Blog

Becky Fenton and husband Paul milk 180 pedigree Holsteins under the Springlebee prefix at Centenary Farm, a Cheshire county council farm. In 2021, they bought a farm in Staffordshire and they plan to farm there once the new dairy set-up has been built.

The expression ‘the perfect storm’ seems to be a phrase used more and more recently. Unfortunately for farmers, it sums up what many of us are going through in 2022. Whichever way you look at the outlook, economic or weather-related, the picture does not appear to be hugely rosy.

Dairy farmer Andy Venables farms in partnership with his family, milking 330 cows in Cheshire, selling milk on a Co-op contract. He is also managing director of Hillsgreen, a marketing agency dedicated to agriculture with many high-profile clients, including NFU and Cereals.

Ben Gratton, 18, is from a dairy, beef and sheep farm outside of Buxton in Derbyshire. He is currently working on a dairy and arable farm in Shropshire as part of his level 3 advanced technical extended diploma in agriculture at Reaseheath College.

Roger Evans discusses the price of milk, whether it is viable for farmers to keep producing their goods, and gives a suggestion for what needs to happen in Westminster.

Since I last wrote we have had 10mm of rain, all of which arrived this week. 

It will be no surprise that I am beginning with this constant topic of conversation, the weather, especially as the green green grass of home is a yellow, burnt crisp exposing the shallow soil. 

What a difference a week of changeable weather can make.