Regen farming suits heatwave

Another summer of record-high temperatures in England is accelerating the take-up of regenerative farming, a method that helps restore soil quality by cutting out chemicals and intensive ploughing, making it better at retaining water during hot spells.

Research by Barclays, published this week, found that more than half of the farmers surveyed this year had adopted regenerative practices, with nearly two-thirds of the 233 farmers saying they were reducing their pesticide or herbicide use.   The report can be found here: https://www.barclays.co.uk/content/dam/documents/business/agribusiness/Barclays_Resilience_in_the_Field_1July2026.pdf

 “Farmers are panicking about what to do . . . But those that started regenerative farming 10 to 15 years ago are in a more resilient place,” Martin Lines, chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network told the Financail Times. The acceleration was both climate change-driven and a commercial imperative, the Barclays report found.

Agricultural input prices have increased by 6.7 per cent in the 12 months to April 2026, significantly ahead of inflation, according to official statistics. Fertiliser prices are not as high as they were at the beginning of the war in Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, giving farmers some breathing room.

The price rise provoked fears that arable production would fall significantly next year as farmers opted out of planting. “Much of that concern has dissipated,” Michael Haverty, partner at the Anderson’s Centre farm consultancy told the FT. “Fertiliser prices have not risen by as much as initially feared. As things stand, it gives time for supply to recover ahead of the next major applications of fertiliser in the spring.”

Longer term, farmers are advised to plant hedgerows and trees that provide shade for animals while also supporting biodiversity. “The best time to plant a tree was yesterday,” Holly Purdey, an organic livestock farmer in Somerset told the Pink ‘Un.

Nine years ago Purdey started planting hedgerows and trees to create natural shade for her sheep and cows. She also created natural water storage and flood management by digging ponds and trenches. “Sometimes [farmers] only act when it goes into a point of an emergency, because on farms, we’re often firefighting,” said Purdey.

This year’s arable harvest is projected to be better than last year, which was one of the worst harvests ever recorded. Despite a very dry April and May, late rainfall in May provided some relief for crops, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, a farmer-funded advisory group.

While yield outcomes for the harvest will depend on the severity of the heatwaves this summer, AHDB analyst Helen Plant said there was “reason for cautious optimism”. The take-up of regenerative agriculture has been aided by the UK’s post-Brexit agricultural support schemes, which pay farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices and restore the natural environment.

The scheme should in theory successfully accelerate a transition to environmentally friendly farming, but that the former Conservative government arguably failed to ensure funds were fairly distributed. Last year, 4 per cent of England’s farms were receiving 25 per cent of the available funds, according to Defra.

The Labour government has since redesigned it to ensure smaller farms that were not yet enrolled in the schemes could also access it, opening it for applications in September this year.

Weather adds to worries of British beef farmers

The only thing saving UK beef production from collapse os that an increasing proportion of calves born to dairy cows are being reared for beef.  Although generally inferior in taste, it is cheaper to produce as it uses calves that are effectively a by-product of milk production.   But even these calves ae increasing in number as the dairy herd shrinks.  More milk is being produced per ciow because of improved genetics.

British beef consumption per capita is in steady decline but beef imports forecast tt increase in the medium term.  British beef farmers face a double blow from the changing climate as relentless rain forces them to keep cows indoors, after last summer’s drought stopped them storing away enough hay for the winter. This year’s rain has left grazing fields waterlogged and cattle stuck indoors, with insufficient hay to munch on because last summer was unusually dry — adding to the pressure on farmers also dealing with lower subsidies and volatile energy and feed prices.

 If the rain persists it could eventually put upward pressure on beef prices — which rose 28 per cent last year — alongside global factors such as shrinking herds and growing demand. The rain has blown a hole in farmers’ planning because they would normally only bring cattle inside for four to five months over winter, for which they would buy enough feed.

As little as two or three extra weeks indoors is a significant extra cost. Lucy Eyre, a beef and sheep farmer in Wales,told the Financial Times that British producers have had the “worst of both worlds” with “very poor” yields of silage, a feed made from hay, because of the dry summer.

