Well, hopefully none of you are accidentally ploughing when you’re supposed to be silaging, but it can’t be denied that the past few weeks have been busy for farmers across the county, although “when are farmers not busy?” I hear you cry.
There is always a real sense of urgency throughout silage time, getting the cut in before the next forecast rain appears though, thankfully, the forecast rains have often not appeared recently giving everyone that bit more time. However these large machines don’t run on goodwill (unfortunately) and, given the current state of the world and its various leaders, rising fuel and fertiliser costs are something that keep being mentioned when I speak to members.
Last month the NFU launched an online reporting tool, allowing members to share the real prices they are seeing for key inputs. This information will help us to build up an evidence base to strengthen our conversations with government and show how detrimentally farmers are being affected.
Looking at on-farm cost pressures
County planning
Your county board is also busy planning events for the year ahead, so if there is something you’d really like to see, or like to be involved in, now is the time to share your thoughts.
The county board are really keen that we focus more on how we engage with you, our members, and share information with you about the various things we are all up to. Hopefully you will have already seen some clips from County Chair Richard Pedley, County Vice-chair Andrew Vaughan and Crops representative Jonny Bainbridge on the NFU Cumbria Facebook page over the last month. If you haven’t, why not head over there and have a look, once you finish reading this (of course). I’m currently trying to put the pressure on some of our more camera shy county board members to share some footage too.
Cumbria Police Rural Crime Conference
As I mentioned last month, Cumbria Police have been working on their Rural Crime Strategy and are now in a position to launch it. Here at Cumbria NFU we work closely with the Cumbria Rural Crime Team and so when they asked us to be involved with a Rural Crime Conference we were keen to say yes.
The event is going to be happening at The Gavel, Penrith Auction on 21 May 2026, starting off at 6.30pm with a chance to get some food and a have a wander around the stalls before hearing from a fantastic range of speakers. Full details about the event, and how to book on, can be found below. It would be great to see you there, please do come over and say hello and share any ideas you have for future meetings, or what you’d like us to be getting up to in the county.
And finally…
There is another reintroduction scheme on the horizon for Cumbria, this time looking at the feasibility of reintroducing beavers to the Ehen Ennerdale catchment. This is a project being led by Forestry England as part of the Wild Ennerdale vision and is still very much in its early stages. NFU North Environment and Land Use Adviser Abigail Teward and I met with the project lead, Hayley Dauben towards the end of April. We’ve requested that Hayley come out and meet with members ASAP to discuss the project and ensure that farmers voices are heard in the early stages before any proposals are finalised. We’re currently looking at dates in August so do watch this space for further news.
As always, if there is anything I can help with please do let me know.