Food for Thought

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.

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?

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?

I had to check that it wasn't dated 1 April, when I first spotted this story.

It seems that two farmers from West Yorkshire plan to travel 30,000 miles across the Bering Strait in a converted Land Rover.

Farmers Weekly is not exactly awash with celebrity news. We did once manage to squeeze in a picture of Madonna (when she bought her Wiltshire estate) and Prince Charles recently wrote an article exclusively for FW readers.

So I was a little surprised to see this headline appear on FWi:

A year of highs and more highs, says Jessica Simpson

I couldn't help wondering what on earth an American singer/actress best known for her role in the remake of the Dukes of Hazzard knows about the UK land market. Then I read the article...

Here's the top 5 blog posts from any of the Farmers Weekly Group blogs in 2007:

1) Tractor mystery revealed
2) Shaun the sheep
3) Kill it, Cook it, Eat it
4) Hanging on the Line
5) Farming on TV again

Question: Why does Santa have 3 gardens?

Christmas: The time when everyone gets Santamental.

Everyone loves a list, so we've compiled a list of the top ten most read stories on FWi in 2007.

It becomes apparent that out readers like nothing more than a story about a big, expensive tractor that they probably can't afford!

Still searching for that special Christmas present?

Well, how about these amazing pictures from artist Caroline Shotton, I particularly like the bovine version of the Mona Lisa!

Here's something to get you in the festive mood - a Christmas quiz. It is just for fun - no prize I am afraid!

1) In the song, the 12 days of Christmas, what gift did my true love give to me on the 7th day of Christmas?

2). Who wrote the song "I’m dreaming of a white Christmas"?

3) Who popularised the Christmas tree in England in the 19th century?

4). When Kevin is left 'Home Alone' for the first time, where is the family’s destination for their Christmas vacation?

5). What is the name of the fruit sauce which is a traditional accompaniment to the Christmas Turkey?

6). On what did Marley's ghostly face first appear to Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas Carol?

7). Which word, associated with Christmas, comes from a Greek word meaning "we can act anything"?

8). "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents" is the first line from which literary classic by Louisa May Alcott?

9). Whose is the first voice to be heard on the original recording of Band Aid's 'Do they Know It's Christmas?

10). True or false: The traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

The answers will go up tomorrow.

This is probably going to make me sound really ungrateful, but I have just been sent an electronic Christmas card from the press team at DEFRA which has left me feeling rather underwhelmed.

It was a kind thought - but the design is so....environmentally worthy. Where's the glitter and snowmen? Where's the cartoon Santa? How about an angel or two?

That they've gone to the trouble is nice. But it is hardly "merry" Christmas.

According to BBC Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson petrol at over £1 a litre is cheap...

...well compared with bull semen at £24,000 a litre, he claims.

And he maybe right, but it got me thinking: What's your measure? How do you compare the price of things?

For instance, a pint of beer is the same as 10 second-class stamps??

I think the BBC did something similar last week on its Radio Five Live breakfast programme.

So what's your measure for things agricultural?

The Farmers Weekly Awards take place tonight and it promises to be a glittering ceremony.

With things so tough at the moment in farming it will be nice to focus on the positive - farming does have a good story to tell, and there are many people doing innovative and inspiring things with their businesses and they need to be acknowledged.

For those people not lucky enough to attend, you will be able to get a real flavour of the event from tomorrow. We'll have a picture gallery of the night, a guestbook and even a video and webcast!

Farmers Weekly is running the 2007 makeover competition and this time we're looking for students to take part. If you want to nominate yourself or a friend, send a photo and a few words explaining why you/they need a makeover to tim.relf@rbi.co.uk by Nov 20, 2007.

You know you want to...

The Farming Help Appeal 2007 is building momentum, but the charities really need more money.

Demand for their help is high - RABI alone has given out more than £500,000 in domestic hardship grants as a result of bluetongue, foot-and-mouth and flooding.