And now turning cattle out too early is risky: on saturated ground they “make a mess” and “the grass won’t do as well later”. “Having to house livestock for two to three weeks longer might be the difference between making a loss and breaking even for many farmers,” Eyre told the Pink ‘Un.

The episode shows how the changing climate can weigh on farmers’ profits and eventually feed through to diets and consumer wallets. Food price inflation has proved stubborn in the UK, and rising grocery bills remain politically charged. Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose about 4.5 per cent in the year to December 2025 — an acceleration on the previous month, even as overall inflation eased.

David Swales, the interim chief economist of the UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, told the leading business paper that tight supplies of beef globally, including a declining herd size in the UK, had pushed up prices, but the bad weather could exacerbate the problem. “It’s been very wet the last two months — if it carries on as wet as this, it could be very disruptive, and it could add a lot to farmers’ cost of production in the year ahead,” he said. “And this could mean further down the line that food prices have to rise.”

While the weather in Britain would not have an impact on the global market, not all beef is easily swapped for imports. Swales said “100 per cent British” pledges by supermarkets and restaurant chains such as McDonald’s meant their prices were more likely to be affected by the weather.

The AHDB said UK beef production in 2025 was 3.5 per cent lower than the year before due to shrinking cattle herds. It expects production to fall again in 2026 and close 1.3 per cent lower than 2025.  David Barton, chair of the National Farmers’ Union Livestock Board, said wet weather “shouldn’t have much impact on beef supply . . . So long as we have good weather late March into April all should be fine.” He argued that global supply and demand imbalances were causing price rises.

Cattle numbers have been falling in Britain and abroad. In the US, drought across key cattle states has led to herds falling to their lowest levels in decades, driving up prices. Imports to the UK also fell last year, down 3 per cent year on year due to tight supply in Ireland, which accounted for 62 per cent of all beef imports last year.

Irish producers have been losing share of the UK market to cheaper suppliers from Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. But greater imports could also have an impact on the national diet. “There’s two different kinds of beef,” said Tim Hayward, author of Steak: The Whole Story and an FT columnist. “There’s the stuff that runs to the American standards, which is grown now pretty much all over the world, with restricted roaming and feeding on corn, and that gives you fat, soft beef, very, very quickly.” And then there is beef grown in the UK: “We tend to grass finish our animals over here . . . If there is a reduction in the UK herd, and we’re doing more importation, it would be more importation of the crap beef.”

Why internet storm about Bovaer is mistaken

I was interested to read the following statement from Milk & More who deliver my milk, who no doubt have seen an opportunity to seize a commercial advantage over Arla who are being boycotted by some consumers after an internet and media storm:

You may have seen recent news about the use of the Bovaer additive in the production of some dairy products - an experimental feed additive being trialled by some farms selling milk to larger companies and retailers to help reduce methane emissions from cows. We want to confirm that Milk & More isn't involved in these trials, and neither are the farms we work with. As an independent company, we're proud to partner with British farms that uphold high standards of animal welfare, food safety and environmental responsibility. Our fresh British milk is just as it should be - free from additives, fresh from trusted farms and delivered to your doorstep with care. With Milk & More, what's in your glass is simple: British milk. Nothing more, nothing less. My comment is that there is no evidence that this additive reaches the milk itself and we need to try out ways of reducing methane emissions from dairy cattle.  Unfortunately, one start up that hoped to achieve this objective has just collapsed. Bovaer is used in many countries including major dairy producers. The Food Standards Agency report is here: https://www.food.gov.uk/our-work/annex-m-rp1059-3-nitrooxypropanol-as-a-feed-additive-for-ruminants-for-milk-production-and-for-reproduction

UK lacks a strategy for agriculture and climate change

The latest annual report to Parliament of the Committee on Climate Change raises a number of concerns about agricultural policy.  'The UK still lacks a targeted strategy and associated targets for ensuring agriculture remains productive as the climate changes. Indicators to track the exposure and vulnerability of the sector to climate change remain limited. New agricultural policies have been announced, but it remains to be seen how these will impact the climate resilience of agriculture.

