Tim Beaver

@TWBFarms @wheat_daddy Would love to see fairness in the supply chain starting at the intake point which I think is more achievable. The maltsters are full up so rejecting loads as and when they please which is costing farmers thousands of pounds on every rejection.

A tonne of wheat will make roughly 1,500 loaves of bread, so at 2026 ex farm prices there is only just over 10 pence worth of wheat in a loaf. Even if wheat prices doubled, the cost of bread would not double. The farmer carries the risk and does much of the work, yet ends up with only a tiny share of the final value. So who is profiteering here ? This is where government policy should be stepping in to restore fairness to the supply chain, after years of failure by both current and previous governments to stand up for farmers and consumers. Prices don't need to double, value just needs to be distributed more fairly and sustainably Farmers are not responsible for food price inflation. Anyone looking for the real source of pressure on food prices should start by examining recent supermarket profits.

I do not support increasing food prices for consumers. My comments were about the need for a fairer and more consistent supply chain for British farmers, not about making bread or other everyday food unaffordable. As many people in the sector understand, the farmgate value of wheat is only a small part of the retail price of a loaf, so it is simply wrong to suggest that improving returns to farmers would mean food prices doubling. The same principle applies across much of the food chain. The Guardian article has taken a comment about trade policy and farmgate returns and presented it in a misleading way. My point was that government policy has the power to materially affect the price farmers receive, and that British agriculture has been undermined for years by unfair competition, poor policy, and a lack of supply chain fairness. I believe consumers deserve affordable food, farmers deserve a fair return, and the country deserves a food system that is more resilient, consistent, and less reliant on imports produced to different standards. Reform’s agriculture manifesto has not yet been published, so any suggestion that this article reflects settled party policy is speculative.

@FlowerdewBob @TWBFarms Bob your replies are comical. Beet plants are Rhizomania resistant and have been for 20 years. There is no subsidy at all in the beet industry. Sugar prices are based on a world market price. Please don’t spread misinformation.

@TWBFarms sugar beet farming without support is uncompetitive (& by the way has Rhizomania problem, it's serious). Oddly I am not against supporting farmers, eg I'd make grants to help you convert to more sustainable systems

not quite, not directly but in practice as many are hidden -as in ensured price for sugar beet when we could buy our sugar cheaper from cane

@timfarron 👏

It’s time….

English farmers are now the only farmers in the UK or Europe who are not financially supported in their primary mission to produce our food. This is wrong. In Parliament this morning, I asked the Secretary of State to put this right.

Sink holes opening up on the farm due to lack of rain? Showing all 20cm of soil depth!

In the same situation 😔. Environmental margins 💐in long term stewardship 🦉 along river Welland and hillsides near it providing nesting areas 🪺all due to be ploughed in January 26. Baffled.

Not too sure about getting more yield with less inputs but currently getting more balloons than t/acre! 🤦🏻‍♂️

The spin to end all spin. @UKLabour celebrates the indefinite suspension of SFI - 8 years in development & the only means for farmers to replace lost EU payments. This feels like scorched earth from Treasury. gov.uk/government/new…

Didn't she *accidentally* email her interview notes to Boris Johnson, leading to the cancellation of the interview? This year?

Thank you @LeeBarronMP for coming on farm and talking about the family farm tax and all things sugar beet. Lots of positive comments. Let’s see what happens next.

Good on you Tom. I’ve cancelled my #sewageSludge order today as well. It’s not too late @LeeBarronMP

A brilliant visual explanation and analysis by farmer and No Farmers, No Food steering group member Charles Goadby @thisfarmlife (with farm Lego!) on the Labour government’s punishment (inheritance tax) on family farms. Please watch and share.

@OOOfarmer @Jes_Squirrell It’s not ‘a problem’ but the hard core right (racists/ let’s go back 50 years) will always be lurking in the shadows. FPTP isn’t perfect, but it’s it’s the best way to keep UKIP/ BNP/ Reform from voicing lies and hatred.

@Jes_Squirrell So it's a problem because it would allow people you don't agree with to actually have a say? Great point.

I said it in 2019 when I didn't like the result, and I'll say it in 2024 when I do like the result. FPTP is insane.

Total own goal by @BASISRegLtd who have built up a good relationship with their members until this. Will have review if it’s worth me carrying on with membership. Shame.

Such a pleasure to be told by a monopoly body such as @BASISRegLtd how happy I should be at a 35% increase in fee, funding aspects I never requested. Doubtless the levy payer will be equally delighted to ultimately pick up the tab… unjustifiable in tone, principle or practice

@Sarahbellagri @Jes_Squirrell @SarahPumfrett Nature is amazing! In other news Stamford Fair is in town along with its flashing night lights 😆

@Jes_Squirrell @SarahPumfrett It wasn’t in any way freaky just something we haven’t seen in that form before. We have had something similar years ago but that was a kind of Halo of charged particles closer and lower (I forget the name of it)

What is this, it looks like weak flashes of electricity/lightening to the naked eye. Pretty amazed the phone camera picked it up. We have had things like this going on in circles before but never seen this sort of streaky flash. Nature is amazing. Wish I was a physicist!

@BBRO_Beet Hard to imagine the industry without his enthusiasm, knowledge and energy. Was a real pleasure knowing and learning from him. Thoughts are with you.

It is with profound sadness that we share the news that our colleague, friend and Head of Knowledge Exchange Dr Simon Bowen passed away on Sunday 10th March. He will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family and friends at this difficult time.

@JoeWStanley But in slightly damp conditions it’s ideal for putting the fertiliser spinner on this year. Now where’s my cheque book….

Bigger, heavier, hungrier, more complex, more expensive…

@tomallenstevens @Conservatives It’s amazing Wellingborough didn’t want disgraced ex MP Peter Bone’s partner who he forced onto the ticket 😆

Hopefully @Conservatives will now understand that policies built around intolerance & insularity appeal only to a loud right-wing minority. BBC News - Labour wins Wellingborough seat in by-election bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

@DeanCornish1966 x.com/rpsagainsttrum… I don’t think so- he gets things wrong the whole time. It was more the economical and moral corruption that Twitter focused on and rightly so! Saying they are similar people is a slippery slope…

Plus mixing up Germany and France. The odd thing is he still gets a mostly free ride. Imagine if his predecessor had said even 5% of the gaffes that Biden has. Twitter would explode.