The Longer View

I'm not a qualifield commentator, but I'm pretty well convinced that Hillary Benn has got it wrong with his badger decision.

He has been dithering over the issue for so long that I thought it inconceivable that he would not allow some licenced controls of badger populations on livestock farms.

Now I'm wondering if he had made his mind up and was just buying time.  It is easy now to suspect that he never intended to allow badgers to be culled and that he was praying to be moved to a new cabinet position before he was forced into a decision. 

It must be hard to be a politician.  When we interviewed Benn for the podcast in January, he was pondering the decision and he came across as a reasonable and considerate man trying to hear the views of all parties.  My feeling then was that he had not been a natural sympathiser for British farmers but that he was trying to be fair.

Now I'm not so sure.  His comment in the House of Commons yesterday that he knew farmers affected "would be disappointed and angry" seemed to me to be an admission that he had failed them.

I believe that Blair and Brown's governments have brought some positive changes to this country but where agriculture has been concerned, I can't think of a single helpful decision that they have made.  I once believed that this was the fault of the agricultural industry for presenting an unprofessional face to government.  If that ever was the case, it certainly isn't now - the industry has worked very hard (and in difficult circumstances) to transform itself.  We have jumped through every hoop presented to us.  We have embraced environmental stewardship and demonstrated self-regulation through hundreds of schemed like the Voluntary Initiative, Assured Produce and LEAF.   

Whenever they have had a choice, the government has always acted against the interests of food producers. Ultimately this is acting against voters.  While the government continues to take food production for granted, they are in danger of exacerbating an already serious situation.

UK consumers will pay for the incompetence of these tits for a very long time to come.

My mate, Andrew Booth, the insane Scottish entrepreneur, has complained that I have to give him a plug as well as Katie.

Unlike Katie, he has asked for votes in not one, but two awards.  Why stop there?   You can go for a triple whammy and nominate him for a place on the Sex Offender's Register if you like.

Anyway.  Here is his desperate plea in full.

Dear customer and friend,

The Store really needs your help to win 2 major awards, and the deadlines are looming...

1.  
In 2007 your vote helped us to come 2nd in the Scottish region, pipped at the post by worthy winner Arbroath Smokies!
In 2008 we really need your vote to win.  The deadline is 14th July, so if you have a spare 3 minutes when you get this e-mail,
please register and vote.  Even better, read our comments and write a review yourself.

Vote for The store Edinburgh or The Store Aberdeen at
http://uktv.co.uk/food/localfoodhero/search


2.
Vote for The Store Edinburgh in the category of Best Local Food Retailer, or The Store Aberdeen as Best Food Producer, or Andrew Booth for Best Farmer in these widely publicised awards at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/foodawards2008.shtml

Deadline for votes:  August 10th 2008

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this, we really appreciate your help.

The Store team

I really object to people abusing their powers as bloggers.

I've just been here to vote for my friend Katie's business, Couture Cakes, in the UKTV Food Heroes competition.

It would be very easy for me to suggest that all seven readers of this blog click on that link and vote for her as well in the hope that she would make me a delicious cake.  Mmmmm.

Obviously I wouldn't be so crass.  Mmmmm, Caaaaaaaaaaake

We have put another Pure Tilth podcast up on the website and on itunes, you can listen by clicking here.

There is an interview which Ian recorded with one of the Ladies in Pigs and we debate the merits of the 2p sausage in Asda.  Listen out for the woman in the background who keeps chipping in off mike during the interview.  I'm not talking abot me, although I keep chipping in like an old woman too.   This podcast features Christine Hope as a guest presenter.

We keep getting showers here.  Part of the daffodil grading line is outdoors so each time there is a shower, we draw a sheet over the bulbs and run for cover - me to my office and the grading team to the canteen.  We have got all the wet day tasks done already.  The yard and buildings have all been swept and I, for the first time in living memory, have got a clear desk (at least I have nothing to do that can be done on a Saturday).

This is why I keep writing these entries.

Anyway.  I thought that I would just have a tiny blather about inflation.  This week I stumbled across the annual farm reports of Oliver Walston.  He publishes them on his website here and has done for over thirty years.  Look, we've got some time, let's stick a tiny picture of the old subsidy-hater up here.  Get your telescope out - it's a tiddler.

His reports form a fascinating historical archive.  It is his honesty and breadth of vision which make them useful.  Oliver's candour has always made his writing and communication hugely enjoyable and I believe that he is one of agriculture's greatest assets.  I've always shared his bafflement at the CAP and love the way that he goads other farmers.

Not sure why I'm suddenly singing his praises, this blog is normally reserved for slagging people off.

Anyway.  Have a look at his reports from the late 70's.  Inflation was running at 15% (guess who was in government) and, although commodity prices were high, it was a challenging time to farm.