Agricultural soils need to be in good condition to support production, particularly under future weather extremes. Sustainable soil management techniques on farms (e.g. reduced tillage, using cover crops and incorporating organic matter to reduce erosion) will help deliver this.

Revisions to agriculture policy must consider and support nature recovery and consider climate risks to delivery. Greater flexibility is needed in the range of activities under agri-environment schemes (e.g. explicit funds for climate-resilient actions) and more funding is needed to ensure agriculture is resilient to climate change.

Significant gaps remain in the suite of indicators required to measure how the productivity of the agriculture sector is changing in relation to climate change. For instance, there is a lack of metrics to robustly assess soil health, on-farm water storage capacity, and losses to livestock/crops due to extreme weather events. It is therefore not possible to conduct a robust, comprehensive assessment of changes in the vulnerability of agricultural production to climate change since the last Progress Report.

Distribution of pollinating insects in the UK is declining both in the short and long term. In 2019, the indicator had declined by 21% compared to its value in 1980; between 2014 and 2019 alone the indicator fell 6%.2 Pollinators are vitally important to agriculture as they help many crops reproduce.'

Green concerns still important in farm management

Interesting that farm management company Velcourt has acquired a 50 per cent stake in the regenerative agriculture consultancy Oakbank Game & Conservation: https://www.oakbankgc.co.uk/velcourt-acquires-stake-in-oakbank-as-demand-for-greener-land-management-increase/

Despite the recent clamour for a return to maximising production in the interests of food security, Velcourt's executive chairman James Townshend cited the importance of climate change and biodiversity in dictating the need for a fresh perspective in UK rural land use.

Sequestering carbon on farms

There is increasing interest in sequestering carbon on farms as a contribution to combatting climate change and this report reviews the scientific evidence on the various interventions: https://green-alliance.org.uk/The_opportunities_of_agri-carbon_markets_policy_and_practice.php

This report reviews the evidence behind mainly agri-carbon offsetting approaches and ranks 17options against multiple approaches: https://www.gov.uk/flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-management-research-reports/achieving-net-zero-carbon-emissions-a-review-of-the-evidence-behind-carbon-offsetting

Changes in EU climate change targets will affect agriculture

 Alan Matthews discusses the implications of the EU's 2030 climate target plan for agriculture: http://capreform.eu/commissions-2030-climate-target-plan-proposes-radical-changes-in-the-rules-governing-agricultural-and-land-ghg-emissions/

He notes, 'For the EU27, agricultural emissions are currently 18% of Effort Sharing Reglulation (ESR) emissions; this share would increase to 40% under the second option in the Commission’s Impact Assessment. As such, the national ESR reduction target would become almost a de facto reduction target for agriculture as it would no longer be possible to avoid reductions in agricultural emissions if the national reduction target were to be met. It would also have very different consequences for individual Member States.'

There are some complex issues and a short window of opportunity to influence policy.

Weather hits summer harvest

This summer's harvest in the UK has been hit by poor weather.  After a sodden autumn, a winter that was warm and wet and an exceptionally dry spring the recent period has seen a mini heat wave which stopped any more growth.  This was then followed by torrential rain which flooded fields and flattened crops.  It is also needs to be borne in mind that there was a reduced planting area last autumn.

The NFU has claimed that it will be the worst harvest in 30 years.   The ADHB were more optimistic, forecasting an average decline in yields of 10 per cent.   In any event it looks like the UK will be a net importer of wheat, around four million tonnes.  Wheat production is expected to be below 10 million tonnes, well below the five year average of 15 million tonnes.

Farmers will not be compensated for lower yields by higher prices as there are plentiful supplies of wheat and maize elsewhere.  There have been strong yields in Russia's central and Volga regions.

