#YourHarvest, Get the Message Out There

At the Cereals Event Tom Bradshaw, (National Farmers Union - Crops Board Chairman) launched a campaign to highlight the importance of the arable sector; raising awareness of its importance to many other sectors of UK Agriculture. Much of the grain we produce goes to feed poultry, pigs, cattle and sheep, in addition to supplying us with bread, beer and proteins. Without a profitable and vibrant arable sector this could open the door to cheaper imports, produced to lower standards, using chemicals and products that are not registered or licensed in the UK.

Grain is probably one of the easiest crops to store and then export around the world. If stored correctly it will last for years. The infrastructure is in place around the world to move grain from farms to ports and then its a relatively cheap cost to move that grain around the world. This could give us opportunities, if we can produce quality wheat but that is not reliable year on year due to the vagaries of the UK summer weather.Realistically the UK only produces about 1% of the worlds wheat-we are small fish in a very large commodity pond.

So here is the idea. If you are an arable farmer (or any farmer for that matter) use this harvest as an opportunity to show people what you do; what you grow and how that is relevant to everyone else in the country. Tweet loads of pictures of #YourHarvest and use the hashtag.

Find your local MP and invite them out to the farm. In fact invite those from neighbouring constituencies as well and spend a few hours doing a spot of show and tell. Remind them about the technology we use to ensure we are efficient with our crop inputs, that pesticides and fertiliser applied stay in the field. Show them the margins with wildflowers; the wild birdseed mixtures; the fallow plots and the woodland, the new hedges and the trees planted. We have to get this message across. 2 hours is nothing compared to what is at stake over the next 25 years.

Nuffield Pre Contemporary Conference - London

What a day we had yesterday (Friday 8^th March), with a real mixed bag of presentations and discussion.  Our morning started with a walk from the Union Jack Club to the treasury where we were met by Brendan Bailey (Head of Structural Reform Branch).  The presentation he gave us was a mixed bag of slides telling the story of the main aspects that were important to the treasury, namely Policy Interest, Food Security, Economic and Financial costs, the change in food prices and Ag trade barriers.  One thing that was really drummed home to us was the massive competition from the far East and especially China and India.  We learnt that China and India produce 1/3 of the worlds grain.

Our second meeting (in three different rooms), was a fantastic presentation by Allan Wilkinson, Head of Agriculture at HSBC.  Allan’s presentation was engaging, knowledgable, thought provoking, challenging (he said it would be) and it got lots of discussion going.  These discussion continued through the day and into the evening.

After lunch we headed across to DEFRA, (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), not no Agriculture, where after security checks we headed upstairs for a meeting with Martin Nesbit (Director of European Union and International DEFRA).  Here we discussed, quite heatedly a range of subjects but mainly the implications of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the new measures that could potentially affect all of our farming businesses for the next 7 years.  The CAP in effect will be cut so farmers will be receiving less support in the future through direct payments (Pillar 1) or indirect environmental support payments (Pillar 2).  It was very interesting to hear and talk about how the UK farmers will be effected by some of the new measures more than some of our European farming cousins.  Following the meeting we even got mentioned in a tweet from Martin, which was actually rather pleasing!

After Martin we popped next door, literally, to meet up with Matthew Ward from the London National Farmers Union (NFU) Office and Peter Kendall  the NFU President.  Here we heard about the lobbying work that takes place on the industries behalf by the team in London (and Brussels).  ONe of the major points that came across from the afternoon meeting Peter was the need to continue of efforts in educating the general public, our customers about farming and engaging them to take more interest in their food production system, buy local and buy British. 

Another message we drew form the whole day was the lack of a joined up sustainable plan to take our Agricultural Industry forward, at a time when global food issues will start to affect our food supply, this was something that was not deemed important by one of our speakers today.  Food security is a global issue, not a UK issue and to me that opinion is flawed, shortsighted and arrogant.  A plan will need to be 20 years in duration, covering the whole industry from planning to public perception to the environment, bio-security, biodiversity, food supply chain issues and many others.  This strategy needs to be wide ranging; cover many governmental departments and should ultimately be steered by our government.

What a very challenging day it was.  Now it’s off to Heathrow for the flight to Toronto and the Contemporary Scholars Conference!

Apples and Hops

On the 18th September I was treated, along with other members of the Worcestershire NFU, to look around a very special part of Worcestershire.  The 200 acre farm is owned and run by the Capper family; Mark, Richard and Ali, and they are very specialised in growing apples and hops.  These are two crops that I know very little about, so it was a real eye opener being shown around the farm, slightly in the gloom, but never the less, it was an enlightening evening farm walk.

We started in a Gala, eating apple orchard, shown above.  This orchard was planted in 2003 and is on a fairly traditional scale with 12' between the rows and the trees planted 5' apart; being supported on posts and wires.  The apple trade seems as difficult as many other fruit and veg sectors, with prices slow to respond to the ever increasing costs.  In real terms the apples are worth the same price as they were 20 years ago! The apples are sprayed every 7 days with fungicides in order to keep scab off the skins. (purely cosmetic).  The marketing sizes are precise, picked on size and colour.  These apples must have 50% red colour, be just over 55mm in diameter and have the stalks still attached!   Richard and Ali are aiming for 95% in this class 1 to achieve the highest possible price.  That is a tall order and so weather dependant, this year they will be about 10 days behind their harvest schedule due to the cooler summer weather.

