Farmer Focus: Simon Beddows asks for Santa’s help

Dear Santa,
I realise it’s been a while since I last wrote to you. Some five decades actually, but I and many of my fellow farmers are desperately need your assistance.
Our politicians seem to be away with the fairies, so I thought you might be a better source of help.
We have been asked to give our views in a consultation on the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). I suggest you hold onto the word “agriculture” – our politicians seem to be struggling with it.
Anyway, these are some of the wishes that I would like you to help make come true. Firstly our government, unlike all our competitors in Europe, wants to take money from the farmer who uses it to produce food and spend it on frivolous projects that are supposed to create more wealth in the countryside.
I think most of us would be happy to see sufficient money, maybe up to 9%, used to keep the excellent environmental stewardship work going.
With incomes down some 32% after last year’s terrible weather, it is plain to see why the agricultural payment is so important.
Most things in business can be accounted for, but we battle against the weather every day of our working lives and sometimes, due to no fault of our own, we lose the battle. For that reason we need a little help.
Secondly, the issue of crop diversification. We, like many other larger growers, help some of our local farmers with small areas of crops by completing their field work for them. This is only a viable option if we can block crop, but under the new proposals this will be impossible, unless provision is made to substitute the three crop rule with more ecological focus areas.
I am quite sure you are going to get a lot of correspondence over these proposals. I have done my best with the consultation survey, but I have more faith in you than in Mr Paterson.
Yours hopefully, Simon