Mini-revival is boost for home grain markets (From Gazette & Herald)

Mini-revival is boost for home grain markets

11:07am Wednesday 4th January 2012 in Farming comment By James Stephenson

A VERY happy and prosperous New Year to one and all, and for the first time since harvest I am delighted to report that the grain market has shown signs of a mini revival.

My mentor, David Padgett, of Argrain, tells me that dry weather in South America, mainly Brazil, is now affecting the maize and soya crops to such an extent that there has been a fall-out effect on the wheat market. Our UK wheat price has lifted about £10/tonne from £140 to £150; and barley has kept in step.

It could be a good opportunity to sell at least a bit of what you have left in store as currently there don’t appear to be any more disasters on the horizon to lift the trade.

Quite a number of buyers have been sitting on their hands in recent weeks expecting further falls but they do need to fill their order books for April, May and June.

Making predictions for the future is a dangerous game and played by those who want to be proved wrong. It is anyone’s guess as to what will happen in the next six months but the wise ones will probably continue to sell.

Meanwhile, oil seed rape has been dragged along with the euphoria and has now got to £355 per tonne.

Beef supplies still very tight

THERE were very few cattle marketed over the Christmas period and butchers I have talked to report excellent sales.

It is not easy to see where any volume of beef is going to come from in the new year as most feeders have been encouraged to keep selling while the prices are high.

What is more worrying is the latest statistic on our breeding herd which shows we have lost 100,000 breeding cows in the last two years.

Some industry pundits, especially in Scotland, are advising that a special calf payment should be introduced under EU rules to encourage more suckler cows to be kept in the uplands.

The present system doesn’t achieve this as it is based upon an area payment with no requirement for optimum stocking.

Meanwhile, back on the ground the fat cattle trade has opened out with similar vigour to before Christmas and the continentals averaged more than 200p at both York and Malton this week.

The open market is the place to sell your cattle at the moment so if you can make a resolution to support your local auction this year please do so.

Planning rules

THERE have been a lot of selfrighteous utterances in the press recently over the Government’s flagship policy to drastically prune the hopelessly complex regulations on our planning law.

Last week a Parliamentary Committee published its report on this National Policy Framework with the following conclusions which may be of interest to you:

• Although the NPPF has stimulated heated debate, there is little evidence of a desire to either keep the current system or start again from scratch.

• The much-vaunted brevity of the NPPF may not achieve the clarity it yearns for; and more detail is needed in some policy areas to avoid planning by appeal.

• Some amendments are recommended in order to support the use of brownfield sites and town centres.

• The phrase “sustainable development”

needs to be better defined and in some cases has been confused and merged with “economic growth”.

• Local plans should have “statutory supremacy” over the NPPF.

• There will need to be a transition period for local authorities to develop or update their local plans.

• The NPPF should address social, economic and environmental demands on a more equal basis.

I am sure the arguments will continue but much of what is reported above is sensible provided it doesn’t water down the principle of simplification.

Happy reading!

BY now you should have all received the new 80-page guide to Cross Compliance for 2012. Among many other refinements and amendments, I noticed the following which may be worth mentioning:

• The claimant only needs to be in occupation of the land on a single day, May 15, in order to activate entitlements and make a valid claim; but you must meet the Cross Compliance rules for the whole calendar year. This applies even if someone else occupies the land, perhaps as a result of a sale or tenancy. Care needs to be taken to ensure liability is passed on.

• I mentioned before Christmas that new rules were going to be introduced regarding the spreading of fertiliser and manure.

These rules are incorporated in the new booklet on page 36 where you are instructed not to apply fertiliser within two metres of surface water which includes lakes, rivers, streams and ditches.

Farmyard manure cannot be spread within 10 metres of surface water.

In respect of FYM, you have got to keep a map of your holding showing all the surface waters and the land within 10 metres of it.

I wish you many hours of happy reading.

Market report

FORWARD 36 cattle, including five bulls and 12 cows, 1,108 sheep, including 166 ewes, heavy steers to 213.5p, D W Mook, Sheriff Hutton, ave 196.19p; heavy bulls to 207.5p, J & A M Craggs, Ebberston, ave 196.73p; heavy heifers to 238.5p, P Wilford, Ebberston, ave 214.64p; cows to 183.5p, T F W Morley, Brothers, Fylingdales, ave 121.28p; lights hoggs to 208p, JS and VM Collinson, Gilling East, ave 198.54p; medium hoggs to 218p, I and S Clough, Stape, ave 194.34p; heavy hoggs to 209p, I and S Clough, Stape, ave 183.08p; overweight hoggs to 174p, T F W Morley & Bros, Fylingdales, ave 170.57p; ewes to £132, I and S Clough, Stape, ave £90.42.