Improvement in weather – and spotlight on Welsh farming

At last the weather has warmed up and everything is on the move as the soil dries out and warms up. It is a late spring following a dry February, with a wet and cold March and April even the beginning of May delaying everything.

Farmers are silage-making everywhere, grimacing again at the costs, although lower than this time last year. The countryside is very green after all the wet weather and everyone is now speculating as to what comes next.

A dry spell is due and it will be just like last year say some, whilst others are convinced that we will get a wet summer. Only time will tell us who is right.

The unseasonably dull and gloomy weather has threatened to reduce yields and increases disease in cereal crops and this improvement in the weather will be most welcomed by farmers up and down the country.

Certain parts of the country suffered with flash floods a fortnight ago, washing soil from freshly drilled crops away and ruining many others. Some apple orchards have had their blossom damaged by hailstones and most field operations generally are well behind.

They are very busy in Shropshire planting potatoes now after the weather delayed operations and were getting on very well last week when I was driving through.

People are out in the countryside enjoying all aspects of the wonderful landscape, and hopefully keeping their dogs on leads.

We have had two separate attacks at Tillington within a week; a dog chased one of the goats which led to a broken leg and another incident where one of the goats was viciously attacked resulting in a very badly broken jaw and other puncture wounds.

No witnesses unfortunately, but serious damage which has resulted in two animals being put down.

We are always having to be on our toes as people do things out of convenience to them but carrying a serious threat to our animals.

Every year someone cuts the lawn and tips the cuttings into one of our fields. They don’t want the inconvenience of dealing with lawn cuttings in their garden, so they fly-tip it onto ours!

I suspect that many people do not realise that finely mown grass cuttings are fatal to horses and think that grass is something they can throw into the base of a hedge or into our field with no consequences; no so I’m afraid and it adds to the daily worry of what we might find next.

I was up in Wales last week and there are real concerns about many aspects of what is happening to agriculture and farming due to government policy.

Mass tree planting it is claimed is driving many farmers off the land, with farms in Powys for example being bought up by investors from outside agriculture to off-set emissions. The farming unions commented that such land purchases are damaging to the economic and cultural wellbeing of communities and that climate change mitigation should be achieved by integrating trees into farming systems, rather than allow large businesses to out-bid farmers for land, continuing to pollute whilst buying up productive land for offsetting.

Welsh government are under pressure to change tack on bovine TB in Wales as farmers see the current policy as providing no solutions.

Farming on the Welsh borders is even more difficult, with two conflicting policies, with successful badger culling allowed in England, but not in Wales. Some farmers in Wales have had bTB on their farms for years now and can see that unless the policy changes, they will have bTB on their farms for the rest of their farming lives; a severely depressing thought.

Lesley Griffiths gives the same blanket response and whilst she claims to understand, farmers do not believe that she does.

In what other business would you not be allowed to grow they ask; building a business for the next generation is impossible when living with continual bTB infection and cows culled as a result of that.

Farmers are made to feel that it is their fault, that it is due to cattle movements or bad bio-security, where as in fact it is a failing government policy which is to blame.

The Labour government in Wales cannot bring itself to allow wildlife control of the disease, even though it knows that wildlife is infected and that a cull policy in England is delivering.

To deal with any disease outbreak one should look at all the factors contributing to that outbreak and not ignore one factor out of idealism or in order to be different to England; in fact all other countries tackling bovine TB.

The financial and emotional cost of this disease on farmers and communities is huge and seems to be ignored by a government wedded to its own dogma rather than being pro-active in fighting bTB.

This leaves many dairy farmers in a very difficult position and together with all the environmental pressures and costs, it is feared that dairy farming in Wales will contract sharply as government policies drive them out of business.

However, not all is lost as a new dairy processing factory is being built in Anglesey and I went to visit last week.

This is a very different project to what this country has seen before and puts another milk buyer in Wales which is exciting.

More about this venture next week.

A lack of demand from consumers has led to sausage maker ‘Heck’ to drop almost all of its meat free products.

The Yorkshire company will still produce two meat free options, but apart from a few burgers and chipolatas, all other products have been dropped as customers are not ready to move to meat free alternatives.

The sales data analysts Kantar confirm that sales of meat free products have fallen this year with taste and price the major reason.

This is good news, as any thinking person knows that without animals there would be a distinct lack of soil fertility in agriculture, especially at a time where a number of farmers are moving to regenerative farming, due to cost of chemical fertilizer and concern for the environment.

Regenerative farming is catching on and is practiced not only in arable farming, but dairy farming, with the regenerative cow often discussed.

Many believe that regenerative farming should be encouraged and rewarded, and a joint event held by LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) and the Dutch Embassy recently certainly highlighted that fact.

A Dutch farmer at the event explained how regenerative practices such as introducing cattle and chickens onto her fruit farm in the Netherlands has helped control pests and disease.

There are big changes underway in the Netherlands and they are actively targeting 130,000 Ha of land to be farmed regeneratively in the near future.

This is an experiment we need to watch as the Dutch government are aiming to fundamentally change their farming practices, reducing output to one third of current production, catering only for national consumption; doing away with their huge agricultural exports.

Will it work? Will they go through with it? How much will it affect global supply? Will it drive up global prices? Where does that leave UK policy of greater cheaper imports? Time will tell.