UK rural property: A Carolean countryside

Opinion

The late Queen had a whizzy new railway line named after her. Our new King, as noted below, will have to settle for a footpath, albeit a very long one. But as a rural champion he’s probably delighted that his eponymous path literally embraces the entirety of the English countryside he loves so much. I was lucky enough to chat to him when as the Prince of Wales he handed out the degrees at the Royal Agricultural College’s graduation ceremony back in 1995. He was generous with his time, encouraging and interested in what everybody had to say. Some have suggested that as King he should stop trying to influence politicians, but as the issues we regularly cover in this update highlight some of them could certainly benefit from his experience and passion for rural matters. Long live the King! AS

Do get in touch if we can help you navigate through these interesting times. You can sign up to receive this weekly update direct to your email here

Andrew Shirley Head of Rural Research; Mark Topliff, Rural Research Associate

In this week's update:

• Commodity markets – Are retailers taking the mickey?
• Coronation – Carolean rural legacy announced
• Horticulture – Defra ditches strategy
• Carbon credits – Criticism unfair says report
• International news – UN study rebuffs vegan health claims
• Out and about – Knight Frank's Horsham office launch
• Support payments – Are you ready to be delinked?
• Brexit – Border checks could hit food prices
• Venison – Quality assurance scheme launches
• Avian flu – New restocking rules announced
• Farmland Index – Prices rise in quarter 1
• The Wealth Report – 2023 edition out now
• Farmland Index – Agri-land 2022's top-performing asset
• Staff Salaries Report – Rural wages benchmarked
• On the market – Oxfordshire estate launched

Commodity markets

Are retailers taking the mickey?

When compiling this update, I was surprised to see that fuel prices had fallen given that I paid £1.69p/litre for some unleaded – that’s right unleaded, not diesel – at Cherwell Valley Services Esso last week. I know it’s next to the M40 so you expect to pay over the odds, but that was 30p/litre more than my local supermarket. I really did feel like I’d been taken for a ride. Allegations of profiteering have also been levelled at supermarkets where the price of milk and other dairy products remains sky high while farm-gate milk prices have dropped to the extent that some farmers are selling the white stuff for below their cost of production. I’m not sure what has happened to bread prices, but the cancellation of several large maize shipments by China helped pull back feed wheat prices by another 6% last week AS

Talking points

Coronation – Carolean rural legacy announced

To celebrate the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, the government has announced a number of rural initiatives. These include the renaming of the England Coast Path, the creation of a King’s Series of National Nature Reserves, and new Coronation Woods. Perhaps Defra thinks landowners are less likely to challenge the route of a path that is named after their monarch AS

Horticulture – Defra ditches strategy

Defra has been roundly criticised for rowing back on a commitment to establish an English horticulture strategy, something that was part of its overall food strategy issued last year. According to Farming Minister Mark Spencer, the sector operates in a “complex , ever-evolving and commercial landscape”. Who knew! One of the few announcements that Liz Truss’s short-lived Defra Secretary Ranil Jayawardena had time to make was support for controlled environment farming (greenhouses to you and me). At the time I thought it made sense when we import so much out-of-season food, but that idea has also been canned. Horticultural sector representatives complain that the snub comes at a time when many businesses are already struggling with spiralling energy costs and labour issues AS

Carbon credits – Criticism unfair says report

Carbon credits, as is often lamented, do not give organisations a 'licence to pollute' according to a new report from analysts at Sylvera. They analysed data from 100 of the largest businesses across a range of industries and found investments in offsetting carbon "positively coincide with decarbonisation rates". But they concluded that decarbonisation rates need to be seen in the context of the baseline as progress can be relative to the level of emissions to start with. The report also advocates the desperate need for mandatory and standardised climate disclosures to allow the clear tracking of corporate actions. If companies, however, committed to cutting their emissions and offset the hard-to-abate emissions with high-quality carbon credits, Sylvera found that CO2 reductions were 20% higher MT

