This week’s news has a heavy agricultural feel. Wednesday was, of course, ‘Back British Farming Day’ – an annual event now in its ninth year and taking place with UK farming at a “tipping point”, according to organiser, the NFU.
“Today we are calling on government to truly value UK food security by delivering a renewed and enhanced multi-annual agriculture budget of £5.6 billion on October 30th,” said the farmers’ union president Tom Bradshaw. “This budget is essential in giving Britain’s farmers and growers the confidence they desperately need to invest for the future and deliver on our joint ambitions on producing more sustainable, affordable home-grown food while creating more jobs and delivering for nature, energy security and climate-friendly farming.”
Steve Reed, the Labour man now in charge at Defra, noted that confidence amongst farmers is at record lows, with costs spiralling, flooding hitting their bottom line and red tape holding them back. Fear not, he said: “The new Government will restore stability and confidence in the sector introducing a new deal for farmers to boost rural economic growth and strengthen our food security. “We will protect farmers from being undercut in trade deals, cut energy bills by switching on GB Energy, better protect them from flooding and use the Government’s own purchasing power to back British produce.”
The government spends £2bn on food and drink every year – and has committed to ensure that at least 50% of public sector food is produced locally or to higher environmental standards. Talk of such standards brings us to news that HSBC UK is offering discount lending to sustainable farms. The ‘Sustainable farming pathway’, in partnership with the sustainable farming charity Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), will mean businesses that obtain the LEAF Marque certification or complete a LEAF sustainable farming review are offered lower loan arrangement fees.
Research by the bank shows 70% of farms are currently making commitments to transition to sustainable practices. Some 38% of farmers are regularly soil-testing in fields to inform their ‘NPK’ applications and 28% of HSBC’s dairy clients have undertaken a carbon audit. Measuring carbon from farms is hard enough; mitigating is proving trickier still.
Indeed, the BBC this week reported that the farming industry’s target to reach net-zero by 2040 is in doubt. More investment is needed, according to the NFU, if greenhouse gas emissions are going to be reduced. The NFU’s ambition, set in 2019, relied on productivity improvements, farmland storage and ‘bioeconomy-based measures’ (like increasing production of biofuel) to reduce and remove emissions. It ignored the cow in the room – and what many believe to be a crucial part of achieving net-zero – which is how to significantly reduce emissions from livestock (look out for more on that front later this month).
Our other stories this week include some ESG analysis by Deloitte which will delight the data geeks out there. Plus there is a push for the new government to look afresh at eggs produced from caged birds. And a call from campaigners to ban single-use packaging from dine-in.
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