Driving confidence

CONFIDENCE is something that drives the economy of any industry and while a good summer, plenty of fodder and productive crops and livestock should be feeding positivity into farming, the political shenanigans in Westminster in recent times have done little to bolster the spirits of anyone other than the doomsayers of this world – teams of which seem to be breeding exponentially. It’s hard to feel positive about investing lots of money – and farming investments can be huge these days – when there’s so much negativity around driven by a political inertia brought on by infighting and back-stabbing at the very highest levels of Government. ‘Agflation’ will be more than matching the 10% ‘inflation’ figures released just this week for the month of September as pertaining to the general public. As anyone who has tried to buy any new kit these days will aver (and that’s only if you can get supplies of it!) – it is ‘book price only’. But that said, there remains lots to be positive about. The round of breeding sales for sheep and cattle have been in full flow in recent weeks and while there have not been many daft prices hitting the headlines, trade has been solid enough and with some high clearance rates. But it is hard to get away from the fact that the constant barrage of ‘bad news’ that’s taking up too many column inches in newspapers and broadcasted hours on TV and social media, is beginning to have a dispiriting effect on everyone. The bread and butter deals for livestock, seen at the back-end store calf and lamb sales, have slipped back a bit recently and that cannot be because there is a lack of keep for them – though grain prices might be a factor for cattle – but we have to surmise that there is a jitteriness to the way everyone is feeling given the turmoil in Government down south. So, there is confidence there, we just need some political stability to unleash it. The sooner politicians realise that there is huge potential to be unlocked, the better for all in the industry. Agriculture has a lot to offer, despite what single issue factionalism (fascism?), that seeks to disrupt transport and pours milk onto supermarket floors, might contend.