Food for Thought

Open Farm Sunday draws the crowds

2008-06-02T16:21:17Z

The third Open Farm Sunday seems to have gone well. Over 400 farms opened their gates to the public on 1 June and although no one is quite sure of visitor numbers - early indications are that it was bigger and better than last year.

What is clear from the pictures on FWiSpace is that it certainly went down well with the children.

Should Scotland go GM-free?

2008-05-22T15:15:38Z

Should Scotland go GM-free is the big question discussed by Scotland Environment Minister Mike Russell and NFU Scotland president Jim McLaren in this podcast presented by Farmers Weekly's Scotland correspondent Nancy Nicolson:

Click here to get your own player.

The great tomato scandal

2008-05-21T10:03:28Z

Did you know that over 80% of fresh tomatoes consumed in this country have been imported.

I've just found that fact out from a press release about British Tomato Week which is running from 19th-25th May.

It aims to highlight this declining produce at events around the country and the Houses of Parliament and calls on MPs to end our reliance on cheap food imports.

An afternoon with Farmers Weekly

2008-05-20T12:04:39Z

Want to know what goes on in the Farmers Weekly office during a typical day? Here's an insight:

The Archers embrace Open Farm Sunday

2008-05-19T14:04:52Z

Was anyone else listening to The Archers this weekend? There were several mentions for LEAF's Open Farm Sunday event on 1 June.

It would seem that Ambridge is going to be treated to not just one - but two - open days as part of the initiative. Ruth and David Archer are treating it fairly seriously and there is a rather more opportunistic effort being cobbled together by the Grundy family. Thank God, both have got "marinated" posters given there's been a bit of rain in recent days (if you don't understand this reference then you will have to 'Listen Again').

I wonder if Ruth and David will be sending any pictures for our online gallery on FWiSpace?

Pig and Poultry Fair dinner shows the service sector the way forward

2008-05-14T12:29:04Z

Last night, I attended a dinner held by British Pig and Poultry Fair sponsor ABN and it was an excellent advert of British food at its finest.

They hired Berkshire-based celebrity chef Mike Robinson to cook the four-course meal and between each course, he told diners how he constructed the dish. This was followed by a short video featuring the supplier giving a glimpse of how the animals are reared.

For example, the starter was smoked duck salad made with duck supplied by Cherry Valley. Main course was chicken, reared by Hook 2 Sisters with a clip of James Hook explaining his production methods.

What a brilliant advert for British farming and the enthusiasm of the chef and farmers alike gave diners confidence that the animals had been treated well and reared to very high welfare standards.

Just imagine if pubs and restaurants took on some of this by giving customers more information. I'm convinced the public wants to know more about where their food comes from, especially on the back of the recent BBC undercover investigation which revealed that some unscrupulous pubs were passing imported oxen off as British beef.

Supermarkets have done much good work in recent months promoting British chicken, but now it is the turn of the catering/hospitality sector. It's in their interest to reconnect with consumers too.

Catch up on the latest news from the British Pig and Poultry Fair.

A question about rising food prices?

2008-05-14T10:46:17Z

Reading today's newspapers with another heavy push on the rising price of food. I just want to know - are sales of food declining in the premium stores like Waitrose and M&S. And how are the sales of organic food holding up?

It has been too long...

2008-05-07T11:16:42Z

It's been a bit quiet on here during the past week and the blame lies with a bunch of Young Farmers. In a positive way, of course. It is just I have been tied up at the agm in Blackpool being thoroughly entertained by over 5000 YFC members. It was a great weekend with clubs from all over the country meeting to compare notes, compare club shirts and boast about the size of their tackle. And it struck me that as a group of young people - you couldn't meet a nicer bunch. OK there was a fair bit of beer consumed over the weekend and at times some groups were pretty noisy. But at no point did you get the sense that things were going to boil over into the kind of aggressive, violent behaviour that seems to characterise so many towns and cities. They knew where the boundaries were and respected them in a good-natured way. A great bunch.

Farming on TV ...yet again

2008-04-29T17:22:29Z

Farming makes another of its appearances on TV tonight and the signs are that it won't be pretty. Our Daily Breads screens on More 4 at 10pm and looks at modern agricultural practices across Europe. There's already been some discussion on FWiSpace.

Fiddling while Rome burns

2008-04-25T09:04:57Z

That's the phrase used more than once at last night's Real Food debate at the first Real Food Festival at Earls Court. The charge was that all the "side issues" such as GM, food miles and the like are just that. The real deal is much bigger and according to food miles guru Tim Lang a suite of eight fundamentals need addressing as a whole not in part. But what alarms me at debates such as these is the middle-classness of them. One delegate ventured to suggest that food quality issues (of the type discussed last night - in other words trying to define what 'Real food' means...you get my drift) aren't just the preserve of the wealthy but the poor too. But I'm not sure I agree. A lot comes down to price. It's all very well to talk about the importance of reconnecting people with where their food comes from...but to what purpose? ]]> Green, Healthy and Fair report.

