(Tier 1) Focus on the lack of transparency:
Regular price reporting
Farmers need regular, independent price information so they can manage risk and avoid being exposed to sudden, opaque price movements.
At present, the UK effectively relies on a single public dataset – AHDB’s fertiliser price series. The NFU welcomed the news that AHDB has begun publishing weekly reports on fertiliser prices.
There are a handful of global indexes, but they are not directly relatable to British farmers and do not reflect UK farmgate conditions.
Better transparency would reduce information asymmetry and improve the timing of purchases, hence helping members avoid being caught out by sudden spikes. Right now, budgeting is blind and many are unable to judge whether a quote is fair.
The lack of transparency amplifies volatility rather than helping farmers manage it.
The same applies to red diesel.
There is no recognised index, no regular reporting, and no visibility of wholesale or depot-level pricing. Members are increasingly telling us they are only being given the price at the point of delivery.
This erodes trust and leaves farmers with no ability to challenge or benchmark what they are being charged. In a functioning marketplace, prices for immediate and deferred delivery would be visible, smoothing demand and reducing the incentive for opportunistic pricing.
Price transparency
There is a role for Defra and the fertiliser and fuel supply chains to support greater transparency, whether through regular reporting or a requirement for suppliers to publish indicative prices, stocks, trade and consumption data.
This should improve farmer confidence and decision-making, particularly during geopolitical shocks like the one we are seeing now. The powers of the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator could be extended to investigate practices in the agricultural input markets
(Tier 2)
5 point plan to tackle immediate inflationary pressures facing farmers
- Postpone and rethink the introduction of crippling standing charges in farming sectors.
- Postpone and take a different approach to the introduction of inefficient FSA official control charges which will impact medium-sized abattoirs.
- Suspend import duties on critical inputs such as fertiliser including urea (6%) and ammonium nitrate (6%) (n.b main supply countries are already 0%).
- Progress fairness in supply chain efforts across all sectors (clarity of contracts, sharing risk and reward).
- Postponing CBAM (carbon border adjustment mechanism) implementation for fertilisers until technical conditions ensure price predictability at import and invoicing, avoiding supply disruptions throughout the chain, and introducing long-term measures to offset CBAM-related costs for farmers.