As weather conditions become hotter and wetter in response to climate change, farmers are turning to alternative crops such as soya and maize.  Soya is a legume native to south-east Asia.  It is mostly used as an animal feed.  Rising meat consumption by the Chinese middle class has driven up its use.  China imports 105 million tonnes of soya a year.   

Some 5,500 acres are currently being cultivated by around 150 farms and that is expected to increase to 10,000 acres next year.  It is open to question whether there are varieties that will do sufficiently well in the UK climate.

Potato growers have had their chips

Once it would have been down to government to help out a sector in trouble.  However, with the UK's €1bn potato growing sector hit hard by extreme weather and Covid-19 it is their largest customer, McCain, that has stepped up to the plate.

It is worth noting that potato production (other than for starch) was always outside the CAP and therefore much more influenced by supply and demand.

The closure of restaurants and fast food outlets left a potato surplus of almost 200,000 tonnes in March, putting a downward pressure on prices.  Prior to lockdown prices of £200 to £300 a tonne could be achieved, but they then slipped back to £100 to £150 a tonne.

The hardest hit growers have been those who sell on the spot market, such as those selling for 'fresh chipping' at food outlets.

McCain buys 15 per cent of the UK potato crop, normally on one year contracts.  It is now going to offer three to five year contracts.  It also offering grants for investment in harvesting capacity, including technology such as irrigation and harvesters that can handle very wet weather.  85 growers have applied for these grants.

Recent poor harvests have been among the worst in four decades after drought in 2018 and floods in 2019,   McCain thinks this is down to climate change.  They consider they have to act to build a sustainable supply chain.

Farmers launch climate change initiative

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society, where I served on its innovative Farmer-Scientist Network for many years, has launched a #Farm4Zero campaign on climate change. This is a very welcome initiative.

The YAS states, 'The campaign aims to energise farmers and rural businesses about how they can respond to the climate change challenge as British agriculture seeks to reduce its carbon footprint. Although agriculture accounts for just 9% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, compared to proportionally higher impact sectors such as transport (23%) and industry (21%), farmers are acutely aware of the need to take action.' [Well, at least some are].

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society is determined to focus minds on the positive opportunities that exist as British farming seeks to meet its own target to become net zero in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 – ten years ahead of the Government’s 2050 target for the British economy as a whole.

No one denies that it's going to be a big challenge, but an important one. Far better that farmers take their own initiatives, rather than waiting for legislation.

The end of farming?

This 'long read' in The Guardian takes the kind of line one would expect, i.e., it is critical of 'intensive' farming and sympathetic towards attempts at rewilding and environmental regeneration: The end of farming?

In my view farmers tend to rely too much on food security arguments as a response. I think there is a need to engage more with these environmental concerns, even if some of them are overstated. Farmers may feel that an urban audience does not understand their challenges, but the UK is a highly urbanised country.

It doesn't help that some farmers still appear to be in denial about climate change according to a recent report in Farmers Weekly. An survey carried out for them by Macleod Research found that more than two-thirds of the farmers interviewed believe the increase in extreme weather events seen over the past five years is due to climate change – but many believe it isn’t.

Some 31 per cent said they believed weather patterns were cyclical and had always changed over the years Many said weather patterns were natural and had little or nothing to do with mankind or the impact of human activity. Of those who believe extreme weather is due to climate change, 68 per cent said it was a threat to their business but 32 per cent of respondents said they believed it was an opportunity to do things different, including growing different crops and starting new enterprises.

NFU president Minnette Batters has recently claimed that farmers are feeling 'hurt and demoralised' by the anti-meat agenda that has labelled them the problem and not part of the solution to mitigating climate change. The simplistic argument that meat is bad and plant-based alternatives are good has been 'enormously detrimental' to farmers’ mental health, she argued. However, she did go on to accept that the farming industry will face huge change.

The Guardian article argues that 'technology is opening a whole new direction for food production, which will take farming away from the farm. Robotics and drones are reducing the need for humans to be on the land, while vertical farming, in which vegetables can be grown in sunless warehouses using LED lighting, gene editing and metagenics – the engineering of specific enzymes or proteins – are coming up with new definitions of food.' Vertical farming in my view is still very niche, but I will examine it in more depth in a later post.