Farmers Weekly is playing its part. Last week we donated £1850 which was raised by FW's display sales team, who donated a percentage of the value of adverts sold on one day.

This week I've raised another £50 by selling pumpkins to people in the office!

The battle of the blogs is hotting up on FWi.

For anyone who need a reminder, two of Farmers Weekly's bloggers are going head to head.

In the red corner, it's Matthew Naylor with his blog The Longer View. In the blue corner, it's Tim Relf with his Field Day blog. Who wins? You decide.

Can a Food For Thought reader help throw some light on this picture?

View image

Long-time readers of Farmers Weekly will be familiar with the name George Scales because over the years it has appeared frequently on the letters page.

So I was shocked to come across the following obit for Mr Scales which ran in The Guardian last month.

With so many harvest festivals being celebrated this month how difficult is it to distribute the gifts? A lot of nursing homes don’t want to receive a mixture of carrots, courgettes and cauliflowers because their kitchens are run on central buying. It’s a shame that yet another tradition between schoolchildren and the community at large has become a victim of so-called streamlining operations.

Farmers Weekly columnist David Richardson offers an interesting insight into what is going on with the supermarkets and the green groups at the moment.

It is good to hear that conservation groups are being told about the serious consequences some of their campaigning can have.

Arable editor Robert Harris calls for more footpath signs:

Why is it miles of Britain’s footpaths are still poorly marked or even completely invisible?

This thought was brought home to me on Sunday as, armed with map, I struck out across some of East Sussex’s finest countryside for some much-needed exercise for self and dog.

I always stick to footpaths when I can, and I know farmers appreciate it when I do, especially given the recent foot-and-mouth outbreaks.

But lack of signs and even obvious stiles on at least two of the six miles dictated close scrutiny of the map. A couple of minutes was usually enough to sort out the route, but twice I found myself on the wrong side of a hedge and another time in the wrong field entirely.

Now don’t get me wrong. The dog probably enjoyed the longer walk that entailed, and I was in no hurry and put it down to one of those things. But the farmer, had I bumped into him, might have had a different view.

I reckon I had a solid defence. But a few minutes spent improving signage (I know it’s the council’s responsibility, but you could be in for a long wait) would avoid the need for any possible confrontation.

A simple arrow on a piece of paper wrapped in plastic and pinned to a post would work wonders. And put an end to lost souls roaming across the farm in a vain bid to pick up the footpath, something that will benefit both walker and farmer alike.

Looking back through old copies of Farmers Weekly magazine is endlessly fascinating. There are some stories that don't seem to change (we are writing similar versions now to ones which appeared 40 years ago).

But I spotted this snippet in a 1967 issue that did make me smile bearing in mind how important farm tourism is in the south west...

The Farmers Weekly Harvest Highlights picture gallery contains an amazing array of photos which has been sent in by readers.

But I was still a little surprised to come across this picture of England football captain John Terry which has been sent in by Chris Woodall of Epsom in Surrey.

He said:"The farm has an airstrip and a helicopter pad and as we are close to Cobham where the Chelsea team train and live they come and use the helipad when they need it

"JT was in on Thursday to go up to Liverpool for a sponsors' thing and I got the photo when he came back.

"Bit of a contrast to seeing me working in the fields, crossing paths with him in the farmyard. Sadly he didn't want to help out!"

Having just returned from a very enjoyable, but all too short, stay on a friend’s dairy farm in north Cornwall I can’t help thinking that there must be a market in alternative holidays for city folk.

Those hard working city people (you know the type stockbroker, analyst or oil trader) suffer heaps of stress from counting all those zeros. Well what could be more relaxing then fetching the cows in or turning grass for silage – that’s all I did and it fitted in well with walks along the cliff-top to take pictures and trips to attractions such as the Eden Project.

I’ve noticed a new, cunning trend in farming.

In the past, farm lobby groups used to get it in the necks for not correcting ‘errors’ in the press. This was despite the fact that often they had written a letter to the paper in question – it just hadn’t been picked up for publication.

