The Rural Update: Joining the dots for farming’s future
Your weekly dose of news, views and insight from Knight Frank on the world of farming, food and landownership.
8 minutes to read
Viewpoint
This week’s Rural Update sketches an intriguing and complex map of the future that farmers and landowners will need to navigate. As discussed below, the use of legal challenges by environmental NGOs, widely known as “lawfare”, is increasingly dictating the shape of government policy. Some lawsuits focusing on pollution issues seem resolvable, but the long-term outcome of others, some of which claim that a lack of government action to adapt to climate change breaches citizens’ human rights, is as hard to predict as the weather itself. But other articles suggest a direction of travel policymakers might want to consider. One opportunity that seems to be going begging is the development of a fully-fledged high-integrity voluntary carbon market (VCM) across the UK and Europe. As Weetabix has shown, it is possible to cut carbon emissions without sacrificing yields. But with cereal and oilseed prices stagnant, better incentivising these opportunities by bringing more nature and climate-friendly farming practices into the scope of the VCM could be more politically acceptable than the creeping encroachment of solar farms onto some of the UK’s best farmland.
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Commodity markets
Wheat prices don’t inspire
As combines get stuck into the UK’s wheat crop, prices have weakened slightly with little bullish news from the rest of the world. However, a lack of selling interest from farmers at these levels could force buyers needing supplies to pay a bit more. At a domestic level, much could depend on yields. Too high and the UK could end up with a larger exportable surplus, putting downward pressure on prices.
The headlines
Best land goes solar
A growing area of the UK’s most productive farmland is being covered in solar panels, contrary to national planning policy guidelines, according to the CPRE.
The organisation’s new report Getting Solar off the ground – The problem of mega solar in the countryside, which examined 38 large operational solar developments, found over half of the sites included land considered “best and most versatile” (BMV).
Planning policy recommends solar farms should not be built on BMV land, which is soil classified as Grade 1-3a.
However, 827 hectares of BMV agricultural land is now under solar, with a further 755 hectares of Grade 3b “moderate” quality farmland also covered with panels, notes the report.
Three of the largest solar farms in the East of England are built entirely on BMV land, the report adds.
More emphasis should be put on rooftop solar with planning policies strengthened to protect the best farmland, says the CPRE.
Lead shot banned
The government has just announced it is outlawing the sale of shot with a lead content of over 1% and bullets with a lead content of over 3%. The ban will be phased in over three years.
Research conducted for the government estimates that without a ban, a further 139,000t of lead would be released into the environment over the next 20 years, putting 1 million wild birds at risk, as well as young children and pregnant women exposed to lead shot in game.
There will be a number of exemptions to the ban. These include the police and armed forces, elite athletes, ammunition used for live game hunting with a calibre of under 6.17mm, target ranges adhering to specific protocols, and airgun pellets.
News in brief
Woodland carbon demand
The supply of high-integrity woodland carbon credits generated from European forests is struggling to keep up with demand, a new report from Arbonics claims. Of the 13.3 million carbon credits issued by Verra in 2024 only 0.5% came from forestry, farming and land use projects in Europe. Almost 62% came from Latin America. The latest edition of The Rural Report features an interview with Archie Struthers of Nattergal, a pioneering UK-based supplier of high-integrity carbon credits.
Weetabix regen result
Meanwhile, Weetabix has revealed that it has managed to cut its wheat-related carbon emissions by 50%. Members of the firm’s 120-strong grower group, which supply the breakfast cereal business with 75,000 tonnes of wheat each year, taking part in its Lower Carbon Wheat Project were able to cut their use of artificial nitrogen by 20% with no drop in yields.
Climate court challenge
The UK’s climate adaptation plans could be challenged in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), reports Edie. Environmental NGO Friends of the Earth has asked the court to rule whether the country’s National Adaptation Programme, covering the period 2023 to 2028, breaches the European Convention on Human Rights because it doesn’t do enough to protect people from extreme weather.
