This Week in Farming: Pancakes, protests and pioneers

Welcome to This Week in Farming, Farmers Weekly’s regular round-up of the biggest farming stories from the past seven days.

Spring has sprung early, with the sun shining across many parts of the UK this week, enabling arable enterprises to catch up on field work and ewes and lambs to be turned out to grass.

But first, the markets (opens as PDF) and, as predicted, the beef price has breezed past another milestone, hitting £6.50/kg on the deadweight steer price – almost £1.50/kg up on last year.

That now puts a beast of 350kg on the hook at a whopping £2,275 before deductions, although as we’ll see later the store and breeding markets are up sharply too, eating into margins.

Now to the news…

IHT overload

Farmers were cooking up a storm in Westminster on Shrove Tuesday (4 March) as part of the Pancake Day Rally.

It was likely the last major protest in London for some time, with many farmers now in the thick of spring jobs.

Yet several thousand turned out again to march past Parliament at an event with an almost festival feel about it.

Some of the FW  team headed to Whitehall to cover the occasion, including editor Andrew Meredith, who drew parallels in this week’s editorial between government challenges of the Napoleonic era and the present day.

Despite all the political noise, the Treasury firmly rejected a proposed “clawback mechanism” aimed at alleviating the impact of inheritance tax (IHT) policy changes on agricultural estates.

A labour rebellion is brewing, though, with roughly 40 Labour MPs urging chancellor Rachel Reeves to reconsider the IHT changes, including Henry Tufnell, MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire, who spoke to the FW podcast.

The severity of the situation cannot be overstated, with half of farmers saying they will go out of business by 2035 under the new rules, according to fresh survey data.

We also have fresh practical advice this week, with a piece looking at the impact of the proposed IHT changes on pensions, as well as an expert opinion on whether the tax can be avoided by selling the business to a successor very cheaply (it can’t).

The government did launch a consultation on IHT this week, but only with very limited scope – to examine the impact on trusts.

Meanwhile, the Welsh government defeated a motion seeking to get it to intervene on behalf of farmers in Wales.

Support schemes

Thousands of farmers in England have experienced delays in payments from Defra’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), as the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is carrying out due diligence checks on scheme holders.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom, with a new £45m round of Countryside Stewardship (CS) capital grants 2025-26 set to open this summer.

FW business editor Suzie Horne gathered advice on preparing early for new farm grant funding applications.

What’s up and what’s down

Finished beef and sheep prices continue to go from strength to strength, which has provided a major cash injection for the whole livestock sector.

In-calf cows and heifers from the Drumdow Black Baldie herd averaged more than £3,000 a head at auction in Stirling on 1 March, showing the appetite from buyers.

There are savings to be made on farm for livestock producers as well, with one Scottish grazier cutting winter costs to £112 a cow and £6.30 a ewe.

Farmgate milk prices continue to hold in the short term, however the industry appears uncertain how much longer the current market can be sustained as global milk volumes grow.

Arable endeavours

The better weather this week has encouraged some growers to press ahead with fertiliser applications. So far this year input costs have climbed on farm, but analysts suggest fertiliser prices may stabilise longer term.

As another busy spring spraying season approaches, the FW Arable desk outlines six steps to achieve correct sprayer setup this spring.

Elsewhere, arable reporter Louise Impey looks into the opportunities for growing intensive vegetable crops in a fully regenerative farming system.

Farming figures

Today (8 March) marks International Women’s Day, and, with that in mind, Anne Dunn from the News desk has been out and about meeting some of the “unsung heroines” of UK agriculture.

Meanwhile, a recent FW survey found that the number of people with neurodivergent conditions in farming may be more than double the rate found in the general population.

A feature on the topic this week discovers how four neurodiverse ‘ag pioneers’ built their own businesses.

Finally, the farming community continues to stand together, with a fundraiser for an organic poultry farm in Devon receiving more than 1,800 donations and raising almost £50,000, after it was struck by bird flu.

Listen to the podcast

Don’t forget to tune in to the FW Podcast, with Johann Tasker and Louise Impey.

You’ll find it anywhere you listen to podcasts, or free to listen to on our website.