The new strategy that bodies like the NFU have adopted is to publish all the letters they have written to the newspapers on their own website as soon as they are penned.

Now, even if it is not included on the letter’s page of a broadsheet or tabloid, the press office can at least show members that they tried.

It’s a bit like the current school exam system – you don’t actually need to get the right answer, you can get loads of marks just by showing your ‘working’.

The NFU is not alone in this strategy. The Health and Safety Executive put an interesting letter on its website yesterday – this time to Farmers Weekly.

Makes me think they doubted we were going to publish it. But I’d suggest they read Farmers Weekly on 7 September…

Interesting story in today's Guardian about an Australian farmer who went looking for love on the internet and almost paid the ultimate price.

Here at Farmers Weekly we get loads of requests from TV production companies to help them find farmers who might be willing to appear on screen.

I don't know what the fascination is with farmers, but it seems that everyone from Wife Swap to How Clean is Your House think they would make ideal candidates for their shows.

The latest of these requests to hit my inbox is this one:

The hit Channel 4 make-over show 10 Years Younger is looking for lively men and women to take part in a brand new series. So if you feel you’ve wrinkled before your time then get in touch with our team of anti-aging experts. We can help peel back the years and restore you to your former glory. Call NOW on 0121 224 8381 or download an application from www.channel4.co.uk/10yearsyounger

But after the stress of the last ten days, thanks to foot-and-mouth, I reckon this one is quite well-timed.

FW senior arable reporter Andrew Blake reflects on the wider implications of the foot and mouth outbreak:

One side effect of the latest foot and mouth outbreak is that it highlights the vulnerability of all farming businesses, not just livestock enterprises, to disease.

This year’s rust epidemics in cereals caught many growers, and dare one say even pathologists, by surprise.

So it is perhaps timely to ask just how much is being done to defend us from the use of diseases and pests as terrorist weapons.

Unexpected infections and insect attacks make it all the more important that research into breeding resistance to the widest range of crop diseases and pests is fully maintained.

And any notion that the pesticide defences available against them should be unjustifiably watered down by well-intentioned but misguided environmental concerns must be quashed.

It is imperative that everyone involved in agriculture strives to retain the fullest armoury and uses lateral thinking to out-wit those who wish to disrupt western societies by threatening food supplies.

Farming’s a tough industry, full of tough people. You have to be to cope with the ups and downs. Feed wheat at £130/t and foot and mouth, in the same week! Drought stricken crops in April and a deluge in July! Most people would simply give up.

But the great thing about farming is that tough people grapple with tough times and succeed. The only worry is that tough people are getting worn down by people who seem to lack commitment, who have jobs that are 9-5, who invest no personal equity in their occupations. All too often they seem to clash horrifically with the enthusiasts who invest everything in doing the job properly.

Maybe that helps explain the frustration welling up in farmhouses across the land, as the inability of government agencies.......

WHEN dread livestock disease foot and mouth led last Friday’s Ten O’Clock News Farmers Weekly journalists knew it would be no ordinary weekend – not for farmers, not for farming and not for farm journalists either.

For many it was an unwelcome rewind to March 2001 and the devastating foot and mouth epidemic that followed, claiming 7m animals, costing the UK £8bn and forcing many farmers from the industry.

Within half an hour a core team of FW journalists was hard at work, establishing facts and loading information onto the FWi web-site. Our new FWiSpace on-line forum was used to field questions from worried farmers. Journalists chased contacts until well after midnight.

First thing Saturday the team reconvened in FW’s south London newsroom. Newsgathering

Research shows that people still like to think of farmers chewing on a straw and leaning over a gate while the word passes them by.

The truth - as we know - is very different. Farmers are very keen to adopt new technologies - they embrace new husbandry techniques, seed varieties and bits of machinery with enthusiasm and you would be hard-pushed to find a group of people who are keener on their mobile phones.

But are they blogging?

