Farmers put under a great deal of stress
WHAT an anxious month November proved to be, with TB testing, our annual Red Tractor Assurance (RT) audit and the Soil Association inspection, all within a few days of each other.
The TB test results came back with an all clear for the herd (a big sigh of relief all round!). Surprisingly, the Soil Association inspection was easy but the RT audit left us reeling at the arbitrariness of the whole exercise, especially in view of the fact that it is not being harnessed to defend our food production against imported food supplies which we know are produced to standards far lower than those of RT.
It is a well publicised fact that the UK is a net importer of food, which questions the effort of encouraging exports. Recently a delegation was sent to Miami courtesy of the Agricultural & Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) to sell British pork.
Apart from the all-expenses-paid jolly, what do we have to accept in return when the US Pork Council declared openly it has no intention of shifting its standards to please the UK?
Anyway, back to our RT audit; we now have 28 days to rectify our noncompliances, which include the necessity of creating a document detailing contingency plans should a fire break out on the farm.
On asking the assessor what was required, he said: “Phone the fire service.” No, I am not making that up, so we now have a piece of paper with: “In the event of fire phone the fire service” printed on it in the requisite file.
Another required contingency plan concerns how we would cope with an animal rights activist arriving on the farm. Our response was: “Hose down with appropriate disinfectant for biosecurity reasons, then phone the police.”
I know these assurance schemes create jobs, but they put farmers under a great deal of stress. We farmers appear to be utterly voiceless against the expanding interference in how we do our job. It is time this monopolistic and parasitic assurance industry was scrapped. Enough said, now I must go and create those contingency plans. I wonder if they will ever be read.
As perceived custodians of the countryside we farmers have a responsibility for our environment, but it saddens me to see, as result of the recent heavy rains, soil running from a number of fields in our locality on to the roads. A quick look over the hedge reveals where a crop of maize has recently been harvested with no cover crop planted to help prevent soil erosion after harvesting, as has been recommended for many years.
It is sad that such a recommendation is not heeded by some farmers and therefore we can only have ourselves to blame if yet more legislation should be implemented to enforce the practice to ensure run-off from fields into rivers is reduced.
We are coming to the end of the year on a very cheerful note with the arrival of another grandson on December 2, Osian Lloyd, to join the ranks of the fourth generation growing up at Penyrallt. We are so very fortunate to have the sense of continuity and hope for the future of farming encapsulated in the new grandchild, and a new granddog in the shape of Meg, the latest canine addition to the workforce.
Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!