International news – UN study rebuffs vegan health claims

A United Nations (UN) study has revealed that plant-based alternatives cannot replicate some essential proteins and vitamins found in meat and dairy. The food and agriculture (FAO) arm of the UN trawled through more than 500 scientific papers and 250 policy papers in one of the most comprehensive reviews of its kind. The FAO says that "high-quality protein, a number of essential fatty acids - together with iron, calcium, zinc, selenium, Vitamin B12, choline and bioactive compounds like carnitine, creatine, taurine - are provided by foods from farm and other livestock animals, and have important health and developmental functions." The FAO also concluded that any links between milk, eggs and poultry consumption in healthy adults and diseases such as coronary heart disease, strokes, and hypertension is inconclusive (for milk) or non-significant (for eggs and poultry). However, the global livestock sector does have challenges around the environment, including deforestation, CO2 emissions, water and land use, pollution, and livestock diseases, notes the FAO MT

Out and about – Knight Frank's Horsham office launch 

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the official opening of our Rural Consultancy team’s West Sussex office in Horsham. The celebration was well attended by local clients, contacts and network partners. James Farrell, Head of Rural Consultancy, said: "It is an exciting time for Knight Frank rural team's expansion in South East England, which has so much to offer farms and estates in the region." The rural consultancy team at Horsham consists of partners Jamie Evans-Freke, Rachel Patch, Isabel Swift, Simon Lankshear, associate Georgie Price and graduates Steph Small and Meg Lancaster. Do get in touch with the team if you are looking for any advice about rural asset management or natural capital solutions MT

Need to know

Support payments – Are you ready to be delinked?

Defra has updated the webpage that allows farms and estates to check if they will be eligible to claim the delinked support that will replace the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and how much they are likely to receive before the last year of payments in 2027. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) plans to replace BPS in England with delinked payments in 2024. The 2023 scheme year will be the last year of BPS. You will not need any land or entitlements to receive delinked payments AS

Brexit – Border checks could hit food prices

There could be further food price rises if a new system of post-Brexit border checks is implemented for goods coming from the EU. According to the Politico Pro website, officials have told industry leaders that EU goods checks will add £400 million a year to firms' costs. This will impact UK imports of animals, animal-derived products, plants and plant-based products, and some foods and feeds. The UK government has announced plans to implement full border controls and customs checks for EU food imports using a digitised system from 31 October this year. It is currently conducting a six-week engagement period with industry to discuss the proposals with the final model to be published later this year MT

Venison – Quality assurance scheme launches

It’s no secret that there are too many deer nibbling away at Britain’s woodland flora at the moment, and it’s also not a secret that venison tastes great and is a healthy meat. The launch of a new quality assurance scheme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scotland already has its own) aims to join the circle by helping boost consumers’ confidence in the venison market and supporting the sustainable management of wild deer in the countryside.

Avian flu – New restocking rules announced

Turkey producers hit by Avian flu worried they wouldn’t have time to restock before Christmas can breathe a sigh of relief. According to Farmers Weekly, Defra has relaxed the rules on restocking for those businesses whose farms have been affected. Previously, it was not possible to restock until 12 months after a cull, but now that period has been reduced to under four months once approved by the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

Knight Frank Research

Farmland Index – Prices rise in quarter 1

Agricultural land proved resilient in the first three months of 2023. While residential property values weakened, the average price of bare farmland rose by 2%, edging closer to £9,000/acre, according to the Knight Frank Farmland Index. The hike takes the annual rise to 11%, reinforcing farmland's reputation as a good hedge against inflation. Read the full report for more data and insight

You can also listen to the latest edition of our Intelligence Talks podcast where I discuss biodiversity net gain and nutrient neutrality schemes with my Rural Consultancy colleague Isabel Swift AS

The Wealth Report – 2023 edition is out now

Knight Frank's leading piece of thought leadership on property and wealth trends was launched last week and includes an interview by me with one of Scotland's pioneering rewilders, as well as some thoughts on why farmland could be one of this year's most in-demand property investments. Download your copy to find out more AS

Estate Staff Salaries Survey – Rural wages benchmarked 

Just a reminder that the latest edition of the Knight Frank Estate Staff Salary Survey is available to download. The report reveals the average salaries paid for a wide range of rural estate and farming roles and level of wage increases being offered by rural businesses. Also highlighted are the key employment issues facing the rural economy. Download your copy here or get in touch with Chris Terrett for more details AS

On the market – Oxfordshire estate launched 

My colleagues in our Farms & Estates team have just unleashed their first sizeable estate of the year. Ewelme Park is a 625-acre arable and grassland property at Nettlebed, near Henley-on-Thames, that features an eight-bedroomed house, pheasant and partridge shoot, woodland, equestrian facilities and four cottages. The guide price is £18.7 million. Please contact Will Matthews for more information.