Monthly Update - February 2023

I was about 13 when, in spite of living in Glasgow, I decided I wanted to farm and feed a hungry world. It was a panic reaction to my father who worked for BP for 35 years, supplying their fleet of 150 ships with everything from lamb chops to cigarettes, propellers to flags.  He continually interrogated me about my future for fear that I would end up doing the same job as him. 

When I started farming, we had subsidies given by the government to produce lambs, milk, potatoes, wheat and barley, beef, sugar beet and, in fact, most commodities. Post war policy, for obvious reasons, was to encourage the UK to be self-sufficient, and that is what happened.  Joining the EU brought with it the Common Agricultural Policy which continued to stimulate production, but this endeavour resulted in new mountains in Europe - not pretty ones but ones made of butter, beef and grain and lakes of wine.  So it then became policy that all farmers were paid to take some land out of production as set-aside.  To achieve this, farmers received money known as “the Cheque” for just being farmers, depending on their acreage.  There were also schemes to encourage farming in more beneficial ways to the environment, some of which were inspired in the Pang Valley by Richard Benyon and Peter Trentham. But for the most part those farming large areas of land prospered and expanded and were able to buy expensive machinery and buildings and more land.

 At the same time the devastating impact on soils, wildlife, water quality and biodiversity of past policies were hitting the headlines.   In 2018 Michael Gove, as Minister for the Environment, made the statement that “Public money must be for public good”.  Five years later the Environmental Land Management Schemes are now available for all farmers.  Payments are made primarily to enhance their abilities to be good stewards of the land and secondly to produce quality food. The budget is the same £2.4 billion, and the industry will have to respond by farming with more care. That is already happening as minimal tillage replaces ploughing and sprays and fertilisers are being far more strategically used because of their cost and their impact on emissions and the environment. The emphasis here will be on ponds, tree and hedge planting, wildflower strips and meadows, organic farming, restoration of wet lands, legume and herb rich swards and guess what - Educational Visits!

John Bishop