by Floods and Drought Minister Emma Hardy and attended by 50 organisations including farmers’ representatives, will focus on assessing England’s preparedness for potential flooding this winter. Ironically, the Environment Agency has just added Yorkshire to the list of counties considered to be under drought status.

 

Bird flu re-emerges

Anybody keeping poultry is being advised to check their biosecurity measures following the first recorded case of avian flu in the UK this season. The outbreak occurred in a flock of chickens on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Eligible poultry keepers in England can access a £430-funded poultry biosecurity review, which includes a vet visit, a written report and tailored recommendations.

 

Bluetongue infertility

Meanwhile, a vet in the south-west of England is warning that the bluetongue virus could be causing higher levels of infertility in rams. As reported by Farmers Weekly, Nich Roper of Devon-based Torch Farm and Equine said 50% of the rams tested by his practice recently were infertile, compared with 20% in a normal year. Sheep farmers are being urged to vaccinate their animals against the virus.

 

BNG legal challenge

An environmental organisation that specialises in litigation has threatened the government with a judicial review unless it reverses a move in the latest changes to its National Planning Policy Framework that caps Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) at 10%. The original BNG proposals did not impose an upper limit on how much additional environmental gain local authorities could request developers to deliver to help mitigate any environmental damage caused by their projects.

 

Country house fall

The average value of residential property in rural areas continues to decline, according to the Knight Frank Prime Country House Index. Tom Bill, Head of UK Residential Research, said: “The impact of rising mortgage rates and political uncertainty is being felt in the country market.” Average prices fell 4.2% in the year to September. Property exchanges were 2% lower in Q3 compared with last year, while the number of offers made was 10% lower. Read more of Tom’s insight.

 

Win Wiston wine

A case of English sparkling wine from the Wiston Estate is up for grabs. To have a chance of winning this fabulous prize, entrants just need to take the 2026 Knight Frank Estate Staff Salaries Survey. The survey tracks the salaries of those employed by landed estates and farming businesses, as well as the issues currently being faced by rural employers, including higher taxes and more legislation. Take the survey.

 

Banknote animal choice

The Bank of England has just announced which animals the public has voted for to appear on the next set of its banknotes. The Atlantic puffin, barn owl, buff-tailed bumblebee and European hedgehog were selected after nearly 500,000 people responded to a public consultation.

 

Property of the week

 

Borders’ gem

 New launches keep on coming well into autumn, and the latest is a stunning property near Peebles in the Scottish Borders. The 1,227-acre Portmore Estate is set around a 10-bedroom Category A-listed baronial mansion sitting within carefully restored grounds and a walled garden. The farming enterprise is run from Boreland Farm, which lies to the south of Portmore House and includes a farmhouse, cottage and practical range of modern and traditional farm buildings.

The highly regarded pheasant shoot, which ran for many years, has very recently ceased following the retirement of the keeper. There are also two blocks of commercial forestry and a 105-acre reservoir. The guide price is £8 million, with a further 2,233 acres, a farmhouse, three cottages and buildings available separately. Please contact Will Matthews for more information.

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