Published last month by Natural England and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, it outlines the findings into a two-year trial featuring 34 farmers across 230ha.
Article by Anthony Weston Open PDF
When faced with a deadline, there are a number of common responses.
1. Get the job done as quickly as possible without much thought to what you are setting out to achieve.
2. Procrastinate, which often leads to missing the deadline or simply turns into a slower way of arriving at response 1.
Article by Kevin Jay Open PDF
What? Where? When? How? Why? These are just some of the questions grape growers and wine makers should be asking themselves to help formulate a ‘route-to-market’ plan at the start of their journey into viticulture.
With figures suggesting vine plantings are set to double between 2019 and 2024 (having already done so between 2011 and 2018) taking production to 40m bottles per year, the GB wine sector is a hugely exciting one, says Grace O’Rourke Veitch, who has over 25 years’ experience of route-to-market strategies.
Article by Matthew Berryman and Grace O'Rourke Veitch Open PDF
In the last seven years the area under vines has doubled to over 3,500 hectares and there is no sign this trend is slowing down. It’s hardly surprising there is a loud buzz; with 500 commercial vineyards and 170 wineries there is a surge of optimism rarely found in traditional farming sectors.
Article by Matthew Berryman Open PDF
Now is a great time to invest in buildings – it can increase efficiency, bring new opportunities and future-proof your business against whatever Brexit might bring. So is now the moment for vineyards to seize the initiative and start building?
Favourable permitted development regulations, the availability of cheap fi nance and the contribution that buildings can play to a rural business’s bottom line are prompting many to explore the options.
Article by Matthew Berryman Open PDF
Right now, the only certainty is uncertainty. Whatever your views, 2019 will be a watershed and with only days until the big change few, if any, can reliably predict the winners and losers.
As frustrating as it is there is little point worrying about the economic landscape beyond 29 March.
Article by Matthew Berryman Open PDF
Let’s get straight to the point. If we exit without a deal it is highly likely that farming is going to feel the effect more than most. The table opposite speaks for itself. More than 90% of UK produced crops go to the EU.
Article by Matthew Berryman Open PDF
There was once a time when farming was guided by the weather, the soil and no small amount of hard work. Unfortunately those days are now just a distant memory.
There is a phenomenon that increasingly has a great deal of bearing on our industry.
Article by Alex Macdonald Open PDF
“We’re not going to mention the B word.”
Whether it’s referring to Brexit or Boris, that has been a common refrain at the start of most of the events we’ve been involved with or attending over the last few weeks.
From the CLA’s ‘Getting to Grips with Grapes’ seminars to a talk on policing at the South of England Show, no one wants to discuss the B word.
Article by Mark Weaver Open PDF
‘It’s time to go native.’
A recent cover of Country Life fascinated me. I’ll be honest, it’s usually the magazine’s property pages I flick to fi rst (for what, I hasten to add, is very much ‘lottery’ house shopping), but this grabbed my attention.
Article by Anthony Weston Open PDF