New kid on the block
What do you Think a Farmer Looks Like?
Throughout a normal year I find myself talking to various groups of children whether guests on the campsite or classes of children. I wouldn’t call myself a natural by any means but with children it is all about keeping it simple.
To break the ice my first question is normally ‘What do YOU think a farmer looks like?’
This normally gets a good response with a good number of hands shooting into the air. Interestingly the answers are always the same – “really old”, “he wears a straw hat”, “always wears wellies”, “grumpy”, “checked shirt”, and my personal favourite, “hairy chest”. And whilst it should be noted that in many cases, they’re quite close to the mark with those descriptions (I confess to owning a few check shirts), it doesn’t really portray the way that we like to see ourselves as part of a modern dynamic and increasingly diverse agricultural industry.
But leaving aside the work we need to do in changing children’s perceptions of us, their answers do often lead me to ponder what the role of a 21st century farmer really is, and whether we’re in the midst of an identity crisis. My father who was born during the war in an era when the British public were still experiencing rationing has always known his role with absolute certainty – to produce as much food as he can, as efficiently as possible. This he has done successfully for his entire farming career, whilst been backed up by Government.
For most of my career, having been taught to farm in that way both at home and college and on other farms, I thought that was my role too. Why would I question it. In the UK we have the climate, the infrastructure, the technology and the expertise which many other countries do not have so we should be pushing on to produce as much as possible to feed ourselves and export any surplus. A simple business decision.
Now being older and hopefully wiser I have questioned whether I was right to follow this path and what is my role from here? You cannot turn back the clock, but what is the role of today’s farmer? Obviously it is to run a profitable business but we must also leave the land in better condition than we found it, and all this while making a positive contribution to reducing climate change.
All three of these aspirations require long term thinking and solutions, from individual farming families, from the wider agricultural industry, and perhaps most crucially of all, from policy makers. Because if we want those things, if we really value our rural communities and our planet and to help them survive and thrive, then we need to look at what’s working and what isn’t, seriously address the barriers we’re facing, and realise the grave consequences of both inaction and getting it wrong.
Time for Change
Changing weather patterns have been a feature for centuries but the last few years have been alarmingly difficult to manage from a farming perspective especially as the core business is struggling to pay its way.
With Brexit and changes in how agriculture is supported there is not a farmer in the country who is not having to look extremely hard at making their core business more resilient and in some cases the government is even proposing a way out completely.
Living in a small rural community like we do this has effects on us all. It is only 50yrs ago a significant percentage of the village population was directly connected to the farms within them. Over those years we have seen dramatic changes in the farms around us. In fact over 50% of the planning applications we receive in our parish revolve around change of use or diversification on our farms.
Pre 2018 over 62% of farms in the UK had diversified in some form or other and traditionally this involved adding value to a farming enterprise or offering accommodation. Being in the proximity of large populations has seen the commercial letting of farm buildings that has become the most common use in our immediate area. Why farmers diversify is a huge subject and one I will struggle to tackle in one article but what I am sure you will all agree it involves change and change is not necessarily popular with everyone.
With large landowners it is common for them to have an estate plan for which they can back up planning applications justifying the direction they are driving their businesses. Like a village design statement or Parish Plan this gives some direction to the community of the aspirations and changes that might happen in the future. This is not always easy on a smaller farm level.
We are seeing more pressure put on our rural areas with more development both in the form of housing and farm diversification. We as a community have seen our fair share of this pressure and rightly or wrongly any new application is now viewed with suspicion. This is understandable but perhaps if the understanding behind the changes were better communicated this might help.
Personally with farming on the cusp of its 4th Revolution and the emphasis on working with nature and looking after our soil I feel hugely invigorated about our farming future. As I have discussed in previous articles these changes could be vastly different especially if we are serious about climate change and keeping food prices at current levels. Whilst the industry weans itself off government support expect more diversification and at Manor Farm with these aspirations, we will have no choice but to diversify further to survive too.
Dogs in the Countryside.
For most of you who own dogs one of life’s little pleasures at present is the excuse to go for a dog walk and this pleasure hasn’t been wasted on a growing number during the pandemic. The boon in dog sales over the past year has seen more of us take on the responsibility of owning man’s best friend.
Rural areas have seen a huge increase in dog walkers and fundamentally this is to be welcomed but sadly it hasn’t all been plain walking. New statistics from rural insurers show that in 2020, the UK cost of dog attacks on livestock reached an estimated £1.3m – an overall increase of over 10%.
In our locality the incidents are fortunately few and far between. This could be due to the lack of livestock or the fact we have very responsible owners. In a recent survey of dog owners commissioned by NFU Mutual it was revealed that 64% are letting their pets roam free in the countryside, despite half of these owners admitting their dog doesn’t always come back when called.
Attacks are one thing but the damage caused from chasing of sheep at this time of year can have catastrophic consequences on the number of lambs born alive. Also evident in the report was that rather alarmingly, only 40% of the dog owners surveyed accepted that their pet could cause the injury or death of a farm animal only 33% saying they would report an attack taking place to police or a local farmer.
Historically the onus has been on countryside users to follow the countryside code but statistics show this is having little effect and there is now a movement to change the law meaning prosecutions and fines will be given to offenders. This is sad but so is the unbearable suffering of the animal, the anxiety caused to farmers and their families and lest we forget to the dog owners themselves on losing their dog.
