Business News

Determined rural thieves are targeting expensive quad bikes used by farmers to tend to livestock during the lambing season, latest NFU Mutual claim figures reveal.

M&S launches industry-leading bee programme – introducing over 30 million bees to its Select Farms – to boost pollination, improve product quality and produce delicious British honey for its customers.

The upturn in agricultural tractor registrations (over 50hp) seen in recent months continued into March, normally the peak month for registrations each year.

Pitchup.com welcomes the news that Wales has now joined the English government in temporarily relaxing permitted development planning laws, allowing landowners to set up temporary ‘pop-up’ campsites for up to 56 days across the year. 

Rural crime in the UK hit an eight-year high in 2020, costing farms and rural businesses around £54 million. Gareth Williams, CEO at Gigaclear, a leading rural broadband provider, talks to us about the essential role that Smart WiFi can have in keeping rural communities safe from crime.

Nick Harper, of chartered surveyors Hawkspur, explains options on making money from land you don’t own, biodiversity net gain for development, and more.

With more farmers looking to diversify and capitalise on the staycation trend, sustainable cabin company The Box BnB, is working with UK farmers to support their diversification strategies and provide holidaymakers with a unique experience.

Many farmers are currently making use of unused land for holiday cabins and glamping, as the general public are itching to get away for a staycation when lockdown restrictions ease later on in the year. Such business opportunities come at a good time; with the phasing out of the Basic Payment Scheme, many farmers are looking to find alternative revenue streams.

Glampsan general manager Jon Trelfa shared his advice on toilet and waste management options for diversified farms wanting to offer camping facilities.

“What3words has become an absolutely essential part of the modern farmer’s toolkit,” says Rhonda Thompson, the NFU’s Lincolnshire county adviser.

Scientists are reporting a breakthrough in efforts to cultivate ‘interstellar’ crops, as a team of astro-biologists and botanists successfully grow a new hybrid crop species in simulated Martian soils.

Since its Lamma launch in 2020, the Smart Farmer app has taken the industry by storm, quickly becoming a must-have safety device on farms across the UK. Its creator, Marc Skivington, originally created the app to help with machinery checks on his own farm, and has since developed a range of updates, covering lone working, training, risk assessments and more.