If we're honest, in the UK, not many are. But we've a few pioneers who are dipping their toe into the blogging waters and finding that they are enjoying it.

There are some who see that it's a great way to connect with consumers and help spread positive messages about agriculture on their own terms. There are others who have identified that writing a blog is a useful way to promote their own business.

Here's a few of our favourites but we'd be interested to know about any more:

Wiggly Wigglers
Farming Friends
Letters from Transylvania!
AllyR's blog

It had been looking like attendance figures for the Royal Welsh Show were going to be well down as result of the weather.

But we are getting word that the a shortfall of 17,000 visitors on the opening day has now shrunk to 6,000. It would seem that thousands of people came in later in the day - enjoying a generous concession being offered by show organisers.

The other good news is that rumours that someone had fallen in the river in the early hours of Tuesday morning turned out to be false.

Rescue services were lining the banks on Tuesday morning, with binoculars trained on the swollen River Wye.

But the search was called off in the afternoon when it emerged that the reported 'incident' was a hoax Two youthshave since been fined for wasting police time.

Yesterday was a sea of umbrellas. Today people are strolling around the show in T-shirts eating ice-creams.

And while the gate may have been down yesterday, attendance figures for today should be pretty good. It's taking ages to walk across the showground because the walkways are so jammed.

The YFC stand is proving particularly popular. Right now there's a crowd of at least 1000 people waiting for a dancing competition to start.

I know I am starting to sound a bit obsessed with the car parks at the Royal Welsh Show, but to be frank it is hard not to be.

And this is why:

It took me two hours to get from my hotel (five miles away) and park and I had to be towed onto the field. My Renault Megane is not built for these kind of conditions.

This year's Royal Welsh Show couldn't be more of a contrast to the 2006 event.

A quick scan of the FWi archives shows that in 2006 temperatures reached 37.1 degrees celcius and organisers had to find extra water so they could hose down the cattle to keep them cool.

And let's not forget the young lady who did an impromtu strip in the cattle lines during a party for Welsh Black breeders...

The one thing that is the same, however, is the quality and range of stock on show. Don't forget you can keep up-to-date with all the results on FW's Taking Stock blog.

My surname may be Davies but I have to admit that I'm a bit of a stranger to the Welsh language.

So I find the press conferences at the Royal Welsh Show really interesting - as they tend to be conducted in both Welsh and English.

It's nice to know that there are so many Welsh speakers around. The only problem is that any briefings do take twice as long as normal...

It's still raining and from what we're hearing the car parks are getting pretty bad.

We may have got in, but are we going to get out?

Getting into the Royal Welsh Show is a bit of a battle - the press are normally allowed to park in the judges and stewards' car park but conditions are so muddy that the message was 'park wherever you can find and then walk'.

Other visitors are also reporting lengthy queues to get parked. But as the morning progresses the crowd does seem to be swelling.

Despite the difficult conditions spirits are high and there seem to be lots of happy, but very muddy, young farmers walking down from the Young Persons Village. It's a contrast to the Royal Show where the wet weather just seemed to make everyone depressed.

Let's hope the optimism and 'let's make the best of it attitude' lasts!

Farmers Weekly has been alerted to some possible sculduggery down in Ambridge. And for once it has nothing to do with Brian...

Fans of The Archers will know that David Archer last week lost four cows after they ate some yew clippings that had been fly-tipped in his field.

In compliance with the animal by-products regulation, which prevent the burial of fallen stock, David used the services of the National Fallen Stock Company.

Except it turns out he is yet to pay his membership fee...

They''ll probably be some people who get a bit sniffy about the NFU joining forces with Weetabix to run a straw sculpture competition. But I happen to think it is a really good idea.

Straw scupltures aren't new but they are a really effective way of grabbing the attention of consumers and people will travel for miles to see a really good one.

You can spend hundreds and thousands on advertising campaigns but I bet a few well-placed straw trains and straw men will have far more impact.

They'll do what the industry needs them to do: Remind the public that farmers are out there producing the food they eat.