Latest content on FWi

2008-04-23T14:28:21Z

In a week of sunshine and showers, farming has had its fair share of good news and bad. When Gordon Brown called a Food Summit to tackle the global food crisis many hoped for some significant signals on prices paid to farmers. They should have known better, the summit yielded warm words, but little of substance. The challenge now is for the NFU and others to use the raised awareness to drive home the fact that low prices drive low output. ]]> £9m of EU-approved foot and mouth compensation. Good news for some, but extraordinary news for English producers, who must carry the cost themselves, while Defra, which was responsible for licensing the lab the disease came from, refuses to pay for its mistake and has the temerity to tell farmers they should share the cost of future disease outbreaks. And all this in the week that a new report repeats earlier calls for animal health labs to be upgraded. Meanwhile, fuel costs are hitting farmers and contractors hard, pushing up contracting rates and leaving one contractor fearing for the future of his business. We've also been busy finding out about the practicalities of bluetongue vaccination - like when the vaccine will be available and some of the issues around undertaking the vaccinations on-farm, with three practical videos explaining what is involved. And here's a cheering thought - the NFU is probably one of the most powerful lobbies of government policy in the land, well that's what Lord Michael Heseltine reckons, and after all his years in politics he should know. Other highlights: Morrisons supermarket gets £100.000 whiter than white compensation from the Office of Fair Trading. A landmark wind farm project in Scotland gets the thumbs down. Farming Help charity tops £40,000. Fresh Start Academy gets a big thumbs up. A busy week on-farm, and in the news!

Best of..... English?

2008-04-23T14:08:10Z

The canteen in Farmers Weekly Towers decided to celebrate St George's Day in style with a special menu of food. It was a nice thought and I am told the food was pretty good. But we can't help wonder if they rather missed the point looking at the sign below.... Is St George now the patron saint of Britain?

Gordon's gathering Part II

2008-04-22T13:49:11Z

Funnily enough, there is a level of scepticism in the farming community about Prime Minister Gordon Brown's decision to hold a food summit. The meeting is yet to take place, but FWiSpace forum member Jacobus has got his own ideas about what has prompted it and what is likely to be said. Here's a taster:

There's no doubt about it, those Filipinos and Bangladeshis who have had a hard day queueing up for their rice rations will be able to sleep easier in their beds tonight, secure in the knowledge that Flash Gordon has been holding a 'summit' at Number 10 with the supermarket bosses and Peter Kendall. Fresh from a triumphant visit to the USA, where he took care to avoid confusion with another contemporaneous visitor by not wearing white and by not being chauffeured around in a gas guzzling 'Flash Mobile', Gordon feels that he is at the height of his powers. Look how his last budget 'simplified' the tax system by abolishing the lower rate band and forcing lower income families to pay more tax and apply to join the benefit culture to claim it back in tax credits - too bad about the 5.3 million workers who don't qualify!

Gordon's gathering

2008-04-22T10:12:23Z

Gordon (Brown)’s hastily convened gathering of the great and good from the food industry could have big implications for farmers. Before the meeting had even taken place the 10 Downing Street website signalled that biofuels were in the firing line. The UK needs to be “more selective” in its support of biofuels, taking greater account of impacts on food prices and the environment, it signalled as news of the summit meeting with scientists, supermarkets, farmers and aid agencies started to filter out. ]]> NFU chairman Peter Kendall this afternoon. But the fact that industry has made great efforts to audit the supply chains that could feed biofuel processing plants in the UK, ensuring they deliver real environmental benefits, must not be overlooked. Provided that distinction is made, the summit could be good news for UK farming, which is long overdue a fairer share of the national household spend. * The World Food Crisis is proving a popular discussion topic amongst farmers on FWi Space's forums.

Fresh Start Academies deserve support

2008-04-21T11:20:07Z

Defra’s Fresh Start initiative, launched in 2006, deserves support. It aims to help a wide range of people develop business skills in the farming sector over an 18 month course programme. Judging by the end-of-programme gathering at Hadlow College in Kent last week, it is succeeding. ]]> Here was a group of young people with vision and ambition. For them the industry presented a wealth of opportunity. Far from being dissuaded by regulations, complex policy decisions and rising costs, they were keen to build their businesses and take on greater responsibilities. So far 22 Fresh Start Academies are operating across the UK. They, and the participants they are supporting, deserve all the help the industry can give them.