by Martin Lines
Just as spring comes along and work starts in earnest, another global event challenges farming. As war spills over into more countries, key trade routes are being held to ransom and our input costs have risen sharply again.
Inputs based on fossil fuels and long-distance transport systems are the first to come under pressure. I hope the majority of you have already ordered your fertiliser, and to those who still have orders to make, I hope you get what you need at a decent price point.
Red diesel prices have more than doubled, and I know in some areas buying white diesel at the pump without VAT is a similar price to having red diesel delivered. Someone is making gains. It all reinforces that we have to change our farming systems so we’re in control of our costs: farming in ways that reduce our fuel and fertiliser requirements and let nature do the work for us.
This year, testing our crops to see what they actually require – rather than guessing or blindly doing what we’ve always done – will be crucial for cutting costs. With other actors in the supply chain paying greater interest in nature and climate-friendly outcomes, cutting inputs can result in additional rewards. Companies are beginning to pay a premium for us to reduce our emissions and build healthy soils, so it’s the perfect time to start discussing this with your buyers.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 will open later this year, which may also offer opportunities to reduce input costs in this volatile time, enabling some stability for the year ahead. Building soil health and fertility is increasingly looking like an essential investment for resilience.
By the time you’re reading this, most spring crops will be in the ground and planning for the autumn rotation will begin. Unless crop prices rise significantly during the next few months, next year’s growing conditions and profitability look very challenging. With an oversupply of wheat and other crops globally holding down prices, something has to change to drive the market up.
We can only hope these global events settle down quickly. The UK is in a weak position to trade commodities on a global price platform; demonstrating the added value of nature-friendly farming methods is one way to gain a premium on our produce.
The long-awaited Land Use Framework was published last month, setting out what Government and society wants and requires for our landscape in the years to come. It talks about the different facets of the landscape and the challenges and opportunities they may face. The report has a stronger focus on Government-published data to explain why changes are required.
Some land will shift focus to different outputs or incorporate new ones, such as solar energy, habitats, and water management, building multifunctionality into the landscape and using the right land for the right purposes. The increase in data transparency helps to build the case for these changes.
The supply chain is already shifting its focus to accountability measurables for climate and nature and we must do the same. If we don’t, only the market and other actors in the chain will benefit from the new system. Change evidenced by data is of real value to the new markets, and measuring and recording the many assets on our farms will drive the future of our businesses.
For me, there is a great sense of personal satisfaction in looking at numbers that prove the work you’re doing every day is having a positive impact on the land.
Some of us are farming on marginal land, or live in areas where the changes in climate are hitting particularly hard, and it’s these farmers that may have to make the biggest changes. If you can no longer reap high yields from certain areas, see what financial rewards you could be getting for using that land for another purpose.
Yield is no longer the only way for us to balance our books; each day we are being recognised a little more for the range of outputs we can provide as custodians of the land.
This article was taken from the latest issue of CPM. Read the article in full here.
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