They might even convince people that farmers have a sense of humour too!

I've been rubbish in the past few days, But the reason for my absence on this blog is Farmers Weekly's brand new forum called FWiSpace. It is very swanky with blogs and picture galleries too. Very exciting!

A great place to chat with other farmers and swap pictures.

There is a lot of negativity about this year's Royal Show but there were some positive elements:

This blog is dedicated to everyone who battled the mud, the ruts and the rain in Car Park Two at the Royal Show on the evening of Monday 2 July. Other commentators will wrangle and dispute the future of the Royal Show itself. Farmers Weekly’s own columnist David Richardson made an admirable start this morning with his blog (David’s Digest, Tragic Royal Washed Away).

I've just come back from a press conference at the Royal Show - it's been called off for tomorrow.

Unrelenting rain over the past few days has made it impossible for the organisers and you really do have to feel for them.

The car parks are a quagmire and it was taking some people two hours or more last night to get off the site, including a colleague who's car was so clogged up with mud he couldn't do more than 40mph the whole way home.

The Royal family is known for it support of the farming industry so I was expecting a sympathetic, rather than challenging, speech from the Countess of Wessex as she opened the Royal Show.

Instead came the stark message that farmers must “move with the times”, because if they don’t foreign farmers will. She also said retailers are changing their attitudes and are doing much to support British farming.

It was all a bit of a surprise.

The man in charge of DEFRA is now Hilary Benn. But for me the real Mr Benn will always be:

I have just spoken to a farmer who tells me that 220 acres of his 250 acre farm in Worcestershire are currently under water because of flooding.

He’s not alone by any means, as the pictures coming into FWi at the moment clearly show.

One of the contributers to the FWi forums has raised a really interesting question about this weekend's Glastonbury festival. How on earth does dairy farmer and organiser Michael Eavis meet all DEFRA's rules on soil management when he has so many people on his farm at one time?

I've just heard - through FACE - about an artist who is travelling across Britain and painting farms as she goes. Her project, called Great British Farming, is being funded by Arts Council England

Georgina Barney, who was awarded a 1st class honours degree from Ruskin School of Fine Art at Oxford University, has spent the first half of the year travelling from farm to farm in order gather material for her portfolio.

"One of the reasons I started this project was that I saw a connection between art and farming," she said.

"It doesn't seem obvious at first but I've felt it to be confirmed by my experiences as well as by the fact that I've met a surprising number of artists from farming families.

"Farming can be stereotyped as a very hands on, physical and matter of fact profession while artists are thought of as contemplative and sensitive.

"But much of what farmers do is both scientific and creative - there's a lot of problem solving and entrepreneurship not unlike the work of an artist. Both farming and art demand independence, strong self motivation and bloody mindedness."

To read about Georgina's travels take a look at her Great British Farming Blog.

I have to congratulate all the farmers who took the time and effort to open their gates as part of Open Farm Sunday.

But are the numbers involved as good as they should be?

More than 400 farms took part in this year's initative which is extremely good considering the event - organised by LEAF - is only in its second year.

Yet we have an industry that is desperate for some positive PR and had a golden opportunity to generate some by inviting the public onto their farms to learn about what they do.

Makes me wonder why there weren't ten times the number taking part.

Farmers Weekly is holding out for a hero. We have joined forces with the NFU to seek a farming champion. As part of the 2007 Farmers Weekly Awards, we are looking for someone worthy of the title NFU Farming Champion.

For years, shoppers and politicans have taken low food prices for granted. But now weather worries around the world are making it increasingly difficult to ignore how vulnerable our food supplies can be. The latest chapter in this undoubtedly long saga was opened this week by the National Office of Statistics. Its latest report on food prices

Another post from Ian Ashbridge on the concept of "peak oil".

Academics, commentators and campaigners are divided over the concept of "peak oil" - the year at which fossil fuels begin to decline rapidly and we are forced to develop new ways of producing energy. Depending on whose figures you believe, oil extraction may have already peaked - it is variously pegged to be between 2005 and 2030.