As a livestock farmer I have always resisted plastering the countryside in signs hoping it is more welcoming and in fact most of the signs seen locally are more likely politely requesting you to keep off a grass margin. This brings me to gently remind everybody that as spring arrives, please do not forget our hedge line livestock as they too at this crucial time of year, do not respond well to a bit of dog worrying.
Some Science, Interesting Politics and Getting our Food System Right.
Will’s Online Day:
Every year there is a gathering that happens in Oxford to discuss the current trends and future of our agricultural industry. The Oxford Farming Conference has the mission statements of Inform, challenge and inspire in its logo and this the 75th, certainly didn’t disappoint.
Brexit dominated last years and as nothing had been agreed till just before the title of this years was very apt; Business as Unusual. Of course like so many of these events it had moved onto a virtual platform and I must say didn’t detract too much from the atmosphere of a conference. There was even the facility to network with other delegates in the breaks between lecture’s .
The morning session starts with the politics session. This gives the ministers of the devolved nations their chance to outline future policies and how they might impact the industry. Interestingly George Eustice our current Environment minister chose to boldly give his parties vision of the future with the particular emphasis on technology and how it will benefit the future of food production. The other ministers chose to reassure farmers that policies were there to support the industry through very turbulent times. This different approach by each minister reflects the importance of agriculture to each government.
The trade session had Tim Smith, Chairman of the newly formed Trade and Agricultural Commission previewing their findings. The paper will be launched in February. He was joined by representatives from Arla, Waitrose and Rob Ward who runs an investment fund in Agri tech. Interestingly they all referred to a future culture with sustainability and transparency at the forefront. The other comment worth noting is the customer will be an important part in how trade develops post Brexit.
Commonly known as the ‘Godfather of Sustainability’, John Elkington gave the next lecture. He is well known for his insights into how corporates and supply chains are responding to global sustainability challenges and argues that current practices are not going far enough. He discussed how ‘Regenerative Capitalism’ is changing their mind set’s . I will let you look up the definition but he emphasised this could have big implications on how we produce, distribute and eat food in the UK.
The scene was now set for the science lecture given by Prof Tim Benton who leads the Energy, Environment and Resources Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. His theme was ‘Getting our Food System Right’. He described how our food systems are damaging the planet causing climate change and leading to biodiversity loss, environmental pollution, poor water and soil quality. For me the most profound statement was the damage to our health poor diets was causing. Apparently in 2017 11 million deaths were attributed to poor diets. This is alarming if you compare this with the 1.86 million due to Covid in 2019.
There is a fundamental mismatch in what is grown and what would be an optimal diet. If everybody tried to access all the foods needed for a nutrient rich diet (fruits and vegetables, nut ,fish and pulses) they would be able too. This suggests farming at this moment in time does not provide food that underpins Public Health.
This brings into the question is cheap food really a public good. In simple terms if we had a more varied and wholesome diet this would encourage diversity in crop production and would help create more sustainable food systems. Public Health would be improved and the environmental pressures could be mitigated. We have a long way to go but it feels now we might have the tools to help plot a path and of course we need the consumer to play their part.
Interesting reading
Will’s First Virtual Farm Tour For a School.
It’s good to talk about the technology available in the farming industry and whether a farmer of a certain age has the skills to cope with it. I for one fit that category and although it makes me nervous I am keen to embrace it and excited that it could take our industry into new and exciting times.
Last month I had the pleasure in delivering a lecture outlining my business to a group of year ten students in Cumbria. This you may wonder is a departure from my day job but is an example of technology in use.
Farming as an industry has an alarming problem in that its core work force has an average age of 56 yrs old. I luckily fall below that, just, but if we are going to embrace this new technology we must have an industry attractive for generations to come.
Over my farming career the industry has reduced its workforce drastically. Efficiencies have made us competitive and helped bring down the price of food. The cost of land makes it very difficult for new entrants and a lot of the roles on a farm are regarded as menial and low paid.
I have over the years been very open with our farm. In the early years we were proactive in giving farm walks to our customers from our butcher’s shop in Alton, primarily to give them the confidence to buy a genuine product but also to help them understand the process.
With our glamping site we show over a thousand people a year around the farm primarily to get them to appreciate their surroundings but also to send them away with a confidence to buy British.
Over the years I had hoped that some of my younger audience will have been inspired to think of Agriculture as a career as the industry cannot rely on a bunch of fifty year olds. This brings me back to my venture into lecturing.
Last Autumn I approached an organisation called LEAF(Linking Environment and Farming ) about linking up with local schools. LEAF has recently merged with FACE(Farming and Countryside Education).The primary goal is to inspire and educate future generations about farming, food and the countryside. Working with a regional consultant the aim was to link up with local schools and hopefully deliver a series of inspiring farm visits.
Sadly we haven’t been able to deliver yet but Jo my regional consultant has been proactive on Facebook and promoted the idea of doing this remotely and I as a willing volunteer, offered to do the first one. The process is remarkably simple and involved two people, a selfie stick ,a willing group of students and of course well behaved animals. We finished with a question and answer session which was a bit like being thrown to the dogs but I survived and will be better prepared next time.
Ultimately my point to this article is that with the industry changing and embracing new technology hopefully we will be an attractive career choice to the next generation and I for one am keen to inspire them.
Further reading