News in brief

In what has been labelled a betrayal of British farmers, the government looks set to agree to a free-trade deal with Australia. It would be the first big post-Brexit trade deal, and the arrangement would see tariffs and quotas scrapped. The government insists any potential deal will not compromise the UK farming industry’s high standards, but critics are concerned about the prospect of cheap foreign imports, with the NFU’s President Minette Batters warning that it could mean the “slow, withering death of family farms.”

A new government taskforce has been set up to consider whether a number of native English species should be reintroduced. Declining species, such as beavers, could also be introduced in different areas to help populations recover. The concern from farmers over the effect if would have on livestock is an obvious one, and many questions need to be answered. There is precedent for similar moves; Natural England has already licensed the reintroduction of 60 white-tailed eagles in Norfolk – a move which has understandably made pig and poultry producers in the area quite nervous.

Official figures revealed UK farming profits fell by almost 16% in 2020. When adjusted for inflation, this £4,119m drop in ‘total income from farming’ actually equates to 21%, making it the lowest real-terms farming profit since 2007. Although Covid can undoubtedly shoulder a large proportion of the blame (diversified farms lost £310m in total), the primary villain is adverse weather, which led to a £999m drop in cropping output. In better news, income from livestock rose £490m.

Mobile phone masts could be increased in size to boost coverage in rural areas. Government proposals would see mobile companies being permitted to make new and existing masts up to five metres taller and two metres wider. The move would drive forward delivery of the £1bn Shared Rural Network being created to eliminate 4G mobile ‘not spots’ in rural areas and would speed up rollout of next-generation 5G networks.