But one enterprising academic has launched an innovative new research project into exactly how people might cope without fossil fuels.

We've been looking out some interesting facts about farming that might be appeal to children. But they are proving pretty interesting to us!

For example, did you know that there are 21m individual grains in a tonne of wheat.

Or that black and white cows have patterns as unique as a human fingerprint.

Anyone got any more?

I've just picked up an interesting snippet from the Whitehaven News. The paper has checked to see what its most popular stories have been over the past few months and discovered that a one paragraph piece about Keswick hill farmer Will Cockbain has scored very highly.

The web editor said he did wonder if Mr Cockbain's name meant the story had picked up some 'unintended' traffic. But he pointed out that others stories featuring Mr Cockbain have not attracted the same attention.

Perhaps Cumbrian hill farmers have a new following.

As I've already said on the FWi forums I wasn't as impressed with this documentary as I thought I would be.

I'm all for telling the truth about British farming, but I don't think the show really got across why these kind of things were happening.

However looking at the comments on the posting I made last week, not everyone agrees with me.

It is certainly a topic that has got people talking - 13 comments so far and they keep coming in...

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to spend my day clay-shooting with Dame Ellen MacArthur courtesy of country clothing supplier Musto.

Having spent the inevitable three and a half hours on the dreaded M25, I eventually turned up at the West London Shooting Ground, narrowly avoiding Musto's press conference and just in time to join the shooting party before the competition kicked off.

I am certainly no 'dead-eyed-Dick' but what I lack in skill, I like to think I make up for with enthusiasm. I work on the principle that the more lead in the air, the greater the chance that something will fly into it!

I did give some thought to how our story on the Sunday Times Rich List would be interpreted.

You could argue that it gives the wrong impression of the farming industry - furthering the myth that all farmers are loaded etc.

But it's pretty obvious that no one on the list is actually making their money from agriculture - in fact some of them probably just view farming as a pleasurable way of spending their millions!

I have always been a huge fan of the writer Bill Bryson. His book Notes From a Small Island is is one that still makes me laugh out loud (particularly his comments about the British Potato Council!)

So I am pleased to see that The Sunday Times has reported that he could be the new president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

The CPRE is a funny beast. Some farmers are members - but others regard it as an organisation which wants to preserve the countryside as it was in the 1950s.

But Bill Bryson is a passionate advocate for the British countryside and one that the public seem willing to listen to. As an American - and I suppose an outsider - he seems to be able to spot things which we 'natives' often overlook. I think he could be a great ambassador for rural areas.

Farming seems to be growing in popularity when it comes to TV. Earlier this year we had the Top Gear guys' efforts at tractor driving and there was also the surprisingly popular Kill it, Cook it, Eat it.

The next thing due to air is a show called The Lie of the Land which has been made by an award winning documentary maker called Molly Dineen, who is best known for her films about the reform of the House of Lords, London Zoo and the weeks following Geri Halliwell's departure from the Spice Girls (the latter being the only one I have seen!).

The 70-minute programme looks at the British countryside and, in particular, the way in which farmers are struggling to cope with the challenges they face.

The Times is carrying an interesting interview with her which explains why she felt driven to film the documentary and her attitudes towards the supermarkets.

The Lie of the Land is on Channel 4 at 9pm on Thursday, May 3.

A posting by Farmers Weekly News Editor Jonathan Riley:

A DEFRA information leaflet that has been arriving on farmers' doormats throughout England has prompted more questions than answers. But it's not the Whole Farm Approach initiative, and helpline 08459 33 55 77, that have caused questions to be raised. It's the back page picture that is prompting farmers to ask -

Where was it taken?

What is the crop?

Why did DEFRA choose this picture for a leaflet about England?

We're fairly sure we know what it is, pretty certain about where it is, but completely stumped by the last question.

Let us know your thoughts.

