The recent financial turmoil is heaping further pressure on struggling farms and rural businesses, says NFU Norfolk chairman Jamie Lockhart.

At a time when the rural economy needed a period of stability while it came to terms with the rapid rise in the cost of living, we instead have a new team at the top of government who seem hell-bent on doing all they can to unsettle markets, piling more pressure on businesses and the public through interest rate hikes and a weaker pound.

It all started so positively, with the unveiling of the welcomed energy price cap for both households and businesses that took many away from the cliff edge of unbridled increases. If only they had stopped there.

The fiscal event announced on September 23 that included unfunded tax cuts saw the cost of government borrowing soar and the pound plummet.

For farming businesses, a weak pound does offer opportunities to sell products into Europe and beyond, which with an exportable surplus of wheat in the UK has meant the high values we currently see are likely to remain.

This is good news for the cereal sector, although input prices will increase with a weak pound, but it piles more misery on the beleaguered pig and poultry industries that have had a prolonged period of unprecedented costs, and for a poultry sector are now dealing with the worst outbreak of avian influenza for a number of years.

Another impact of the political turmoil has been question marks of how the new Environment Land Management (ELM) schemes will be rolled out and funded, and where priorities lay.

Surely these schemes need to be shaped to have sustainable food production at their core, whilst delivering environmental benefits that are targeted and achievable?

We need to move away from the notion that food security is not important and that whatever we do not produce we can simply import. This is highlighted even more when our currency is so weak against are nearest neighbours.

Farmers are well placed and enthusiastic to deliver significant environmental benefits, but this can only happen with a well-funded, properly thought-out scheme, that goes beyond income foregone.

As the long-term dry spell continues and the majority of the country is under drought conditions there is growing concern about next year’s production.

Many fresh produce businesses exhausted their reservoir supplies during 2022 and the prospects of refilling these during the winter are under question, unless we see significant above-average volumes of rainfall over the next few weeks.

It highlights the importance of water for food security and the need for a national water framework that has food production at its core whilst taking steps to mitigate impacts on the environment.

With all the points outlined, what the industry needs more than anything is fairness in the supply chain.

There needs to be a mechanism for businesses to renegotiate contracts with customers when events occur, such as high energy prices, that cannot be foreseen but have a significant impact on the costs of production, and are completely out of the control of the producer.

Producers need to know they have some protection if they are to continue producing high-risk, low-margin products that provide an essential service in feeding the nation.