We can look back at these reports and laugh at anyone thinking that nitrogen was expensive at £30 a tonne or tractors too costly at £7000.  Any ass can be smart with hindsight.  What can we learn from this now?

My conclusion is that inflation will always feature in our lives as long as the population grows and living standards increase.  As anyone who did (or more particularly anyone who didn't) buy a house between 1998 and 2007 will tell you, the most important thing during inflation is to keep buying.  Anything that you don't buy will be more expensive tomorrow and money in the bank becomes less valuable every day.

If you need it and you can afford it, you have to have it.  I reckon that when inflation is painful you have to fix your gaze on your long term goal and get down to work. 

I'll see you in debtor's gaol, I guess.

Whoops.

Lord Jamie Oliver has launched a pasta sauce which is very high in salt.  One jar contains nearly five times more than the recommended daily allowance of salt for a child.

I shouldn't, what with him being a saint and all, but I can't help but take a little delight in this story.  After all, Jamie cost the Bernard Matthews business a packet when he criticised their Turkey Twizzlers.  He deserves to receive exactly the same scrutiny that he has placed others under.

Yummy.  What could be wrong with them?  I don't particularly enjoying defending crap food but I'm not at all outraged by cheap protein meals like Turkey Twizzlers or intensive chicken.  I do object to the crusades and the preaching of attention junkies like Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstalled-Tesco-Challenge (btw, I bet his Tesco shares are worth way more than he paid for them by now - he'll probably buy a load more).

Bernard Matthews grew up during a time of food shortages.  The fact that he was able to make cheap, convenient food available for millions of people should mark him out as a champion among his generation.  The fact that he made those tasty, affordable meals out of turkey bumholes rather than more turkeys should make him the turkeys' hero too.

We are all products of the zeitgeist in which we grow up.  It is possible that the problem with Bernard Matthews is that he responded too well to what was asked of him by his customers.  His company grew too big and beyond his control. 

In the article behind the link at the top, the Oliver PR machine actually puts a very credible spin on the story.  I'm sure that J.O. is a perfectly decent guy.  He is only tapping into current demands to make a huge amount of money in the same way that Bernard Matthews did.  They both have a lot in common and both use the media to sell huge volumes of mass-produced food.

People can eat what the hell they like as far as I'm concerned.  But I would suggest that if we actually want decent food, then there is much to be said in favour of decentralisation.  It doesn't worry me either way but I am not convinced that the population of the UK would be happy to see us return to 30% of their income and 30% of our workforce expended on food production.    

I have just driven a load of daffodil bulbs back to the yard from St Lamberts Hall.  I was cruising along nicely at 50kph on a John Deere with a Bailey trailer on the back.

Next thing I know I'm stuck behind an "enthusiast" on one of these

It looked as immaculate as the one pictured.  Old matey boy at the wheel had got his high-viz jacket on - he was clearly heading to a tractor rally somewhere.

We were only doing about 16mph but the chap was battling with the steering to keep it in a straight line.  His elbows were rocking backwards and forwards like crazy; from behind it looked as if he was dancin' the funky chicken.  Either that or playin' two violins at once.

I reflected on the advances in technology in the last 40 years.  I was cocooned in luxury in comparison with my air con, air seat and cd player.  Possibly in 40 years time (when I would be 75) this latest John Deere 6930 will be comical to farmers of 35.  If I am still around - I will probably be feeling nostalgic.  God knows, I will probably still be driving this one and trying to make a living.

Will there ever come a day when we cannot necessarily take such progress for granted?  We hear the phrase "peak oil", will be ever reach "peak technology" or "peak knowledge."   

Not that I like to go on about it but it is my birthday today. The FW have been calling me a 35 year old for some time in my profile in the magazine.  I understand that Joan Collins and Zsa Zsa Gabor give different ages to the press from their actual ages and this is what has, inadvertently, happened to me. 

My actual age was 34.  I guess from today I am officially middle-aged because I've now had half of my three score years and ten.

Hang on.  let's get a picture of Zsa Zsa Gabor on here.  We could do with an injection of glamour.  There's never enough Zsa Zsa in the Farmers Weekly and it is my birthday.

Aaaah, that's better.

Anyway.  My auntie brought a card and a box of Cadburys Miniature Heroes. 

"Is that what you think of me? A hero" I asked

"No" she replied. "But you can't buy Cadbury's Miniature Arseholes?"

LOOK.  It's the Prince of Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Head Scarf in the Aston.  I love the Prince of Charles and his lead on sustainability.

He has started converting all his things to run on renewable energy.  The Aston Martin has been converted to run on bioethanol made from surplus wine.

SURPLUS WINE?  I didn't realise there was such a thing.  Where do I apply?