Joined up thinking

An independent dose of news, views and insight from the world of farming and food

Viewpoint

As I’ve long lamented there’s been a critical lack of joined-up thinking when it comes to land use in the UK. As many of their pick-and-mix manifestos reveal, politicians are often the culprits, but different rural stakeholders who can’t find common ground despite wanting similar outcomes are guilty, too. That’s why it was refreshing to hear from the Duke of Norfolk that ex-RSPB Conservation Director Mark Avery has given his seal of approval to the Peppering estate’s inspiring Grey partridge restoration programme (discussed below), even though it revolves around shooting and intensive predator control. As the later article about systems thinking reveals, applying some academic rigour to the changes required to improve our farming systems and diets makes sense if we want to long-term sustainable results, but sometimes it seems as if only half the story is being considered. Why for, example, should a planning application for a new oil well only consider greenhouse gas emissions (see Fossil fuel planning) why not energy security? And why shouldn’t that principle be extended to planning applications that might have a bearing on our health or food security? All the pieces of the land-use jigsaw are floating around, we just need them tote put together in the right order.?

Do get in touch if you have a story you’d like to share or if you need help creating compelling content for your organisation

Andrew Shirley, journalist and storyteller

In this week's update:

·?????? Wheat down, organic milk up

·?????? Welsh and Scottish manifestos

·?????? Fossil fuel planning

·?????? Food security 1934

·?????? Green grabbing

·?????? Knotweed ruling

·?????? Scottish Ag Bill approved

·?????? Gene editing plea

·?????? Trading places

·?????? Saving the grey partridge

·?????? Systems thinking

?

Commodity markets

Wheat down, organic milk up

Feed wheat prices weakened further last week as the USDA upped its harvest estimate for the US by 500,000 tonnes to just over 51 million tonnes. In Europe potential record harvests in Romania and Bulgaria could offset some of the declines in the UK and France. The grain market remains extremely volatile and “news” driven. But there is better news for organic milk producers. As reported in Farmers Weekly, prices for the summer are set to exceed 50p/litre off the back of falling output. Daily deliveries are down almost 12% compared with 2023.

Headlines

Welsh and Scottish manifestos

The SNP and Plaid Cymru issued their General Election manifestos last week so voters across Great Britain now have the full suite of political pledges to help decide which box to tick on July 4th. In Scotland the SNP has combined the bigger-picture approach – its manifesto is split into loftily ambitious sections such as Rejoin the EU – with a long list of promises and demands of Westminster. The top priority is obviously independence. There’s not much specific on farming other than a pledge to “provide sustainable funding for farming”. There is a strong focus on building the country’s renewables sector while cutting back on North Sea oil and vetoing more nuclear power. Much of the lack of detail is because some issues such as agriculture are devolved to the Scottish Parliament so the SNP’s representatives at Westminster hold little sway. The manifesto calls for energy policy to be devolved as well.

In Wales, meanwhile, Plaid Cymru devotes a section of its easy-to-navigate manifesto to Rural Affairs split into two sections: Fairness for our Farmers and Fairness for our Rural Communities. It’s a farmer-friendly affair very much aimed at safeguarding the future of family farms. It takes aim at Welsh Labour’s plans to ensure 10% of every farm is covered in trees, calls for a broader approach to controlling Bovine TB in host species, advocates for more of the meat and crops produced on Welsh farms to be processed in Wales, and says it will reintroduce former Defra boss Thérêse Coffey’s livestock worrying bill that was progressing through parliament before the election was called.

Fossil fuel planning

I’ve written before about the influence of the courts to force the hands of governments to adopt more stringent climate change and environmental policies, but the latest ruling by judges has caused a bit of a stir in the UK’s fossil fuel sector and may even have wider ramifications across the EU. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Surrey County Council should have considered the full climate impact of burning oil before granting consent for the expansion of the Horse Hill oil well in 2019. ?It’s considered a landmark decision because under planning law the assumption has always been that only the impacts from constructing the wells and not the use of the final oil products should be considered. Proponents of fossil fuels say the ruling could threaten the UK’s energy security by hampering the development of other energy projects such as the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea. Environmentalists are clearly delighted. However, it should be noted that the court ruling does not mean that Surry County Council should have vetoed the Horse Hill expansion, but just that it should have considered the downstream carbon emissions of the oil that would be produced from it.

