AHDB Food & Farming

Joseph Keating, chats to our Strategic Finisher farmer, Phil Kent following his launch meeting about why he wanted to join the project and the improvements he’s been making to his finishing system.

Liz Genever, chats to Phil Creighton from Teagasc, about planning winter feed options and how to set up grazing rotations for the spring

In the latest podcast we’re looking at antimicrobial resistance and the use of antibiotics on farm. This is one of the biggest challenges facing human and animal health professionals to try and ensure the resistance doesn’t build up in humans for the critically important antibiotics.

The episode features a EuroDairy French exchange visit to a GB pilot farm and the finale meeting of the Farmer Action group: reducing reliance on antimicrobials.

Liz Genever, chats to Phil Creighton from Teagasc, about planning winter feed options and how to set up grazing rotations for the spring

In the latest AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds podcast we’re looking at business skills for farmers; taking us away from the roots and shoots to look at focus on some other topics that can have a huge impact on your business.

The episode features Sian Bushell and her recent workshops on succession planning; an interview with farmer Alex Baines on professional development; and Taunton Monitor Farm host Richard Payne.

Find out more:

[AHDB skills training](https://ahdb.org.uk/skills-programme) 

[Succession webinar, 25 October 2018](https://cereals.ahdb.org.uk/get-involved/webinars.aspx)

[AHDB Monitor Farm programme](https://cereals.ahdb.org.uk/monitorfarms)

Lis King, AHDB Sheep Scientist, talks to Bryan and Liz Griffiths about the challenges of sheep lameness on Southcott farm in Devon.

Lis King, AHDB Sheep Scientist, talks to Bryan and Liz Griffiths about the challenges of sheep lameness on Southcroft farm in Devon.

Kate Mackenzie, AHDB Knowledge Transfer Manager, joins Andre Van Barneveld from Graise Consultancy at one of our Grow More, Graze More, Earn More on-farm events. We find out what measures farmers can take following the summer’s drought conditions. She also catches up with other local farmers to share their experiences and what the next steps are for the autumn and beyond.

dairy.ahdb.org.uk

AHDB's Amandeep Kaur Purewal. Martin Grantley-Smith and Eleanor Holdsworth discuss results from an AHDB-funded report into the future of the milling and malting industries.

**Scrutinising future of UK milling and malting**

A new report suggests Brexit will have a considerable impact on the UK’s milling industry under a range of trade scenarios but the malting sector is in a far better position to weather the storm. 

The ‘what-if’ analysis was commissioned by AHDB to help millers and maltsters with their business strategies ahead of Brexit.

It also aims to help give insight into long-term implications on planting and highlight potential impacts on grain prices.

The report – Brexit scenarios: Impacts on the UK’s milling and malting sectors – assesses the impact of three post-Brexit trade scenarios on supply and demand for milling wheat, malting barley, flour and malt.

Firstly, a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU agreeing zero tariffs, secondly a unilateral approach where imports are tariff free but exports are subject to tariffs and thirdly mutual application of World Trade Organisation (WTO) tariffs in the case of a ‘hard Brexit’.

UK flour trade is likely to experience significant disruption post-Brexit, even if a FTA is negotiated. This is partly due to UK mills’ reliance on global imports of high-quality milling wheat, which may which may disqualify UK flour from preferential access to EU market.

This will impact mills on the British mainland if they lose free access to this market via the cross-border trade. By far the biggest impact could be the loss of trade with the Republic of Ireland, which currently receives two thirds of its flour from mainland British mills.

The outlook is more positive for the malting sector. With almost all UK malt currently exported to non-EU countries, trading arrangements with the EU would have little impact.

Brexit may also provide an opportunity for UK growers to displace malting barley imports by growing six-row malting varieties.

Dr Martin Grantley-Smith, Strategy Director for Cereals & Oilseeds, said: “There could be some tough decisions to be made by UK millers and maltsters in the near future depending on how Brexit pans out.

“This is a timely report providing some early warning of how the challenges may play out, so that businesses can revisit some of their options for post-march 2019.

“Up to now our trading arrangements with the EU have been of critical importance and this report clearly shows, whatever the outcome of Brexit, business-as-usual is not going to be an option.”

To download the report, alongside all AHDB’s Brexit tools and resources, visit www.ahdb.org.uk/brexit

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

Liz Genever, AHDB Senior Beef & Lamb Scientist, talks to Matt Blyth, one of our Challenge Sheep farmers, at Didling farm in West Sussex. She finds out what decisions Matt has had to make as a result the hot weather and how using Farmax has helped him to better plan and analyse his farm enterprise.

[Find out more about AHDB's Challenge Sheep programme](http://beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/returns/project-farms/challenge-sheep/)