Prices of crucial farming inputs such as fuel and fertiliser skyrocketed just before the spring planting season
T
he small green oilseed rape plants are buffeted by the wind on a blustery spring day. Sown last August, the crop is starting to shoot up and should be ready for harvesting in July, when it can be turned into cooking oil or biofuel.
The peaceful 230-hectare (568-acre) arable farm owned by James Cox on the edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire is a world away from the conflict in the Middle East. However, the consequences of US and Israeli strikes on Iran – and Tehran’s retaliation – are already rippling out to affect Cox and Britain’s other food producers.
The prices of crucial farming inputs such as fuel and fertiliser have skyrocketed, just at a time when their use will increase in the coming weeks as the spring planting season gets under way and farmers use their tractors more.