Henry Fell, chairman of the Commercial Farmers Union, makes an unlikely Cassandra. Remember the mythical Trojan blessed with the gift of prophesy but cursed because no one would believe her? I couldn't help thinking of Cassandra as Henry Fell spoke during the Agricultural Engineers' Association conference in London on Tuesday.

This book is a thought-provoking portrait of the natural world, written by the former Bishop of Lynn and illustrated by celebrated artist Pat Albeck. Pat presents a beautiful painting of a different wild flower on each spread. Accompanying this is text by the Bishop describing the plant and its practical uses, and then linking the plant and its properties to aspects of Christian thought and devotion.

It's for people of all ages, a gentle and peaceful book, written in a direct, open way that is both soothing and refreshing.

A lot of children will be out in the countryside this first bank holiday weekend of the year. According to new research commissioned by Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) they are becoming increasingly aware or rural issues.

Almost 80% of 7-11 yr olds have been on a farm at least once in the past three years and when asked about farmers 11% said they were kind and 4% said they were grumpy. So the kind, hardworking image wins or does anyone know different?

With Maundy Thursday looming up on the horizon there seems to be a bit of a secret as to where Her Majesty will be handing out the Maundy purses this year. Presumably the 81 men and 81 women who will be the recipients this year know where to go this 81st year of the Queens's life but does anyone else know or even care?

I couldn't find out, perhaps you can...

We like to think we are invincible, but accidents do happen in farming.

In the past few days alone a 12 year old boy has been killed while driving a tractor and a man has fractured his spine while climbing into a grain silo.

Of course, we don't know the circumstances of these tragic accidents but they do make you think. Because if you talk to any health and safety person they tell you that many of the accident scenes they attend could have been prevented.

When the sun is out and there is work to be getting on with, it is far too easy to start cutting corners to save time. It's also easy to think of H&S officials as meddling bureaucrats that don't know anything about the reality of the job in hand.

But then again, what would you rather be - alive, well (and perhaps just a little bit behind where you would like to be) or another H&S statistic?

There's more guidance on the main fwi site (it was written a year ago, but it is still current).

Every 12 seconds another fly-tipped fridge, freezer, settee or other rubbish is dumped in our countryside, writes FW deputy editor Mike Stones. Nearly 2.5m incidents of unlawful rubbish dumping were recorded in the year to April 2006. And the cost to local authorities, let alone farmers, was just under £100m.

They are stark statistics and it's time to call a halt to the cost, to the inconvenience and to the grief. That's why Farmers Weekly is backing the Countryside Alliance's new campaign Fly-tipping - scrap it.

A latest trend in the online space is 'social networking', a system that allows users to create and develop friendships in the online environment.

This may sound a little dry, but sites such as Facebook and Myspace allow you to catch up with existing friends and make new ones with people who have similar interests

The World Bank wants the US to cut its tariff on ethanol imports: That's the subject of a recent post on Simon Robinson's excellent Big Biofuels Blog, writes FW deputy editor Mike Stones. It refers to mounting pressure on the US to remove its 54 cent per gallon duty imposed on imported ethanaol. Yet US energy secretary Samuel Bodman pledged only recently to retain the duty despite international opposition. "No one in the administration is looking to end the tariff ore subsidy prematurely (certainly not before the end of 2008), " he is reported as saying. So much for free trade in the Land of the Free.

Remember Major Major's father in Joseph Heller's magnificent Catch 22? The more government support he received not to grow alfalfa, the more alfalfa he didn't grow and the richer he became. I was reminded of that reading an article in The Times today "EU loophole allows city "farmers" to reap millions in subsidy harvest."
It alleges people who live in cities are making vast profits out of an EU loophole which allows them to claim farm support without owning land or going nearer a farm than watching the TV show Emerdale.

The news that David Richardson is blogging has got me thinking. Who else in farming is blogging?

