Runaway farm costs are nightmare stuff

Few people will have seen prices rise as rapidly as they have in recent months – and that goes for farm inputs as well as farm outputs.

Input and output values have reached dizzying heights. A year ago, few people would have forecast that wheat prices would hit £300/t.  And paying £1000/t for fertiliser would have seemed just ridiculous.

Inflation was rising rapidly before Russia invaded Ukraine. Now it has accelerated. The conflict has highlighted how much we rely on other countries – not only for our food but also for our feed, fertiliser and our fuel, including red diesel.

The question many growers and livestock producers are rightly asking at the moment is how high will prices go? And are those prices worth paying?

At this rate, many farmers will simply decide that farming isn’t worthwhile.

It is already clear that rising input costs are out-stripping the future value of wheat. If things stay as they are, high fertiliser costs and lack of availability mean many growers will understandably think twice before drilling cereal crops this autumn.

The government seems oblivious to this fact. Food security isn’t on the Westminster menu. Ministers seems to assume we can import any shortfall, despite drastically lower plantings in Ukraine – still the breadbasket of Europe – this year.

Bizarrely, even Defra secretary George Eustice – a man with a farming background – seems to think growers can apply farmyard manure and slurry to offset the worsening shortage of mineral fertiliser.

This sort of nonsense might seem all very well when stomachs are full. But in reality it is plainly short-sighted. We need a properly thought-through policy that ensures we are able to produce our own food – rather than relying on others to do it for us.

Johann Tasker

Editor