Wheat prices have hit record levels as supplies dwindle, it was announced yesterday. Prices jumped 25% to a record high on Monday, as some countries prepared to curb exports of the crop. These high prices have been caused by heavy rainfall in the largest exporter of wheat the US which has damaged this year s crop, as well as growing levels of demand from developing countries, whose growing working class eat more meat which requires grain to be reared. As wheat prices rise, farmers in the UK, where farmland prices have been rising fast, will welcome the news that arable wheat farming is set to remain profitable in coming years. Farmers have the potential to be able to react to these prices; wheat fetched so little for so long that arable farmers will be welcoming this news, said Guy Guyer from the National Farmers' Union. And prices should continue to rise in the short term. In the long term, however, it s impossible to predict how prices will go with global warming. We are calling for UK farmers to ensure they are using their land as efficiently as possible to maximise their production of the crops which are most in demand.
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'Just look at those stairs. Just as an art form, they are bewitching, like the shell of a nautilus': The lure of buying a stairway to heavenIt seems like madness to buy a house purely because you fall in love with the staircase — but sometimes, they are simply so beautiful that it's impossible to resist. Toby Keel takes a look at some glorious examples of staircases we've seen in Country Life in the last couple of years.
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'I found myself in a magical world of a sun-dappled forest, speckled with wild flowers of kaleidoscopic colours and brilliant mosses': Solo walking in the PyreneesThe Pyrenees reserves its best treasures for walkers prepared to venture off the well-beaten trail, says Teresa Levonian Cole, on a solo holiday in Ribes de Freser.
