News
- How farm data integration could improve N use efficiency February 3, 2023Farmers Weekly Collating and analysing data from multiple different farm machinery and other sources in a single place has long been a bugbear for many farmers. Accurate in-field analysis is only practical and possible with complete farm data integration, claims Jim Williams, chairman of data analytics start-up AgAnalyst. Its first product, DataBaler, is aimed at […]Richard Allison
- How to use grain futures and options to manage risk February 3, 2023Farmers Weekly Grain futures and options provide a way of managing volatile grain markets, but understanding how they work is critical to using them successfully. The futures market is a formal, regulated forward market for commodities, where set tonnages of a standard quality are traded for delivery at set times to a nominated futures store. […]Suzie Horne
- Will’s World: Water quality ambitions laudable – to a degree February 3, 2023Farmers Weekly When was the last time you asked the person sitting next to you if you could borrow their orange colouring pencil? For most of you, I’d guess it was a good few decades ago, when the only things you were really concerned with were whether you had corned beef or cheese sandwiches in […]Emma Northam
- Analysis: What Defra’s ELM update means for farmers February 3, 2023Farmers Weekly Six years in the making, it is finally here. Defra has given farmers in England much-needed clarity on how it plans to support them to deliver environmental outcomes which underpin sustainable food production in its new post-Brexit farm payment scheme. The government’s bespoke Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes have been designed to replace […]Philip Case
- Editor’s view: Dairy decisions loom as price cuts arrive February 3, 2023Farmers Weekly It was brilliant news for swathes of dairy farmers this week as the labour crisis afflicting the sector was briefly solved as teachers went on strike and children were stranded at home at the mercy of their hardworking parents. Tiktok addicts were reportedly braced at the time of going to press for a […]Andrew Meredith
- Farmer Focus: Indoor lambers scan poorly at 145% February 3, 2023Farmers Weekly Scanning has got to be the most nerve-wracking day in the diary of a sheep farmer. We have struggled with our scanning rate for the past few years and one of our main aims is to increase it. So far this year we have scanned our B flock – which lambs indoors to […]Michael Priestley
- Hopes rest on fast rule changes for desperate abattoirs February 2, 2023Farmers Weekly A beleaguered abattoir sector, seeking regulatory reform to ease costs and burdensome paperwork, is optimistic following government crisis talks last week. Independent abattoir owners facing a maelstrom of bureaucracy, exorbitant electricity bills and labour shortages called on Defra minister Mark Spencer to tailor regulations for smaller abattoirs. One frustrated abattoir owner and farmer […]Abi Kay
- Sustainability is more than no-till and cover crops February 2, 2023Farmers Weekly Sustainable crop production, regenerative farming, agroecology. It doesn’t matter what you call it, there is no doubt that there has never been more interest (or a greater imperative) to farm in a way which sustains and improves the environment. Rob Scott, of mid-Norfolk-based T H Scott & Son, says his ‘lightbulb moment’ came […]Emily Dakin
- Holehouse herd scoops 2022 NMR RABDF Gold Cup award February 2, 2023Farmers Weekly A high-tech approach to cow welfare and investment in renewable energy have earned an Ayrshire farming family a top dairy accolade. The Logans were presented with the NMR RABDF 2022 Gold Cup – sponsored by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) and National Milk Records (NMR) – at Dairy-Tech, Stoneleigh Park, […]Charlotte Cunningham
- Dairy producers set to make losses as milk prices drop February 2, 2023Farmers Weekly Dairy producers are set to make losses over the coming year as milk prices fall faster than costs, according to Kite Consulting. As farmgate prices continued to drop back, “surviving the next six months” was the main talking point at Dairy-Tech’s keynote session “State of the Dairying Nation” on 1 February. Edward Lott, […]Charlie Reeve