Andrew Meredith

London, Swansboro, Wales

Editor at Farmers Weekly

Editor of @farmersweekly Former dep business editor, arable reporter, farmer. Got a story? DMs open.

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Articles

Editor's View: Defra not out of woods after Spending Review

2 weeks ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

Rachel Reeves © ZUMA Press Inc/Alamy Stock Photo At last, a glimmer of clarity as to how much spending power Defra has for the three financial years from April 2026 onwards. The combined budget for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Countryside Stewardship, Landscape Recovery and productivity grants, such as the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund, will run to £2.3bn a year.
This Week in Farming: HLS uplift, vaccines and mini Masseys

4 weeks ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

Welcome back to This Week in Farming, your one-stop shop for the best content from Farmers Weekly in the past seven days. First, the markets (opens as PDF) where there have been slips again in red meat prices – but happily for those in the market for fuel, diesel also continues to fall. A reminder that we launched our new arable inputs prices table last week, which will be updated on a monthly basis. Now, on with the show.
Editor’s View: Former Defra secretary reveals sting in his tale

1 month ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

Michael Gove © Associated Press/Alamy Stock Photo Michael Gove, the former Defra secretary, among other things, looked slightly diminished on stage this week at Chatsworth House for Future Countryside, a rather posh get-together for pondering the future of, well, the countryside.
Editor's View: So far, trade deal detail leaves me shrugging - Farmers Weekly

1 month ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

Well, after I predicted at the end of last month that prime minister Sir Keir Starmer would have to choose between closer co-operation with the EU and a trade deal with the US, it appears he and his trade team may have found a way to have their cake and eat it. Hormone-treated beef imports are still banned, even as the hormone-free product has been granted more favourable access, meaning closer alignment on standards with the EU – a deal also expected this month – is still on the table.
Editor’s View: New-look FBT is catching up with reality

1 month ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

There is always pleasure to be taken in a landlord-tenant relationship where there is goodwill on both sides and a desire to collaborate. As journalists, too often the stories we hear are when there’s been a breach of trust, a war of words and the lawyers have got involved.
This Week in Farming: Mowing, investing and protesting

1 month ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

Welcome back to another edition of This Week in Farming, your one-stop shop for the best Farmers Weekly content from the past seven days. First, the markets (opens as PDF). You might want to lower your sunglasses in shock for this one – there’s finally been a drop in the beef price – but only by 0.6p/kg for deadweight steers. Lambs also dropped back under the £7/kg mark, widening the gap on year-earlier levels, and wheat shed another £2/t to £163.50/t – a very poor price indeed.
Editor's View: Agriculture centre to Starmer's trade dilemma

2 months ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

© Keir Starmer © PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo What a shame for Sir Keir Starmer. Try as he might to ignore farming, it keeps getting shoved further up the pescatarian prime minister’s agenda. Now agriculture is a component of what is likely to be one of the defining issues of his first term – whether to pursue a closer trading relationship with the EU or the US. This appears to be a proper either-or choice.
Editor's View: Will Batters push for food production targets?

2 months ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

“You can have as many people and as much money as you want, as long as we don’t run out of food,” read the text message that flashed up on the mobile phone of Minette Batters. Not the mandate she was given from Steve Reed as she starts her new job as Defra’s consultant on farm profitability, but the message from a panicking minister to the then NFU president in the early days of Covid.
This Week in Farming: Tariffs, taxes and Clarkson's Farm

2 months ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

Kaleb Cooper (left) and Jeremy Clarkson © Freuds Welcome back to This Week in Farming, your one-stop shop for the best Farmers Weekly content from the past seven days. First, here’s your markets (opens as PDF) with another slippage for old season lambs. Prices are well behind the extreme highs of last year when Easter and Ramadan overlapped. Now, on with the show.
Editor's View: A week for big schemes at home and abroad

2 months ago | fwi.co.uk | Andrew Meredith

Donald Trump © Associated-Press/Alamy Stock Photo “Walk softly and carry a big stick” was how former US president Theodore Roosevelt summarised his approach to foreign policy. “Shout loudly and flail wildly with a revolver and a golf club” is more the style of the current occupant of the White House, president Donald Trump.