In brief

Food security 1934

Farmers Weekly, where I was once Business & property Editor, is celebrating its 90th birthday and to mark the occasion has reprinted the first magazine alongside the current edition. It makes for fascinating reading, although farmers were basically just worrying about the same things they do now. But, given the current headlines regarding food security, what really caught my eye was a chart showing the UK’s level of self-sufficiency back then. It’s hardly surprising so much land needed to be ploughed up a few years later following the outbreak of WWII. Back then it looks like we were barely producing 10% of our own wheat and butter, whereas now we produce most of our own cereals and dairy products.

Green grabbing

A new report from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems identifies “green grabbing”, along with urbanisation and general land grabbing, as one of the factors behind the consolidation of farmland into the hands of fewer people and the displacement of smaller farmers. Land Squeeze estimates that since 2000 an area of land equivalent to twice the size of Germany has been “snatched” globally in transnational deals and that the top 1% of farming businesses now control 70% of the land. Many tree-planting, renewable energy and carbon-offsetting schemes, although well intentioned, are not done in consultation with local communities or have unintended consequences, the report claims.

Knotweed ruling

A Scottish court has ruled that the purchasers of a property later found to be infested by Japanese knotweed can pursue legal action against the vendors for not declaring its presence. Although the vendors admitted they knew of the weed’s presence and had tried themselves to eradicate it, they argued that it did not fall under the definition of an “infestation” and therefore did not need to be declared in the sale missives. The court disagreed.

Scottish Ag Bill approved

Scotland’s Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill was passed unanimously by the Scottish parliament on June 18th. It means policymakers can now finally start the process of implementing a long-term replacement for the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy to support the nation’s farmers and crofters. Unlike in England where direct payments are set to disappear completely by 2027, the Scottish government says farmers will still receive 70% of their support directly when the new scheme kicks in from 2027.

Gene editing plea

I think I may have omitted the secondary legislation required to implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act from my earlier list of things left in limbo by Rishi Sunak’s decision to call an early General Election. Advocates of the gene-editing technology, which could produce higher-yielding, more climate resilient and environmentally friendly crops, are calling for the next government to prioritise it. Those against will be hoping it gets kicked into the long grass by Labour who may be more influenced by anti-GM campaigners than the Conservatives.

Trading places

Eagle-eyed readers might notice that this newsletter has had a new name for the past few weeks and that I’m no longer signing off as Head of Rural Research at Knight Frank. After 16 years with the business, I’m going back to my journalistic roots and will, for now, be working as a freelance editorial consultant specialising in rural issues and investments of passion. If you signed up for this newsletter because it was coming from Knight Frank please feel free to unsubscribe, but if you enjoy my weekly witterings do stick around!

Knowledge exchange

Saving the grey partridge

Last week, as part of the excellent Fieldwork book club, I was privileged to join a discussion with Edward Norfolk and Roger Morgan-Grenville about their new book The Return of the Grey Partridge. The book recounts the Duke of Norfolk’s successful attempt to bring back the bird from the verge of oblivion on his Peppering estate on the South Downs. It shows (what many of us have long believed) that with the right vision and lots of enthusiasm a passion for shooting, intensive legal predator control, species restoration and arable farming can all coexist. Even former RSPB rabble rouser Mark Avery is a fan. Interestingly, the book identifies the ploughing up of much of Peppering during WWII (see article above) as one of the main trigger points for the decline of the Grey partridge.

Systems thinking

Slightly more academic, but just as thought-provoking, was a webinar on “systems thinking” hosted by Jez Fredenburgh of the Agri-food for Net Zero Network. Using the potential introduction of edible beans to England’s arable rotations as an example, Dr John Ingram of Oxford University explained why thinking about wider systems is vital for creating large-scale change in our diets and food production. As well as identifying where bean varieties suitable for human consumption (most of our baked beans are imported) could successfully be grown, the BeansMeals project has also worked with schools to identify how home-grown beans could be incorporated into school meals to help drive demand. The webinar is available to watch on You Tube.