Livestock squeeze, A $30tr problem, Food security focus

Not too long ago, but before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, I wrote that an existential battle was heating up in the countryside, a battle as to what land should be used for: food production, renewable energy, tree planting or environmental schemes. The current crisis has only served to fuel that debate and highlighted, despite Defra protestations that the UK does not import much food or energy from that part of the world, just how vulnerable we all are to the shifting sands of global geo-politics. It would be wrong to downplay the importance of climate change and the biodiversity crisis, but government policy needs to examine the world though a multi-faceted lens, not focus on a single issue alone.

Do get in touch if we can help in any way
Andrew Shirley, Head of Rural Research

In this week’s update:

• Commodity markets – Livestock sector facing Ukraine squeeze
• Energy – Tory MPs in fracking rethink plea
• Planning – Gove scraps reforms
• Food security – Reprioritise now say unions
• Climate change – Focus on adaptation
• The Rural Report – Sign up to watch our ground-breaking video
• Overseas news – Trillions needed for sustainable food systems

Commodity markets – Livestock sector facing Ukraine squeeze

I actually exclaimed out loud when I saw this week’s OSR price – over £700/t, almost £300/t more than this time last year! But with all the current commodity headlines centred around the spike in the value of grains and oilseeds, it’s easy to overlook the recent rises in livestock values. My bad – there haven’t been any of note lately. Pig prices, for example, haven’t budged, yet pork producers who were already struggling to break even before the Ukrainian crisis are facing an apocalyptic scenario of huge hikes in their feed and energy costs. Keen-eyed readers will also have noticed I haven’t reported red diesel prices for the past few weeks. That’s because the oil market is so volatile traders are unable to provide reliable spot prices. Farmers Weekly reports that some buyers are being quoted over 110p/litre. A year ago the price was under 50p!

Energy – Tory MPs in fracking rethink plea

The Ukraine crisis has focused minds on the UK’s fuel security leading a number of Conservative politicians to call for a rethink on an earlier decision to decommission Cuadrilla’s two Lancashire fracking sites. Speaking in the Commons last Wednesday, Business and Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said the government remained committed to supporting shale gas exploration “if it can be done in a safe and sustainable way”. Green groups slammed the move, claiming fracking in the UK would make no difference to energy prices, while having a devastating impact on the environment.

Planning – Gove scraps reforms

The government's controversial overhaul of the planning system has been scrapped. More limited changes to planning rules will be incorporated as part of a Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which will be set out in the Queen’s Speech in the spring.

Roland Brass, one of our rural planning experts said he was unsurprised: “It is our understanding that a more incremental approach will now be deployed to make amendments to the planning system, including a new infrastructure levy. We therefore expect that there will be updates to the National Planning Policy Framework over the next year or so.

“The originally proposed reforms were high level in nature and lacked sufficient detail, and would have required an incredibly stable government to implement the necessary legislative changes. They also created some uncertainty, which is not the objective of the plan-led system.”

The CLA has also accused the government of letting down the countryside and urged it to overhaul its approach to housing in rural communities. It says the approach, laid out in its latest Rural Powerhouse report, will help tackle the housing crisis in villages, where homes are becoming increasingly unaffordable to local people.

For help with any rural planning matters please contact Roland

Food security – Reprioritise now say unions

Farming unions across the UK are calling on the government to ensure its focus on the environment does not come at the expense of food production and security. Such calls are not new, but the impact of the Ukraine crisis on food and energy prices adds weight to their argument. In England, the NFU says the government should pause its post-Brexit phasing out of direct payments. North of the border, NFU Scotland has requested that any aspects of the country’s own post-Brexit agricultural support schemes that take land out of production be suspended. The Ulster Farmers Union wants contingency plans put in place to support farmers to produce enough food.

Climate change – Focus on adaptation

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released at the beginning of the month and weighing in at a hefty 3,700 pages, says adapting to climate change is just as important as trying to mitigate it. According to an analysis of the report by The Economist, it argues that over the coming decades the difference between worlds with better and worse adaption is greater than between worlds with more of fewer emissions. Agricultural productivity is one area of particular concern, it notes.

Please contact our Agri-consultancy team for advice on adapting your business to climate change

The Rural Report – Sign up to watch our ground-breaking video

The latest edition of The Rural Report, our unique publication for rural landowners and their advisors, was launched with a video highlighting some of its key content around the topic of ESG. If you missed it, you can sign up to watch on demand at your leisure. It was a lot of fun making it and includes a thought provoking interview on diversity, with Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones AKA The Black Farmer. I think you’ll find it both entertaining and informative.

Sign up to watch The Rural Report launch video

Overseas news – Trillions needed for sustainable food systems

A new update from the managers of Schroders’ Global Resource Equities fund says the Ukrainian crisis is exacerbating an already fragile global food system.

They write: “In our view, creating a sustainable food and water system is one of the most urgent challenges facing the world today. We need the companies that ensure food security and sustainability to ramp up quickly to try to prevent these negative consequences.

“We think $30 trillion needs to be invested between now and 2050 in order to achieve this. The three structural changes that are needed are: 1) higher agricultural yields and efficiency, which can be enabled by technology; 2) changes to global diets, including lower meat consumption; 3) a major reduction in waste and emissions.”

Photo by Kameron Kincade on Unsplash