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<p>The UK's food supply is highly resilient. Defra has well established ways of working
with the industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes
extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues
with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.</p><p>Agricultural commodity
prices are closely linked to global gas prices. Farmers are facing increased input
costs including for fertiliser, feed and fuel. We are working closely with the industry
to identify where further mitigations are available to tackle the challenges they
face.</p><p>The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support
of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to
help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry.
There have been three meetings of the Fertiliser Taskforce (the latest of which was
on 21 July) with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges
which global supply pressures are causing. Ministers will continue to meet with key
industry bodies for further Fertiliser Taskforce sessions in the coming months, to
help identify and mitigate potential risks.</p><p>In addition, the 2022 Basic Payment
Scheme payment will be made in two instalments to give farmers an advance injection
of cash. Farmers with eligible applications will receive half of their payment from
the end of July, and the rest from December. By doing this, the Government intends
to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner,
with more confidence.</p><p>We continue to keep the market situation under review
through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural
markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments.</p>
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