Following on from the Gala orchard we looked at one of the hop fields.  there are only 50 hop growers left in the UK, mainly in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Kent. The plants are grown over the framework of wires and posts.  These annual plants have a life cycle of about 25 years.  The hop plants are manually strung in April and then need constant training up the wires until they get established.  High winds can blow them off the wires and so the process needs to be repeated! The hops are usually ready to harvest in August and different varieties are grown for different aroma's and alpha acids.  The aroma is what gives flavour to the beer and British varieties (there are over 20), are becoming more and more popular with small micro-brewery's, specialising in niche markets rather then mass produced beers. The strung system of growing hops is very labour intensive with up to 14 people being involved in the harvest.  Each of the bines are cut down and laid on on a trailer before being taken back to the farm where the hops are removed form the vine and dried in a kiln, before being packaged up in sacks, once called pockets.

The crop will yield about 8tonnes of fresh material which after drying down to about 10-12% moisture will give a saleable yield of about 1 tonne per acre of hops.  Richard and Ali are also experimenting with growing hedgerow hops, which grow up posts and netting but only to a height of 8'.  These smaller varieties still have the marvellous aroma characteristics but can be harvested by machine, required less fungicides therefore vastly reducing the costs of growing the crop.  The finished crop is stored, before it is sold in the bale.  the longer it's stored the less aromatic it is, so it is important to sell the crop fairly soon after harvest.  Other merchants can then freeze dry or vac pack the hops to retain the aroma for longer.

Rothamsted Research Facility

Yesterday I attended a fantastic site in Hertfordshire with our regional (West Midlands) Combinable Crops Board for the National Farmers Union (NFU)  The site is all over the newspapers at the moment due to the GM wheat trials that are being run there.  The site is of course Rothamsted where they have been at the forefront of Agricultural Research since 1843 when experiments were first conducted there by Sir John Bennet Lawes.  These experiments are still running today, known as the Broadbalk Experiment, and is testament to the incredible foresight of these pioneers of science and those that have followed.  Standing on the site with other farmers it is very easy to imagine farmers 100 years ago (and more) on the same spot thinking the same thoughts and try to solve, I suspect, very similar problems.  The trial site has some plots that have received no nitrogen for 160 years, other sites have received farm yard manure every year (hope they're not in a NVZ) and many different management regimes travel across the plots with different herbicide or pesticide applications on to see what impact they have.  The water draining from the plots can also be collected and monitored.

The trees in the distance are also part of the experiment, to see what would happen if farmers just abandoned the fields, how long it would revert to woodland and what species would thrive?

The plot above shows very clearly the effect of herbicide taking out many of the weeds that are taking nutrients and water away from the wheat crop.  Each year samples of straw, soil and grain are collected and stored for future examination. In total over 250,000 samples have been collected.  The soil could tell us when the Chernobyl accident occurred with increased radiation, with a time lag of 6 months.  It really is an incredible place.  It is only fitting then that the scientists there should be trialling the first GM trials in the country for nearly a decade.  The team led by Prof. John Picket CBE DSc FRS is trialing wheat that has been modified to give off warning pheromones (from a mint plant) that when released repel aphids and attract their natural enemies the parasitic wasps, who then lay eggs in the aphids killing the few stragglers off.   We as a country in line with the rest of the EU are lagging behind in the experimental research into these crops.  The EU is happy to import products that contain GMO's but do not want us to grow them here.  If there is a risk then why are we happy to export that risk to other countries?  It does seem a bit crazy to me. Food prices have increased by over 30% in the last 4 years and will only increase as the world population increases and weather effects limit the supply of food to the worlds population.  Only when the price of food; or the lack of it, puts pressure on the system will the EU then allow farmers to use this technology but by then it might be too late, with much of the research being conducted elsewhere in the world.

We were very lucky to actually be allowed onto the trial site, although the crop of Cadenza Spring Wheat, had only just been planted and therefore there was nothing for us to see.  The fencing, security and camera's have cost over £120,000 in a bid to try and keep any protesters out.  I just hope that the team are able to get through the trial so that we can actually learn about these techniques and see what advantage they offer us in a bid to feed a lot of very hungry mouths in the future.

Green Light for High Level Stewardship

Some good news to share with you all in the New Year.  Our Entry and Higher Level Stewardship application seems to have ticked all of the right boxes and has been given a January 1st 2011 start date.  From this moment we are putting the scheme into operation.  It is a great challenge but it will be so rewarding, not just for us, but for the people that visit our farm, those that walk on Bredon Hill and also for the wildlife we can support, attract and encourage.  I hope that the visitors and walkers will be able to appreciate what we are doing and play their part by keeping to the public rights of way and following the countryside code 

A huge thank you to the organizations that lobbied on our behalf, those at FWAG and LEAF the NFU and the CLA also Farmers Weekly for their write up in the 29th October edition.  I would also like to thank Harriet Baldwin MP and Jim Paice MP for their support.  The only omission from our scheme is the removal of funding for our educational access visits and the open access.  These are two areas that really need support to encourage people to learn about their food, farming and the countryside on which we depend on for our living.

So it's full steam ahead, and as of this moment we have started work on our Orchard Management Plan.  Rob Howells our local FWAG Farm Conservation Officer has started mapping and categorizing the trees currently in place.  From this survey we will be able to work out a plan for planting and pruning over the next 5 years.  Later this year we will start to identify those trees and if possible start replanting trees next winter.

Here is Rob in the Cherry Orchard assessing the condition of some very old Cherry trees that could someday soon be some of the first trees to be restored under our High Level Stewardship agreement.