BY JIM WEBSTER Apparently it was Machiavelli who said (almost certainly in Italian): “Never waste the opportunity offered by a good crisis.” Churchill followed him by saying: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Obviously their wise advice is being followed. So, the government has unveiled a new food strategy ‘and told farmers to produce more fruit and vegetables in the wake of record … Continue reading Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste
BY JIM WEBSTER The thing about farming is that yields fluctuate. You can plant the same acreage in two successive years. Sow the same variety, put on the same sprays and inputs, and see what happens. One year, because the rain came at the wrong time, the sun just scorched what was left. Next year everything fell just right. So, one year you didn’t even … Continue reading Windfalls, No Cider
BY JIM WEBSTER Don’t you know there is a war on? What does it take to get people to take things seriously? Do we need Chief Warden Hodges from Dad’s Army storming round Brussels shouting ‘Put that Light Out’? There is a problem with people. They will continue to believe things even when they’re obviously not true. As an example of this, YouGov do a … Continue reading The EU Has Lost its Marbles
BY JIM WEBSTER During first lockdown, behind the scenes, major retailers performed logistical miracles. As a farmer I’m not somebody who is prone to praise them, but in spite of ridiculous levels of panic buying (there are people out there who won’t need to buy toilet paper for another couple of years) the retailers managed to keep the show on the road. During lockdown I … Continue reading Too Little Wheat, Too Much Makeup
BY NOEL YAXLEY I have a confession to make. Although I am writing this for a rural affairs magazine, I personally know very little about farming. My own experience of farming extends to a combine harvester ride with a man called Donny when I was five on holiday on the North Norfolk coast. For a few hours on a hot Autumn day I got to … Continue reading LADS no Lasses
BY JIM WEBSTER On the agricultural front, so far nothing has really been said in the West, although I’ve noticed a couple of the papers starting to run stories about possible food shortages. Apparently the Chinese government, which seems to think about these things rather more than our governments do, has stockpiled 70% of world maize stocks, 51% of world wheat stocks and “enormous quantities … Continue reading Ukraine Effects: A Farmer’s Thoughts
BY ROBIN CARPENTER The soon to be obsolete Wild Justice are requesting an immediate cease of the badger cull despite the glaring and undeniable evidence of its substantial effectiveness. They prove once again they put wildlife before livestock and don’t give a damn about Britain’s rural economy. They are costing taxpayers with their pathetic stance. It’s odd how a group that constantly moans about the … Continue reading It IS WORKING, Keep up the Badger Cull
BY JIM WEBSTER Russia and the Ukraine have been vying for the position of the world’s largest grain exporters for some time. This is the Moscow times from 2019: “Russia has been the global grain exporter top dog for the last three years, but as the agricultural marketing year ended on June 30, it looks like Ukraine has snatched the title back from its rival.” … Continue reading Environment Comes Second to Food Security
BY ROGER WATSON While we are not in the season for harvesting potatoes in this country, each time I open a pack of potatoes I cannot help being reminded of the October break we used to have from school in Scotland known as ‘The Tattie Holidays’ (the Scottish word for potato is ‘tattie’). They have almost faded from memory now as the generations of those—like … Continue reading The Acceptable Face of Child Slavery
BY JIM WEBSTER The whole system of farm payments is up in the air. To be brutally frank, this isn’t surprising. On a general, first world level, governments have blown so much money on the pandemic they are scrabbling behind the sofa for loose change. I would be surprised if, in five years’ time, any country hasn’t cut its agricultural support, or moved the money … Continue reading Spending the Money Thrice
BY ROCHELLE BLAKEMAN I always thought the French cared about their farmers more than the British. Much like in Italy, French culture holds food as sacrosanct. We Brits drench everything in lard and grease apparently, much to the dismay of some of my international friends – especially up North. We’re much more likely to eat casually whilst watching Coronation Street whilst our European cousins (especially … Continue reading France’s Forgotten Farmers
BY JIM WEBSTER The thing about farming and agriculture is that it isn’t just an industry, it isn’t just a way of life, it’s a world. All sorts of people come into this world and they might pass through, going about their lawful occasions. They might enter it and flee gibbering unable to cope with the proclivities of the natives. Some will arrive, breathe deeply … Continue reading Going Native
BY ROCHELLE BLAKEMAN “Toil mastered everything, relentless toil And the pressure of pinching poverty… Everything by nature’s law Tends to the worse, slips ever backward, backward.” Virgil, the Georgics As a farmer’s daughter, I was blessed with a bucolic childhood. With only 1% of the UK population being farmers, it is a lucky stroke to have lived my younger years with a closeness to the … Continue reading A Country Girl’s Reflections on Environmentalism
BY JIM WEBSTER I went down to London the other day. First time for a couple of years, so I was quite intrigued to see what things were like down there. On the train and at the stations, masks were optional. Pretty much the same proportion of people were wearing them as wear them round here. Once in the big city it did feel quiet. … Continue reading What Shall the Future Bring Us?
BY JIM WEBSTER I kept a few pigs before the last foot and mouth outbreak. I used to buy a weaned litter or two and fatten them on a mix of spare milk and some 16% protein dairy feed. This is grossly inefficient but was quite profitable because I was having them killed at a local abattoir. Then they were cut up for me by … Continue reading Pigs & Boars
BY JIM WEBSTER I don’t often apologise to the government of the People’s Republic of China but I confess I have been somewhat sceptical about their sincerity when it comes to cutting carbon emissions. But apparently they are trying. The government laid down strict limits on the amount of energy that could be used in various provinces. But when lockdown ended, there were a lot … Continue reading The Law of Unintended Consequences
BY JIM WEBSTER I’ve spent a lot of time with milk cows. Milking them isn’t a cheap hobby. A lot of dairy farms have a business model which resembles a hosepipe. You get in quite a lot of money from the milk cheque but then it moves down the hosepipe at speed, and sprays the money out to your suppliers and the bank. Hopefully enough … Continue reading Milking It
BY JIM WEBSTER I used to boast at one time that in our dairy herd we had every colour of cow, other than green. Green would be far too difficult to spot when out at grass. (Actually Black and White cows, in the early morning, can be damned difficult to spot when they’re standing against a hedge line. They’re woodland animals wearing woodland camo). But … Continue reading Cowman
BY JIM WEBSTER Well, are food prices going to rise? After all, governments have successfully held prices down for decades. Milk is cheaper in the shops in cash terms than it was back in the 1990s. Is the tide turning? One advantage of living on the side of Morecambe Bay is that you get used to the tides. I once spent some time in Scarborough … Continue reading Food Prices on the Rise?
BY JIM WEBSTER I’ve worked a lot with lorry drivers over the years. Normally we get the good ones, as the other sort don’t make it down the lanes. But at the moment there’s a shortage. Yet I can remember Bob Bojduniak of Farm Brief mentioning to me over twenty years ago that the various agricultural supply companies were telling him then that they struggled … Continue reading The Lorry Driver Shortage
