Being There: Cereals 2005

5.20am. Hit the road in broad sunshine for my journey from Surrey to the farm hosting the show – Rectory Farm, Guilden Morden, Cambs.

6.50am. Arrive at the host farm. Weak sunshine. The early start pays off: I sailed along the M25, M11 and then A505 to Royston with farm just beyond. Congratulating myself on a queue-less arrival, I pull off the road onto the site and into a queue of about 30 vehicles. This is caused by ever so polite woman stopping each car to ask: “Do you know where you are going?” I contemplate witty reply such as: “Do you mean, in life or today in particular.” Reject the idea because, for me, it is still unfeasibly early in my day.

Amazed to find myself parked next to the same freelance photographer as I did at last year’s event. It’s like déjà vu all over again.

6.55am. Ponder the odds of parking next to the same person as last year while I take on a bacon bap and coffee to build up essential reserves for the ordeal ahead. Sit in car to order notebook and plan the morning’s visits.

7.35am. Gentle rain begins as I do a quick reckie of the site which is vast. More than 300 exhibitors filling acres of trade stands plus working machinery demonstrations and a ring featuring crop sprayers – part of the Sprays and Sprayers show.

8.20am. Register at the press tent and visit the Farmers Weekly stand. Rain becomes heavier as I head to the first press meeting of the morning “What’s new in farming,” on Velcourt’s stand. Accept another coffee but resolve not to eat another bacon bap. Confess to buying a bacon bap to the general derision of press colleagues. Other journalists incredulous that I actually paid for a bacon bap.

8.30am. Keith Norman, Velcourt’s technical director, opens the press conference and sizzling bacon baps arrive. Succumb to temptation. Eat bacon bap while taking notes furiously. The company’s chief executive James Townshend points out that British tax payers receive excellent value for money from their investment in farm support. “UK farmers receive support payments worth about 0.25% of UK GDP (gross domestic product) inline with their counterparts in the United States, But farmers in the old 15 member states of the EU all receive the equivalent of nearly 0.5% of their GDP.” Farming must as an industry do more to argue its case, James concludes.

8.50am. The light rain has now turned to a deluge as I head to the second press conference of the morning, HSBC press briefing. After fighting my way through heavy rain, drink another coffee to recover. No bacon baps. Steve Ellwood, head of agriculture HSBC Bank reveals the results of a sobering survey carried out by his company regarding farmers’ business plans in the light of CAP reform. Headline facts are:

• 51% of surveyed farms plan to change their cropping pattern in the coming year.
  
• 40% of farms expect to be planting less cereal crops as a result.
  
• 39% of farms expect to join the Environmental Stewardship Scheme within the next 12 months.

9.30am. Deluge continues. Visit HGCA stand to peer into the canopy of new wheat varieties. Give it 10 minutes before returning to the HSBC stand for the official event opening. More coffee. Feel slightly sick having surpassed caffeine tolerance level. Become acutely aware of pressing need to find toilets. NFU president Tim Bennett opens the event. Speaks convincingly about the problems farmers suffer in applying for the entry level scheme to help reclaim some of the money modulated from their support payments. He warns there’s a risk government is in breach of contract regarding the scheme and puts forward the union’s Plan B. Highlights are:

• Monthly start date so that those who are ready can enter as soon as possible
  
• Payment guarantee so that those entered by Nov 1 can be paid by Feb 2 ‘06
  
• Applications accepted without RDS approved maps
  
• Local surgeries to allow electronic submissions of applications during late June and July.

Leave the press conference musing on the similarities between DEFRA and the Pharaohs. At least the latter gave the slaves bricks to build the pyramids. Farmers having great difficulty getting the building blocks of the ELS scheme – application forms. Search for toilets on the huge site becomes increasingly desperate. Success at last.

10.30am. Heavy rain subsides into drizzle. Visit Gleadell Agriculture stand to talk about grain trading. Offered bacon bap. Refuse. But accept another coffee. Big mistake.

11.30am. Next stop Greenergy stand to hear about the launch of a new contract for short rotation coppice. Offered another coffee. Decline weakly. Thankfully no evidence of bacon bap. Hear that contracts will be offered to farmers wining a 50 mile radius of the Wilton 10 Power Station, Teeside to supply short rotation coppice for electricity generation. The station’s operators SembCorp Utilities will require 55,000t/ year of coppice making it one of the largest biomass renewable energy projects. Due on line in 2007. Greenergy expect to launch new contracts for oilseed rape to produce biodiesel later this summer.

11.58am. Last press conference of my morning ends. I retire to the press tent to consider:

• How to decipher the pages of furiously scribbled and partially rain-soaked notes and how to translate them into copy
  
• Why I possess the breaking strain of a louse when it comes to resisting bacon baps
  
• How the one thing worse than early starts is too much coffee.