Here are some I've come across:

DEFRA secretary David Miliband
EU farm commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel
The ReallyWelsh.com blog
Wiggly Wigglers
Farmer Jake

Exciting news! The "godfather" of Farmers Weekly - David Richardson - has started blogging on FWi. See what he has got to say for himself on David's Digest and give him some feedback...

Time: Yesterday lunchtime.
Location: SIMA show ground, Paris.
Situation: Desperate.

It was no good - I needed sustenance and I needed it quickly. Tired of tramping the 22ha (54 acres) of showground and shouldering my way through the tens of thousands of visitors thronging the machinery and livestock lines, I needed reviving and soon. I found the answer in that classic French dish tartiflette.

The Danish pig industry has long believed that showing people around abattoirs is a good thing in that it helps improve understanding of where their food comes from and the high standards to which they operate.

But are we ready for that kind of approach in the UK?

Well, a new TV show called Kill it, Cook it, Eat it due to screened on BBC Three from Mar 5-7 is going to put that to the test.

Over three nights, food journalist Richard Johnson, butcher John Mettrick, slaughter man Steven Mettrick and chef Rachel Green will bring together two moments the public have separated: the death of an animal and the consumption of its meat.
 
An invited group of guests will watch the team slaughter and butcher the animals - then be served a variety of cuts.

A couple of week’s ago I interviewed a man called Stuart Burgess who has the job of lobbying government to make sure that rural communities are considered when they are policy-making (the interview is also in today's Farmers Weekly).

One of the issues he was talking about was rural housing - suggesting that nearly every village could cope with a development of between 6 and 12 affordable homes.

I live in suburbia, so this doesn’t really apply to me. But if I think about the village in which I grew up (which probably has about 100 houses) then I like to think I wouldn’t object to the idea.

If six to 12 houses are what it needs to keep a community alive and developing, I think it is a price worth paying.

We’re a fairly mellow lot at Farmers Weekly, but each of us has a few issues that get us ranting! Here is a selection from senior arable writer Andrew Blake…

Can anyone explain why TV and radio weather forecasters suffer so much verbal diarrhoea?

Why do they seem unable to utter the word “towards” without prefacing it with “as we head”?

Why do they insist on telling us that the rain will move “its way”?

And does anyone else regularly refer to the evening/morning “hours”?

Even the BBC shipping forecast, that last bastion of broadcasting brevity, occasionally comes under attack from one lady presenter who always adds a “the” before “wind”.

And while we’re on the subject, why do so many people (FW staff included) talk about “weather conditions”? The O & E dictionary defines weather as ‘atmospheric conditions’.

Another oft-seen nonsense, in my view, is “dose rate” – it’s either a dose or a rate.

And as for “quad-bike”! How daft can you get?

If you agree with Andrew, then you might enjoy his own blog Verbal Diarrhoea

FWi is in the news again. Barely a fortnight after breaking exclusively the news that the government is to be sued over Foot and Mouth by a group of pig swill feeders, now The Guardian newspaper has picked up on the goings on of the UK's leading farming site.

"Farmers take online bull by the horns" it headlines its article in today's paper. "With 11 forums, some including more than 20,000 posts, as well as blogs and podcasts and a specialised farming search engine, the site has come into its own..."

But don't think we're stopping there. The FWi team has ambitious plans for the site this year, including a new forum platform which, while long promised, really is now only weeks away...

FW's new Big Debate initiative, which asks whether wind turbines are a good thing for farming, has caught the attention of FW's arable editor Robert Harris. He writes...

People who think wind turbines are beautiful either have no empathy at all for our beautiful British countryside, or they are seriously myopic. Or perhaps they just have a vested interest in them.

To me, it seems to be the ultimate irony that, in the name of greenness, supporters of wind power are willing to see these turbines blighting the most breathtaking areas of the UK.

And we’re not just talking about the wild, windy uplands and islands, where they’ll be visible for miles around, a man-made structure poking its unnatural, symmetrical ugliness hundreds of feet above once unspoilt terrain. Any suitable lowland site that enjoys a bit of a breeze seems to be fair game, too.