James Cossins reflects on a typical winter of farming pressures – and why resilience, shared voices and the promise of spring still matter
All images: James Cossins
The Christmas festivities now seem a long way off! The recent weather has been relatively kind to us in Dorset, and even the recent storm Goretti caused less damage than in the rest of the country. We did have our polytunnel sheet blown off due to a strong easterly wind on Christmas Eve, exposing the 30 calves inside – we soon moved them on Christmas Day! The daily routine of feeding cattle continues, with a careful eye checking feed stocks to see if there will be enough to see us through the winter. We hope for an early spring!
Politically it has been a busy period, with the Government finally doing a U turn on the Inheritance Tax threshold, raising it from £1 million to £2.5 million. This will help many family businesses – not just in farming, but in all businesses. The lobbying by the NFU, CLA and many other groups seems to have paid off.
What I cannot understand is why families up and down the country were put under such financial stress in the first place, with such a poorly thought-out policy. I suppose the next question is do we back off from any more lobbying, in the hope of the tax being dropped completely? Or do we continue with the protests?
Ups … and downs
Another announcement recently released by DEFRA included the details on how the Sustainable Farming Incentive for 2026 will work. Last year, new applications were suddenly stopped in March: It is only now that we can begin to plan what environmental options we can put in place. Small farms who have not applied before – quite what a ‘small farm’ is we are not sure yet – can apply in June, and the remainder of farms in September. Financial support for these schemes is especially welcome at the moment, as many farm gate prices are dropping, or are very low. Our milk price has dropped by 10 pence per litre since October – that is more than 20% of our income, just wiped off. The apparent reason is over supply. We will have to see what prices 2026 brings us: I fear many more milk producers will decide enough is enough, that they cannot continue producing milk at a loss. It will be interesting to see if supermarkets drop their retail price accordingly. Also it appears that there is a shortage of organic milk, and the price received for that has not dropped. The differential between organic and conventional is now quite considerable. Prices for grains such as wheat and barley are also depressed, and have not increased since harvest. Producers are having to sell at below what was budgeted in order to empty their stores for next harvest and to keep the cash flowing.
These concerns about the future direction of farming were discussed at a recent meeting with our North Dorset MP Simon Hoare. Simon took on board the issues we raised, and also the possibility of closer links with Europe which the Government is considering.
It was also acknowledged that it is not only farming suffering at the moment but many other businesses. The hospitality sector is also under great pressure. The Cossins’ family pub, the Langton Arms, like all other pubs, is experiencing higher costs, including an increase in business rates. With society’s habits changing and people not going to pubs so often, the pubs are facing the real prospect of closing. In many rural villages, pubs are the lifeline to the community, enabling people to meet up with each other.
Simon took all of this on board and promised to keep lobbying other MPs, especially the rural Labour ones, who are supposed to represent the voice of rural businesses.
Here comes spring
The farming community is known for its resilience. Looking forward, it is encouraging to see the various farming groups that have formed across Dorset: cluster groups, discussion groups and many more, where we can get out, meet fellow farmers and realise we as individuals are not alone in the problems we face. Simply sharing them can be so good for our wellbeing.
On a positive note, I always feel that once January has passed, the days will get longer and spring will be just around the corner with the countryside waking up. We have a few projects taking place on the farm, such as building our new slurry store, and it will be great to see it completed after several years of planning. The crops in the ground so far look well and we can only hope that this year’s harvest will be a good one without any extreme weather conditions like last year’s drought.
