Seth Pascoe wants Farmers Weekly more widely avaialble
On my recent flight to the UK, I occupied myself by dreaming up a culinary to-eat list for the week. Accomplished items included: roast lamb with the parents, Cornish fish and chips with a FABBL inspector, several Cornish pasties in my hire car (sorry about the crumbs), and most evening meals washed down with decent British beer.
As usual, my visit was over far too quickly and before long I was savouring the last few roundabouts on my way back to the airport. Having become accustomed to the monotonous pro and anti Canadian Wheat Board articles that currently dominate the prairie farming press, I decided to treat myself to a copy of Farmers Weekly.
I cannot deny the fact that exhaustion from a particularly heavy Cirencester reunion and stag weekend was beginning to take its toll on me. Nevertheless, I still could not find a copy of Britain’s premier farming publication at any of the newsagents stands in the departure lounge.
Perhaps it was a case of not seeing the wood for the trees, as I’m pretty sure that every other magazine was available. It begs the question: if travellers are grabbing copies of titles such as Pottery Monthly* and 2011’s Top 100 Garden Fences* for some in-flight reading, then surely the farming community should also be catered for?
I concede that farmers are busy and rarely find time to take a break from the farm. But Farmers Weekly’s readership isn’t restricted solely to farmers and I’m certain that a surprising number of people among the broader farming industry are passing through our airports. To further bolster my case, on my return flight to Canada I bumped into a farmer from Salisbury plain that I used to work for when I was a student. Although to be fair I think he and his wife were probably thinking more about the ski conditions rather than wheat futures.
The biggest surprise of all was departing from a chilly -9C Sussex and arriving in a sunny 12C Alberta – very peculiar indeed.
* These titles may or may not actually exist.
