IN BRIEF
News & Business MPs call for Brexit
Call for fairer police funding
The NFU has stepped up its call for fairer funding for rural police forces. Rural communities were being “left behind” despite rising levels of concern about crime because they received 24% less police funding per person compared to cities, it said.
4G broadband
service launched Telecoms giant EE has launched a 4G antenna it says can bring superfast broadband to isolated rural homes where wired connections are unavailable. The service combines the 4GEE Home Router with a powerful external antenna and professional installation.
£1000 countryside
photo competition The Country Land and Business Association has launched a photo competition with a top prize of £1,000 to showcase rural landscapes and people. The competition is part of the CLA’s Countryside Matters campaign. For details, visit
www.cla.org.uk/ photocomp2018
Farm outlook
under scrutiny Prospects for agriculture will be discussed at two Andersons seminars this month. Taking place at Newmarket (16 March) and Peterborough (23 March), topics will include the industry’s financial health and a sector-by-sector analysis. For details, visit
www.theandersonscentre.
co.uk.
4 ANGLIA FARMER • MARCH 2018
fund for farmers • Prepare now for leaving EU, say MPs • Agriculture could be most impacted • Warning against cheap food imports
M
Ps have called on the government to estab- lish a special fund to
help farmers prepare for Brexit. The call was made in a report by the House of Commons Envi- ronment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. It follows an in- quiry examining the impact of UK leaving the European Union and having to trade under World Trade Organisation rules.
The report says the EU is the
UK’s most significant trading partner and there is no guarantee that a free trade agreement will be reached – and hence no guarantee that WTO tariffs will be avoided after Brexit in March 2019.
‘Damaging to farmers’ WTO tariffs could possibly lead to higher costs for consumers but could lead to beneficial import dis-
Be bold for farming, says NFU vice-president
Hertfordshire arable and live- stock farmer Stuart Roberts (right) has called for a bold new vi- sion for agriculture following his election as NFU vice-president. Mr Roberts was elected on 21
February following the union’s annual conference in Birming- ham. A third generation farmer, his previous roles include policy and delivery work within Defra and the Food Standards Agency, and senior management roles within the meat supply chain. “The world is changing, peo-
ple’s concerns are changing,” said Mr Roberts. “Let’s work out where we need to change – but let’s nev- er forget producing food for soci- ety is a good thing.” Mr Roberts said he wanted the union to “dare to be bold.” Rather than being defensive, it would go to the government and talk to consumers on the front foot – with proposals and answers to the challenges faced by the sector and wider society through Brex- it and beyond. “It we are to achieve anything,
Website helps benchmarks farm business performance
the NFU has to be relevant,” add- ed Mr Roberts. “It has to relevant to members, relevant to other interest groups and relevant to the public. That means working across the piece, making allianc- es and not being precious about who we sit round a table with.” The election also saw Essex farmer Guy Smith elected NFU deputy president. He was former- ly the union’s vice president. Wilt- shire farmer Minette Batters was elected president. Previously dep- uty, she is the NFU’s first female leader in its 109-year history.
Major improvements have made it easier to benchmark farm ac- counts, balance sheets and en- terprise gross margins using the Farm Business Survey website. The latest FBS calculator makes business performance projections possible for 2019/20. Using accurate and robust FBS data adjusted according to fu- tures prices, the calculator pro- vides users with an insight into future farm and enterprise prof- itability post-Brexit. Collecting data from 1900
farms across England, the annual Farm Business Survey is carried out by Rural Business Research (RBR) – a group of researchers from the universities and colleg- es of Askham Bryan, Cambridge, Duchy College, Newcastle, Not- tingham and Reading. Benchmarking using the web- site is free and anonymous. It has been designed to be user friendly for all desktop PCs, tablets and mobile phones. For details, visit
www.farmbusinesssurvey.co.uk.
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