Star comment: Farms joy at plan to split profits

This year they have had to endure, firstly, the Beast From The East, and then the completely different challenges which came with the prolonged summer spell of hot and dry weather.

While you would expect winters to be cold, and summers to be sunny at least some of the time, the weather extremes in 2018 have not been normal.

This has been recognised by the dairy co-operative Arla Foods, which embraces scores of farms across our region. The boss says the drought has been extraordinary, and as a result Arla is proposing extraordinary measures.

And what it amounts to is more money all round. Normally the co-operative only pays part of its profits to farmers. But because of the exceptional circumstances of 2018, this year it is sharing out its entire profits as it recognises that farmers are facing a ‘tough financial situation’.

This would not be possible in the first place without profits to share, and here the happy news is that the profits are expected to be up to £280 million – what the co-operative is describing as a strong balance sheet.

Hooray for this slice of cheer, and well done to Arla for its farmers-first approach, although we have to add the qualification that the measure has not actually been approved yet, and the money will not be paid until March, assuming it is approved.

The difficulties in the dairy sector in recent years have been well publicised, with some losing heart and heading for the exit door, so as much as anything this move by Arla is a boost to morale, an indication that somebody is batting for their interests and cares about them.

Yet as one problem seems to fade, another pops up. There are warnings that prices could shoot up as a result of the summer heatwave.

Richard Yates, who farms near Bridgnorth, says: “There is concern over how we are going to feed our livestock this winter.”

This is the rollercoaster of British agriculture at the moment. Next year, with the advent of Brexit, there is going to be even more cause to hold on tight, and we can only hope that it will all be about thrills rather than spills.