Countryfile, climate change – and horticulture on hold

The weather has been blustery and very wet again in West Sussex, with some serious damage, trees down and minor damage all around. Nothing compared to other areas of course, but then other areas are always more vulnerable to such weather and are better prepared and expect it to be rough during the winter months.

Chatting to a colleague on-line before a meeting last week and asking about the weather in Scotland, she said it was rough and it was very wet, but it was also January!

We both went on to discuss how every bit of bad weather these days is a storm, furthermore a storm with a name and that we are busy going through the alphabet and we are still in January.

Climate change is the big reason here as the media just loves hyping things up and the other day it was mentioned that a flood in one area was the worst for 80 years.

There were floods and storms before, in fact I remember terrible storms in North Wales in the early 1960’s when climate change was not in the media.

Whilst we all recognise that the weather and indeed the seasons are changing, hyping it up into a disaster every day diminishes not only the real worry some people have about the climate, but the suffering and damage these spells of bad weather bring; as they always have done.

No doubt at some point in 2024 the media will be focussing on some dry weather or warm weather as well as wet and cold weather.

We talk about the weather in this country almost every day as it is so changeable and many visitors to the country think that it is a very attractive feature which forms our landscape and that we should embrace it.

BBC Countryfile programme was under fire last week by some viewers, accusing it of being nothing more than a mouthpiece for climate change.

Apparently, it was much criticised on social media with many claiming that it had little to do with the countryside anymore.

It certainly left its proper countryside and farming roots many years ago, but as John Craven explained to me when I complained to him when they were filming here at Crouchlands; we must give the viewers what they want.

He claimed that it was all about viewer numbers and that if they drop, then the likelihood is that the programme would face the axe.

I’m sure there was a great deal of truth in that, but I stopped watching many years ago as many of my fellow farmers did.

The programme started in 1988, replacing Farming, when people were interested in agriculture and rural matters.

It did not take long for Countryfile to focus on the problems we had at the time with BSE at the forefront and became increasingly critical and unbalanced; hence my conversation with John Craven.

They visited the South Downs recently, coming across to our next village, Kirdford, to film the thriving community shop run by volunteers. We use it occasionally and it is very good, but our loyalty is to our own Plaistow Village Stores.

Viewers in other parts of the country could not believe the prices charged in the Kirdford shop, with special attention on the price of sausage rolls!

Others commented that they were real sausage rolls and not the cheap and nasty offer which are of course much cheaper and on sale everywhere else; you get what you pay for is the old adage.

Horticulture growth in on hold in this country as growers shelve plans due to soaring costs, putting the sector at risk according to an NFU report.

The cost of production has risen a staggering 40% in the past two years, as energy cost went through the roof, rising by over 200%, fertilizer by 47%, and labour by 24%.

Farmers and growers are cutting production for the coming season and that puts the sector at risk.

Many growers face real difficulties with their supermarket customers, in many cases due to contract planning cycles being out of sync with production cycles.

The government is committed to a consultation into the horticultural supply chain which is welcomed, but at a time when we all want people to eat more healthy foods, we are only 50% self-sufficient in vegetables and 15% self-sufficient in fruit, which makes this intervention long overdue.

Growers are switching to crops which may be more profitable out of desperation and are facing very difficult choices such as not growing under plastic which is very expensive, but then suffering a drop in yield; something has to give here.

Morrisons is the first supermarket to have a British section for on-line shopping, which has been welcomed by farmers across the country.

The industry has been asking for something like this for a very long time and the ‘Buy British’ section on Morrisons dedicated buy British tab is a good start and the retailer is pledging to expand the selection and promote new lines based on customer focus and seasonal availability.

Over 27,000 people have supported a campaign for this through an NFU petition which gained government support.

Dairy farmers have welcomed the milk price increase from leading processor Arla.

The price jumped 3.08p per litre from the 1st of January taking Arla farmers price to around 40p per litre, boosting farmers confidence.

Global commodity prices are recovering and demand is stronger; Arla wrong footing Chris Walkland the colourful character in the dairy industry who admitted to being caught out and stating that Arla are now top of the league once again.

Other milk processors are being left well behind by this huge rise and will come under severe pressure from their farmer suppliers.

At a time when dairy farmers were suffering with huge drops in prices last year, this turnaround is just in time due to EU production being down and with falling inflation, lower prices in retail boosting demand.

Europe’s largest oat mill jointly owned by Camgrain and Frontier has opened near Kettering in Northamptonshire.

The mill produces a range of milled oat products which supplies multiple food businesses, taking in oats grown on farms within a 75 mile radius.

It expects to take over 100,000 tonnes of oats this year and has created 60 new jobs operating the plant which is very good news.

Store cattle are selling for very high prices which puts pressure on finishers as they face slim margins in the coming months as cattle are fattened.

The tight supply in beef cattle is leading to calls for a higher finish price from farmers and as cattle are short in Ireland, our major competitor, it seems imported beef from there will be more expensive, which should reward our finishers here with a higher price.

Costs are higher of course and the increase in prices are needed to keep pace. On a global level, declining beef production in New Zealand and the USA will outweigh growth in Australia, Brazil and China.

However, we need to be wary of Australia rebuilding its beef production and the possibility of greater imports from there due to our free-trade agreement with them.