Opinion: Bill Bryson is wrong about farming

I have mixed feelings at crossing swords with my friend and erstwhile Norfolk neighbour Bill Bryson.

He is, after all, despite having been born in Iowa, USA, now a British national treasure and one of our most erudite and entertaining writers and I enjoy reading him immensely.

He has just published his latest book, as his interview with Clare Balding on Radio 4’s Ramblings together with several newspaper features have made clear.

Its title is The Long Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From a Small Island and, like its predecessor, it takes an affectionate and humorous look at contemporary Britain and will undoubtedly become a bestseller.

Indeed, it is because of the widespread influence the book will have that I feel I must take Bill to task on a throwaway comment he makes to reinforce his love of his adopted country.

“Taking the English countryside for granted, assuming it will always be like this, is almost certainly its greatest threat,” he says. And he goes on: “The sad irony is the things that make the landscape of Britain comely and distinctive are almost entirely no longer needed.” And he lists much-loved aspects of our rural scene that, economically, we could do without.

David Richardson
David Richardson farms about 400ha (1,000 acres) of arable land near Norwich in Norfolk in partnership with his wife Lorna and his son Rob

He continues: “Looked at economically we don’t even need farmers. Farming accounts for just 0.6% of GDP, so if all farming in Britain ceased tomorrow the economy would barely notice,” which is the line to which I object. 

Although I do agree with his conclusion that “successive governments have done almost nothing to preserve most of these things”.

But that short phrase, suggesting the economy would barely notice if farming ceased, is misleading and could easily have come from the Margaret Beckett school of food sourcing.

For even though our level of food self-sufficiency has declined over recent years, British farms still supply 62% of all the food consumed in this country and 76% of that which can be produced in our climate. Those statistics are significant and do not deserve to be dismissed as economically unimportant.

Furthermore our beautiful countryside, which Bill Bryson loves so much, has been created and is being maintained by farming; a fact that Bill conceded when I drove him round our farm when he lived just down the road.

Perhaps I am being too sensitive on behalf of our industry, but I would regret it if the Bryson version of agri-economics were to gain further credence.

Goodness knows farming’s status is being eroded too fast already. There were rumours before the general election that Defra might be abolished as part of an austerity programme. It didn’t happen, but now rumours have begun again and those perpetuating them suggest this time it’s serious.

It was bad enough when farming lost out to the environment and other rural issues during the last reorganisation, although I suppose that change did contain some logic. But the prospect of our industry being absorbed into some expanded Trade or Business Department and ruled over by people who know even less about farming than those who do so at present is appalling.

Meanwhile Her Majesty’s Opposition spokesperson on farming has said meat is murder and milk is manslaughter. Has the political world gone mad? Isn’t it time our leaders recognised that we shall soon have a population of 70 million people in this country and they will all need to be fed every day. If that is to be achieved they will have to recognise the vital contribution UK farming can make.

See also: 25 tips for farmers under 25

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