January 2009 - Posts
If we were to collect all the farmer knowledge and experience about bovine TB together, the result would probably be a pretty heavyweight and useful book. That's why I'm keen to encourage farmers to participate in a bit of research.
There's an important study going on by academics at... it's a bit of a mouthful...... http://www.veeru.reading.ac.uk/ They've been commissioned by DEFRA to compile a history of bovine TB in England since 1980. The idea being that such information will serve as a framework to interpret analytical studies on the disease.
Farmers, vets, agricultural advisers and auctioneers are needed to help pull the information together because the researchers want to hear from people who have been directly involved with Bovine TB. They are looking for experience-based knowledge that may contribute to a better understanding of the outbreak and possible risk factors.
To kick-start their work, they've launched a confidential consultation process in the form of a short on-line tick box questionnaire. It's vital that as many people as possible with direct experience of the disease take part so please have a look at the survey and add your pennyworth..... You never know, it could make a difference to long term decisions about the management of this terrible disease.
I've received an interesting letter today from Anthony Bamford, chairman of JCB - the only remaining British manufacturer of tractors. It is the same letter he has sent the Financial Times and DEFRA and its calling for Government to announce clear actions to support British farmers and help them boost production.
Sir Anthony is currently in South America on business otherwise I would have liked to have developed this further with him today. But we will certainly be running this story on the website and in the magazine coming out Friday.
His gripe is that since Labour came to power in 1997, Britain's food self sufficiency has reduced to 60% and, in his words, "DEFRA remain indifferent" about it. The JCB chief is worried about billions of unnecessary food miles being clocked up as we import indigenous foods such as potatoes, apples and sugar, causing congestion, road infrastructure costs, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
He complains the strong support that used to exist for farming has shifted to a focus on rural affairs. Yet the agri food sector accounts for 6.9% of the total economy and provides 3.6 million jobs which, incidentally is more than four times as many as the UK car industry. According to Sir Anthony, the agri sector could generate even more revenue and jobs if DEFRA did its job.
The letter finishes with the following:
"British farmers are some of the most productive in the world - Mr Benn should immediately announce clear actions that support them in boosting production, and make 100% indigenous food self sufficiency a priority."
Don't know about you, but I was pretty impressed that the chairman of a business so troubled by the current economic downturn in the construction market should take the time to back Britain's farmers. But then why should I be that surprised? It turns out Sir Anthony is also a farmer himself..................
It's been months in the making, but it's here. We've had a few days of delivering a new look home page for our website www.fwi.co.uk and, fingers crossed, it seems to be working ok. That means over the next few weeks we will be rolling out further changes to improve our overall service to you online.
Our aim is to make online information more accessible to farmers by taking advantage of some amazing new advances in web technology. Our old site was popular but not always the easiest to navigate. So we consulted farmers through extensive research and have made adjustments to the proposed new design based on your ideas, advice and needs.
We think the result is a livelier, faster changing, more interative website that's able to keep pace with the changes going on in the industry. Feedback so far has been very positive but it's pretty early days as only the home page is different. You should see more sections changing design shortly and there will be an accompanying video explaining step by step how you can best use the site.
The FW editorial, sales and marketing teams have got some exciting things planned for the site this year so watch this space.
As always, we are eager to hear what web users think. Your feedback is essential.So let us know by replying to this blog or write to the online editor Julian Gairdner on his blog at www.fwi.co.uk/community/blogs/juliansblog/archive/2009/01/07-new-look-fwi-home-page.aspx.
Could the New Year be ushering in a fresh, more confident and conciliatory mood from Government?
This week, 500 rather stunned folk attending the Oxford Farming Conference actually heard the Secretary of State Hilary Benn say:
“The future of the world will literally depend on farming”. http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2009/01/07/113715/oxford-conference-landowners-welcome-ministers-change-of-heart.html
Overall, it was a rather tame speech but sprinkled within it were a few glimpses of a more positive, supportive tone and a definite attempt at reasonableness. Benn reminded us that the best way for the UK to ensure food security will be through strong, productive and sustainable agriculture and trading freely with other nations.
He wants British farmers to produce as much food as possible providing it is what consumers want and is grown in way which safeguards the landscape and environment. Few could argue with that. He accepts that encouraging production must go hand in hand with protecting the environment and reconnecting with consumers. But where does the balance lie?
Contrary to reports, we learned that Benn does “not want to reintroduce set aside” but does want to explore small percentages of land to be farmed in an environmentally friendly way while still allowing production. This careful choice of words is noted but it is still not clear what he actually means. The devil will be in the detail, although we have been promised that there will be “a sensible outcome that commands widespread farmer support with rules and incentives that you can understand and implement”. Let’s hope this is a genuine effort towards lighter touch regulation although there will be many mistrustful of the language used.
And Benn has acknowledged the inadequacies of some decisions taken in Brussels. He’s on side with opposing the soils directive in its current form and he’s still fighting with us on the disastrous pesticide proposals. He concedes that EID for sheep might have been a good idea at the time but the costs now outweigh the benefits. On GM, he is keen on trials and wants to move the debate away from theory. There is even a pledge to push Europe on clearer country of origin labelling to stop shopper confusion over where an animal was born, reared and slaughtered. Anaerobic digestion rules will also be adjusted so that manures and slurries will no longer be viewed as waste when used as fertiliser.
Suddenly it feels like someone in DEFRA listened. When the facts changed, Benn said he was prepared to change too. Let’s judge the Secretary of State on his actions not his words. His message was upbeat, clear and encouraging. It was a fair opener to what will no doubt be a tough year. As the Oxford Farming Conference highlighted, there is plenty of optimism about. Exploiting opportunities can deliver great growth but volatility continues apace in 2009 so managing risk must be everyone’s number one mantra.
Well, the rest was great while it lasted. Although it seems many of you didn't have much time off during the Christmas holiday. The FW poll completed by over 2000 users of our website asked how many days off you had during the festive period. Almost 1000 users, as of today, claimed to have had not a single day. Although 18% (372) ticked the "more than 7 days" category. Whatever break you managed to achieve, we hope it was enjoyable with the family.
For many, Christmas and the start of a new year is a special time to reflect on what's just gone and what's about to happen in the next 12 months. Some of the FW team will be off to Oxford tomorrow for the start of the Oxford Farming Conference to do just that - a spot of looking ahead.
As one of the OFC directors, I'm hoping that the programme we've put together for this year's event is inspiring and practical for the 500 delegates attending. The Oxford conference is always the most strategic event in the farming calendar with international speakers, the secretary of state and a lot of debating and networking. Sometimes we come in for a bit of criticism because the programme and event is not seen as relevant enough for farmers. Well, we have several audiences for this one - farmers, policy makers, consultants and advisers to the industry, suppliers and young people starting out in agriculture. It's hard to please everyone.
This year, we've tried to split the two days up into several themes to try to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. The themes include: the politics of farming; market forces at work; how to profit from consumer choice and improving communications and image.
Oxford wouldn't be Oxford without a bit of theatre. Michael Heseltine is the post-dinner speaker tomorrow night and, by popular demand, the Oxford Union Debate returns on Tuesday night. HRH Princess Anne is scheduled to meet Oxford scholars on Wednesday. So plenty for us to get our teeth into. Look out for live reports, pictures and maybe some video on www.fwi.co.uk from Tuesday morning onwards.
If you're going along to the event, let's try to meet and chat and let us know what you make of it. If you're not attending, why not let us know what you think of it anyway at www.fwispace.co.uk?
Happy New Year