What would you cook if you had a strict vegetarian coming for Sunday lunch and he just happened to be the Secretary of State for the Environment Hilary Benn?
Well, Peter Kendall and his wife Emma sensibly chose vegetable quiche but their kids were decidedly put out that accommodating their important guest meant missing their usual Sunday roast fare and, according to the NFU president, "they were disrespectful about it". These kids will go a long way - why stand on ceremony for a politician.
The Kendall family were hosting another Hilary Benn visit to their arable farm in Eyeworth, Bedfordshire so a hearty lunch was pretty important to helping the day go with a swing. Making the most of the opportunity, Peter showed Hilary Benn around the business that he runs in partnership with his brother Richard.
The Kendalls are big fans of GPS technology and use it regularly to inform their decisions on 620 hectares of combinable crops. A demonstration on the benefits of precision technology in one field was a key part of the visit. All of which set the scene perfectly for Peter then trying to convince the Secretary of State that incentives are desperately needed if farmers are to invest in smart solutions.
You have to admire these tactics.... One of the big challenges is trying to convince Government just what agriculture can do. We need a lot more effort like this to get the politicians on to farms to see what's going on first hand. And it seems the politicians want more of it. On the introduction to his own website, Hilary Benn actually states "I believe in a fairer society ....and that practical politics can help us get there". So say all of us......