However, if new technology is going to be adopted at a time when farm profits are likely to fall, some government funding to accelerate the rate of adoption would be justified.

Farm produce may have to be taxed

The Committee on Climate Change has recommended that consumers cut that consumption of beef, lamb and dairy products to combat global warming. If this does not happen, taxes on these products may be necessary: Unwelcome news for farmers

The NFU's response is here: Strong message on climate change

Recent severe weather events, with a higher incidence of droughts and flooding, appear to have enhanced farmers' awareness of climate change, as evidenced by an interesting survey conducted by Farmers Weekly: Cost of extreme weather.

On a visit to my brother-in-law's sheep farm last weekend I learnt that lambing at the 1,000 foot level now starts much earlier than it did in the past as the climate has warmed.

More than four out of five farmers said they are experiencing more frequent extreme weather events on their farm – ranging from severe drought and hot summers to flooding and intense rainfall at unexpected times of the year. Three-quarters of those questioned said it had cost them more than £50,000 – an average of more than £10,000 per year.

More than two-thirds of farmers believe the increase in extreme weather events seen over the past five years is due to climate change – but many believe it isn’t. Some 31% said they believed weather patterns were cyclical and had always changed over the years Many said weather patterns were natural and had little or nothing to do with mankind or the impact of human activity.

I have a family interest in the success of livestock farming, but it is smell the coffee time. Domestic consumption of red meat is likely to decline for health as well as environmental reasons. Given that the Committee on Climate Change thinks there needs to be more woodland, livestock farmers could be given incentives to plant trees - but no regimented conifer forests please.

Dysfunctional CAP on its way out, but can farming meet climate change challenge?

The Agriculture Bill which will provide the basis for farm policy in England after Brexit has been published: A boost for the environment and food production

In line with the new policy approach developed by Michael Gove when he was secretary of state at Defra, it is claimed that 'It sets out how farmers and land managers in England will in the future be rewarded with public money for “public goods” – such as better air and water quality, higher animal welfare standards, improved access to the countryside or measures to reduce flooding. This will contribute to the government’s commitment to reaching net zero emissions by 2050, while at the same time, helping to boost farmers’ productivity.' [Farm productivity has been growing slowly.]

'This will replace the current subsidy system of Direct Payments which pays farmers for the total amount of land farmed, skewing payments towards the largest landowners rather than those farmers delivering specific public benefits.' Farmers have been highly reliant on those subsidies to keep their farms viable and the new form of payment is likely to generate a less certain income stream. Overall farm funding will be maintained at current levels, but not adjusted for inflation, for the duration of the current Parliament, i.e., potentially until 2024.

The main concern of farmers is not the domestic legislation but the prospect of imports of cheap food, produced to lower standards, as the result of trade deals: NFU president Minette Batters.

Much of the future for British farming will depend on the adoption of new technological innovations with the prospect of a digital revolution in farming that deserves to be encouraged by appropriate government funding.

Few of us will mourn the disappearance of the dysfunctional CAP which was not well adapted to British farming. However, the ability of British farming to adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be a big challenge for farmers. Recent extreme weather events in the UK including both droughts and floods have brought home the reality of climate change to the farming community.

Veganuary makes headway

Veganuary is a campaign to persuade people to try a vegan lifestyle in January: Veganuary. They state: 'Our vision is simple; we want a vegan world. A world without animal farms and slaughterhouses.' Clearly not good news if you are a livestock farmer.

The campaign is clearly making some headway, although one of the first lessons in a research methods course is that there is a difference between what people say, particularly if it is seen as virtuous, and what they do.

I think that the impact of a 'flexitarian' diet may be greater, i.e., where people cut down, or eliminate, the consumption of red meat for both health and environmental reasons, as well as concerns about animal welfare. Wanting to be healthier appears to be the main reason for giving up animal products (55 per cent), followed by animal welfare concerns (49 per cent) and protecting the environment (30 per cent).

