Patrick Godwin
Patrick Godwin
Patrick Godwin is farm
manager for the 930ha
(2300 acre) Lee Farm
Partnership, Angmering
Estate, West Sussex. Soils
are chalk-based with
combinable winter and
spring crops occupying
525ha (1300 acres)
HAVING decided to take spraying back in hand from the contractor I had hoped to write about our first forays with a new sprayer. But incessant wet and windy weather has confined us to the yard. Andy Eade, our new operator, is very frustrated.
We investigated all leading makes and brands of trailed machines before settling on a John Deere. It will also be used to apply liquid nitrogen. Spreading granular fertiliser to 24m on the Downs requires a still day, a day when we should be spraying. This move should bring us greater accuracy and more timely applications in both operations.
The list of jobs planned for January would have given a relaxed introduction to the vagaries of the new machine. However, the clock ticks on and Courage oilseed rape and some Nov-drilled Soissons is clamouring for nitrogen as the mild weather encourages everything to grow. Oh for five dry days.
The Curry report brought few surprises. Two issues about it concern me. First, on the food side, I dont believe it gets to the bottom of the problem. Most people in this country have allowed food and healthy eating to slide down their priority list. Until we can encourage them that food is more than just a fuel stop we will struggle to supply local or added value produce in meaningful quantity. The competition from abroad for the mass-produced commodities will always win.
Secondly, that of "modulation". Creaming off 10% or more of aid to channel it into environmental schemes is laudable. But the current Countryside Stewardship scheme uses 27% of available funds in administration alone. Simple forms filled in by farmers and landowners themselves, plus a reduction in red tape and bureaucracy is what is needed. These proposals seem unlikely to deliver.
Having spent the past week in bed with flu I think I have rumbled the governments latest scam to reduce unemployment figures – Daytime television. Anything has got to be better than staying in and watching that. *
The Curry Commission report into Food and Farming fails to get to the bottom of the food problem and promises yet more bureaucracy, says Patrick Godwin.