Spanish pig pollution
Campaigners will be buoyed by a recent ruling from the High Court of Galicia that says the Spanish national and regional authorities have breached residents’ human rights under both the Spanish constitution and European laws by failing to manage record levels of pollution from hundreds of pig and poultry farms in the A Limia region. “A sustainable environment is necessary for the full enjoyment of human rights,” said the court. In the UK, River Action is also taking legal action against Defra to further restrict autumn muckspreading.
Avocado wars
In the US, meanwhile, California avocado growers have joined a lawsuit alleging that most imported avocados from Mexico, which make up the bulk of American consumption, are not grown sustainably, despite the claims of multinational fruit companies. Much of the Mexican crop is grown on illegally deforested land, campaigners allege.
Swiss welfare labelling
Any meat products sold in Switzerland will now have to be clearly labelled if the animal has undergone procedures such as beak trimming, dehorning or castration without the use of anaesthetics. Pain relief is already mandatory on Swiss farms. Campaigners had argued for the same standards to be applied to imported food, but that was considered impractical.
Vineyard podcast
Ed Mansel Lewis, Knight Frank’s Head of Viticulture, has just been a guest on the English Wine Diaries podcast. Ed talks about what goes on behind the scenes before vines are even put into the ground, his biggest deal to date and Knight Frank's new demographic mapping tool, which aims to enable vineyards to welcome an increasing number of customers through the door. Listen to the podcast.
The Rural Report SS 25 – Out now
The Spring Summer 2025 edition of The Rural Report, Knight Frank’s flagship publication for rural businesses, which looks in more detail at many of the issues discussed in The Rural Update, is out now. The new report includes the latest news, research and insights from Knight Frank’s rural property experts, as well as thought-provoking contributions from some of Britain’s most iconic estates.
Available online and in print, you can click here to access the full report.
Properties of the week
Wiltshire wonder
This stunning small farming estate at Bremhill, near Calne, is fresh from our Farms & Estates team. A 170-acre ringfenced property with views of the Cherhill White Horse, Mount Farm, guided at £8.5 million, includes a modern yet traditionally styled eight-bed country house, 95 acres of pasture, 34 acres of arable and 36 acres of woodland. Around 10,000 new trees were planted to celebrate the late queen’s Diamond Jubilee. There is a 10-day family shoot. For more information, please contact Will Oakes.
Historic Kent estate home to rent
For anybody looking to sample estate living without making a long-term commitment, Knight Frank’s Rural Consultancy team in Kent has an intriguing option on offer. Newhouse at Mersham, near Ashford, which was once home to The Countess Mountbatten of Burma and Lord Brabourne, is part of the idyllic 2,700-acre Hatch Park Estate. Now available to rent, the nine-bed period property costs £7,995 a month. For more information, please contact the team’s Katie Bundle.
Discover more of the farms and estates on the market with Knight Frank
Property markets
Country houses Q2 2025 – buyers’ market
It’s a buyers’ market when it comes to rural homes, according to the latest research from Tom Bill, Knight Frank’s Head of UK Residential Research. The Knight Frank Prime Country House Index slipped by 2.5% in Q2, the second-largest quarterly decline since Q1 2009. At the same time, the number of properties for sale is up 9% compared with this time last year. On average, there are six prospective buyers for each new instruction, compared with 19 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, while sales are achieving 94% of the asking price. Read more of Tom's numbers and insights.
Development land Q1 2025 – Market falls
The value of greenfield development land fell by 2% in the first quarter of the year. Urban brownfield sites, however, lost 5% of their value over the same period, according to the Knight Frank Residential Development Index.
Farmland Q1 2025 – Values resilient
The Knight Frank Farmland Index, which tracks the average price of bare agricultural land across England and Wales, showed a marginal drop of 1% in the first quarter of 2025 to £9,072/acre. This follows a similar small decline in the final three months of 2024, bringing the annual fall to just 1.9%.