Sales of red meat fell more by value than any other category in supermarkets last year, down by £185m according to Nielsen. Sales of meat-free alternatives rose by 18 per cent to £405m, the highest growth rate of any category. Sales of poultry were up 1.4 per cent and fish 1.2 per cent.

There is, of course, a whole spectrum of choices from being a pescatarian to a vegan, although it is said that vegans particularly have an issue with vegetarians because they do not follow their position to its logical conclusion. However, for some people, becoming vegan may involve a series of transitions.

832,000 people gave up some animal products for the first time in January 2019, according to Kantar research, based on tracking purchases of 30,000 households. Six months later 57 per cent said they still avoided the same products. Of those who had gone back to eating animal products, three quarters said they were eating less than before.

When I went to Marks & Sparks this morning they were heavily promoting plant based products, so clearly retailers see a commercial opportunity and a chance to burnish their green credentials.

The NFU thinks that livestock farmers could export more of what they produce, given that the environmental impact of production systems based on existing grassland was less than than tearing down forests to creating grazing as in Brazil.

The livestock sector is already in economic difficulty and vulnerable to a 'no deal' Brexit. Unfortunately, much of the land on which livestock is reared is not suitable for growing field vegetables or fruit. One issue for fruit and vegetable crops is the availability of environmentally friendly plant protection products based on biology rather than chemistry.

Level funding for farmers

HM Treasury has stated that level funding for farmers in the form of direct payments will be made available in 2020: Support confirmed

Level funding does mean a decline in real terms because of inflation, currently running (CPI) at fractionally over 3 per cent. The basket of goods used by farmers as inputs may differ from the CPI rate and indeed from one farm to another.

The NFU welcomed the statement, but remains concerned about future trade policy and imports: NFU response

Quite what form the new ELMS payments will take remains to be seen. I have heard that at least three versions have been discussed within Defra. The key is to develop a scheme that provides genuine incentives for farmers to engage in environmentally friendly behaviour whilst giving a fair deal for taxpayers.

I am still not convinced that sufficient attention is being paid to climate change, although that was a major deficiency of the CAP where attempts to introduce a climate change pillar were (in my view) defeated by the agri-industry lobby.

Climate change dilemma for farmers

Farming accounts for around 9 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, well in excess of its share of GDP. It produces three gases particularly damaging to the climate: nitrous oxide from fertilisers; methane from livestock and carbon dioxide from fuel for machinery such as combine harvesters.

56 per cent of the roughly 49m tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted annually comes from methane. N20 accounts for a further 33 per cent and CO2 11 per cent.

In the midst of Brexit uncertainty, farmers consider that they are ill prepared to change their practices to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Building enclosed storage for manure to stop methane from escaping could be expensive. Changing cows' diet by adding different proteins and minerals to the feed may offer a better way forward. Arla Foods claim to have secured a 30 per cent reduction in methane emissions through this route.

There is clearly something of a policy vacuum which the new secretary of state could try to fill.

China trade deal offers beef farmers new hope

A trade deal with China that has ended a ban on exports of British beef offers new hope to beef farmers, but also raise broader issues about UK strategy post Brexit.

A ban on British beef exports to China was imposed following the BSE crisis in 1996. The UK-China Beef Protocol is expected to generate £230m of trade over the next five years. China is the world's largest importer of beef. However, it is expected to be 2021 before supplies start flowing.

In the meantime beef prices are at a low level. Large stocks of frozen beef bought ahead of the original Brexit deadline are still feeding into the system. There has been a collapse in the global leather market affecting hide prices.

More significant in the long run is growing consumer antipathy to red meat because of health concerns and the impact of cattle on the environment, particularly in relation to climate change. 'Flexitarians' are a bigger challenge than vegans.

The broader issue is how far Britain wants to move closer to China after Brexit rather than the United States. There are export opportunities, but also broader concerns about human rights, not least in Hong Kong.