BY JIM WEBSTER I have been musing recently on the impact of arbitrary government diktats. Admittedly they have been part of my life as a farmer for longer than I care to remember. Agriculture has always been a field where Westminster felt it unwise to rely upon the ignorant and unlettered peasantry and preferred to organise things themselves. From a safe distance. And during office … Continue reading Here Today Gone Tomorrow
BY JIM WEBSTER Whilst people are trapped by the virus, agriculture continues to march to the beat of a different drum. Almost certainly having had the virus means that here we’re mentally in a different place to a lot of people but I went into town yesterday and had to go into one establishment to deal with a couple of issues. I’m somebody who hasn’t … Continue reading A World Apart
BY JIM WEBSTER It must be admitted that we were ready for this rain. As it was we’d neatly ricocheted from one extreme to another. This winter was ridiculously wet. We never had flooding as such up here in Cumbria, but there was standing water where the water table was now higher than ground level. So if we were ever going to get any spring … Continue reading Glorious Rain
BY JIM WEBSTER When I looked across at this view this morning whilst I was feeding heifers, it did strike me that I’ve not got a bad place to be ‘self-isolated’ in. Looking east across Morecambe Bay towards the hills of the Pennines. I really can’t grumble. Nonetheless, on one of my rare forays onto social media today, somebody had posted something along the lines … Continue reading Define Key
BY JIM WEBSTER Everybody talks about getting back to normal but what is normal going to be? Already people are commenting that food prices are rising. I’ve been the one doing the shopping and I’ve noticed that there are no longer the ‘two for one’ offers and special discounts. A friend of mine who shopped at Booths because it was quieter decided that it was … Continue reading The New Normal?
BY JIM WEBSTER There are no lingering doubts now. This virus has turned the world upside down. The late, great, Douglas Adams wrote, “The History of every major Galactic Civilisation tends to pass through three distinct and recognisable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterised by the question ‘How … Continue reading Self-Sufficient Kingdom
BY JIM WEBSTER Now things are starting to unravel at speed. Looking at livestock, which is what I know best, sheep prices have tanked. In simple terms because like us the French and the rest of our customers are locked down, they’re not dining out and the amount of lamb they’re eating has dropped. Beef is the same. Butchers are struggling to shift the better … Continue reading From the Farming Front Line
BY JIM WEBSTER One of the tales my father always told was of back when he was in his teens and farm workers would work for a ‘term’ (summer or winter) and then after the term was up, he’d either sign on again with the chap he was working for or go on to the next fair. Apparently one of the tales going round at … Continue reading Smoke in a Barrow
BY JIM WEBSTER I’ve been trying to get my head round what is happening with the beef and lamb trade at the moment. As far as I can make out ‘cock-up’ is more likely than conspiracy. With the sheep trade it’s obvious that the buyers just stopped buying yesterday. It wasn’t just that prices plummeted, they weren’t even interested in buying at low prices. Given … Continue reading View From the Farm
BY JIM WEBSTER Whatever humanity is up to, the seasons continue to roll forward. The contractor arrived to put on the nitrogen. He made far less mark than I thought he would, the last few days have dried out our higher land nicely. Sal supervised him from a safe distance. Mind you that is as close as I got to him because the foot-trimmer was … Continue reading Splendid Isolation
BY JAMES BEMBRIDGE How can one reconcile the two seemingly opposing ideologies of deindustrialisation and a want for endless housing? The answer: when the former is merely a means to bring about the latter. It’s no secret that climate change activism often acts as a front for hard-line socialism; indeed, the Extinction Rebellion protests held in London were marred by blood red demands to ‘bring … Continue reading Farmers, New Enemy of Loons
BY JAMES BEMBRIDGE ‘The world is waking up to an environmental crisis’, a disembodied voice warns with the kind of damming cynicism that only a guttural Scottish accent can truly deliver. The viewer is then assaulted with flashes of bush-fires spliced with frenzied jerky-cam closeups of caged swines. In case this bombardment of the senses has left us in any doubt as to the utter … Continue reading Love Meat
