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WheatOilseedsBarleyPoultryMaize

In week ended 5th January, the deadweight prime cattle average price levelled on the week at 365.0p/kg. read more

As domestic lamb continues to compete with increased volumes of cheaper imports and demand remains subdued, DW lamb prices eased in week ended 5th January. read more

World prices eased back towards the end of 2012 although remained at levels comparable to the same period in 2011. read more

Having shot to record levels during September and October, GB finished pig prices continued to rise in November and early December, albeit more slowly. read more

The GB weekly average price rose by £4.63/t to £227.93/t and the free-buy average fell by £4.45/t to £330.74/t. read more

Mid-January saw the release of much-anticipated information from the USDA in the form of world supply and demand estimates, US winter wheat plantings, final 2012 production estimates and quarterly stocks. read more

The USDA data set a bearish tone for oilseed markets with upward revisions to US and Brazilian crops. read more

UK malting barley export prices are at €245/t FOB (spring, South Coast) w/e 11th April. read more

The latest National Statistics produced by Defra on the activity of UK hatcheries and poultry slaughterhouses. read more

USDA’s latest quarterly stocks report, released on 28th September, estimated US maize stocks (at 1st September) at 25.1m t, down 12% on the same point in 2011 and the lowest since 2004. read more

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PAPERS

A bid to ensure farmers do not become an ‘endangered species’ because of the price they receive for their produce from supermarket giants has moved a step further. A petition with more than 500 signatures – many gathered at last month’s Westmorland County Show – backing plans for a supermarket ombudsman has been handed in at the House of Commons by Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron. The Liberal Democrat MP has long fought for an agreement between his party and the Conservatives to introduce a regulator to help farmers get a fair deal. He has been backed by farmers and key industry figures in the region, including NFU Kendal and Sedbergh group secretary Derek Lomax, who said: “Farmers are becoming an endangered species due to unfair pricing, so an ombudsman can only be of benefit.”

Primrose Organic Farm has been going for 25-odd years, an enchanting 1.5 acres with tumbling beds of leeks, cabbage, salad, spuds and fiery Red Giant mustard surrounded by groaning fruit trees (the forest garden has 70 different varieties of apple, 20 of pear and another 20 of plum and nut). The unusual thing about Benham’s plot, though, is not this extraordinary variety, but the fact that it yields £23,000 of fruit and veg a year. "I know of nowhere else in Britain that produces as much off as small an area as we do," he says. "And certainly not organically." Benham barely cultivates the earth at all: the vegetables’ roots do the work. Every winter he sows "green manure" (a soil-enriching cover crop), or covers the raised beds with black plastic sheeting, locking organic matter and nutrients into the soil to preserve and increase fertility. Then in spring, it’s just lightly turned over. His is a uniquely low-impact, people-centred form of farming with little or no need – unlike conventional agriculture – for fossil fuels (Benham gets his 60-year-old tractor out just once a year, so uses just six gallons of diesel).