By Matt Donald, pig & poultry farmer, north Yorkshire
The start of new year and day to day routine, little changes, however I always start the the year with a sense of positivity and fresh feeling about what lies ahead the next twelve months. Agriculture as a whole has had a rocky previous year or two, it doesn’t need me to tell farmers how much pressure businesses have come under. We have seen increased regulation, cost inflation, green levies, pricey technology and machinery, IHT, low returns across many farms, increased taxes, meddling politicians, uncertain markets both at home and globally, long hours, yet farmers keep producing food.
Farmers are entrepreneurs in their field, with so much uncertainty and risk taking that many other businesses wouldn’t dare to take. Yes, for those who get it right, there are some healthy rewards out there, but there are many, who through no fault of their own, struggle to make ends meat. We operate in a market where you invest so much time and money into produce that you do not know what the final price you will be paid shall be, this to many other businesses would be disastrous proposal.
As I said, I like to start the year with positivity and you’ll be reading this thinking what a negative view. The most positive action the bureaucrats can now take, is getting out of the way and leaving farmers to get on with it, whether it is poultry, dairy pigs, arable or livestock. At the end of the day it is the farmer on the ground that knows the most affordable, welfare friendly and least environmentally damaging way to put food on the consumers table. Keir Starmer mentions national security so often, will this be the year somebody tells him farmers know what to do, free of charge to him, to help secure food security- a vital part of national security.
They say the customer knows best, AHDB figures how in 2025 77% of consumers believed British farmers were doing a good job, let us hope this figure grows in 2026. Will this be the year politicians start to have a similar view?