Harvest hymns
AWAY from the Westminster bear pit, seemingly tranquil pastoral scenes could be found to soothe, as the giant beasts of modern machinery trundled across corn fields, straw bales formed picturesque dots on the landscape and ripe fruits began to hang heavy in mellow orchards dappled by autumn sunshine.
There’s optimism about a harvest that was rescued by powerful bank-holiday sunshine, but the damp days that preceded the long weekend increased the risk of mycotoxins in cereals (a food-safety issue if grain isn’t properly dried) and brought the curse of blow flies. All is not as balmy as it looks in the farming world (Agromenes, page 37).
The feeble pound means lamb exports to Europe and pig-meat prices are holding up, but beef figures are less encouraging. In part, this is due to bad press about eating red meat and emissions, although animalfeed imports, such as soya, now cost more, pointing, more than ever, to the benefits of grass-fed livestock. In a world where ignorance abounds on social platforms, The
Prince’s Countryside Fund is funding socialmedia training so farmers can promote good practice and their healthy products.
The cabbage stem flea beetle has caused pain to oilseed-rape farmers, some of whom are struggling to contain it without certain chemicals. There are good reasons for the ban on these products, but not all countries are subject to such rules.
A study by the NFU’S chief economist warns that genetically modified crops, which many farmers are anxious to get into after Brexit, aren’t a magic bullet, either; there will be no EU market for them yet, our relatively tiny output couldn’t compete worldwide and a forceful anti lobby might dampen home sales.
The Rural Payments Agency finally made good, but there are dire warnings about farms going under if the Government doesn’t keep its pledge to bridge the funding gap in the case of a precipitous exit from the EU.
When Michael Gove arrived at Defra, he listened to farming leaders’ fears about a no-deal Brexit and passionately urged MPS to back the Withdrawal Bill. Now, he has left the department and his Agriculture Bill is languishing in an in-tray somewhere.
In 2018, a Fabian Society report examined how Labour could make itself more popular with countryside people, but, alongside sensible ideas on reviewing standards in abattoirs and enforcing tougher penalties for owners of sheep-worrying dogs, the party’s new animal-welfare manifesto advocates against the badger cull, despite evidence that bovine TB incidents are reducing where it’s been practised.
Who would be a farmer these days? Fortunately, some see it as their life’s work to feed us. We should look beyond the bounteous Harvest Festival displays and thank them with all our hearts.
Who would farm these days? Fortunately, some see it as their life’s work