Ill Winds - Could 2009 be good for farming?

First of all apologies for the lack of updates recently. I have been spending much time intruding on the grief of another industry.

A new year brings new concerns for the countryside, but all is not as bleak for farmers as it might at first seem. The pound is bouncing along a historical floor against the Euro, and this brings good news for many.


For a start a low pound brings with it good news on subsidies, In the old days these were paid under the common agricultural policy of the Europe Economic Community, the EEC, which eventually mutated into the European Union. The subsidies changed into the Single Farm Payment, but one thing remained the same… The level at which UK farmers were, and are paid changed every year according to the strength of the pound.

On the 16th of September 1992, the sterling crashed out of the European Exchange Rate mechanism. The value of the pound took a massive dive against a basket of European currencies. Agricultural subsidies were paid against the value of a nominal `Green Pound’ As the pound tumbled against other European Currencies, the value of the subsidy which farmers were paid in sterling rose. Infact it rose so far that some farmers I know bought new combine harvesters, and promptly went off to international sunspots.

The value of the pound has also recently been tumbling against the Euro, but unlike 1992, most of the falls have taken place after the determining date for the setting of the level of subsidies. Nevertheless the value of the single farm payment will be about 14% higher than farmers would have expected if the pound had stayed close to last year’s exchange rate against the Euro.


There is, as with everything a down side. A massive drop in the pound means a big rise in the price of anything imported. For farmers this is mainly oil and fertilizer. Of course the oil price has been dropping recently, and the rate of exchange between the pound and the dollar is what really matters.

The good new is that it’s not just oil which comes into this country. So does food. Suddenly Danish and Dutch bacon is also very expensive. In recent weeks UK lamb has been `cheap as chips’ to French buyers, and the New Zealand sellers have developed markets closer to home which may well be more lucrative than Europe.

Prediction for the year… Of all the industries to be affected by the economic gloom, farming is the one, in my opinion most likely to emerge unscathed. If it doesn’t there will be food shortages, and the shopping bill will become hideously expensive.

How did we ever survive the 1950s?

One of the most intersting seasons on BBC Four recently has commemorated the 40th Anniversary of the end of regular steam trains on the British railway network. As a part of this season the channel has been showing a fascinating documentary made in 1954 about a the daily non-stop express called `The Elizabethan' which ran between London and Ediburgh. There are three days left to watch the programme which was made by the British Transport Films Unit.

Have a look carefully at two minutes and nineteen seconds into the film. You'll see a food hygiene faux pas which would have the offending restaurant closed down today. A tray of what appear to be raw chickens loaded onto a shelf directly above another tray of what appears to be cakes.

As far as I'm aware raw meat should never be placed above cooked food in a fridge. We're lucky to be alive today!

No milk to be spilt or cried over

It’s long been the cry of the dairy industry that farmers were being driven out of milk production because they got a pitiful price for their labours. Now though it seems the chickens are well and truly coming home to roost, or rather the cows, as well as the farmers are being retired and this has left the country short of milk.

Just last year the cows of Britain gave us fourteen billion litres of the white stuff for the breakfast table, or for the butter on your toast or for the cheddar cheese for your sandwiches. Suddenly, almost imperceptibly that’s slipped. Somewhere a billion litres has disappeared.

For the past decade, some say even longer, the dairy farming industry has lurched from one crisis to another, until now almost entirely over the price which farmers were getting, but now it’s all about the amount of milk those farms are producing.

Over that time the British dairy cow has worked harder and harder. It’s not unknown for some of the high yielding animals to give as much as ten thousand litres of milk a year, the average across the board is about seven thousand. The problem is that there are fewer and fewer cows to yield anything at all.

Ten years ago there were more than three million chewing the cud and trudging into the milking parlour twice a day to give us our morning pinta…or litre. Not that figure’s down to less than two million.

Ten years ago the price the farmer got for the effort put in by their cows was about twenty two pence per litre. Today it’s gone up… a massive four pence per litre to twenty six pence. In between then and now it fell to as little as just sixteen pence per litre, at some times of some years even less. And for almost all dairy farms the cost of production never fell below about seventeen pence per litre, often without taking into account any wage for the farmer.

It’s no surprise that many bailed out. In the early years of this century the National Farmers Union reckoned that as many as three a day were leaving the industry. The problem for those who were left was that very often the farmers might have been off to pastures new, but their cows were sold on to other farmers to make bigger and bigger herds.

At the turn of the century, the 21st, not the twentieth there were thirty two thousand dairy farms in the UK, just five years later that had shrunk to just under twenty five thousand…nut at the same time the average size of the herd had risen from 72.8 cows to 83.8. Bigger herds were a way of reducing costs. All the time though, the milk price was falling as the overall level of supply stayed constant.
The biggest factor was foreign competition for the milk products which could be imported. For instance those cheesy spreads that are so heavily advertised with smiling children going demented to get their hands on them, are often made with milk from cows in continental Europe, which is dried into powder, shipped in container lorries over to the UK, and then re-constituted into something the marketing wonks can really get their teeth into….mmmm….yummy….not. So in effect the only real UK market was for fresh milk and for cheese or butter production which wanted to use British milk.

The trouble was that all of this yummy stuff made from the dried produce of Polish or Austrian udders helped keep the market price of good old British Milk well and truly on the floor.

But those of us who were watching the industry unwind started to notice something. In 1984 the European community, as it was called then, introduced a limit on the amount of milk that every member state, and every farmer could produce. For the UK it was something in the region of fourteen million litres per year.

About four years ago I noticed that for the first time we seemed to be heading for an `undershoot of the quota limit’ in other words we were producing less milk than we were allowed to. At first this looked like it was just a temporary blip, but then it got bigger and bigger.

This was the point at which the national herd started to seriously decrease. Of course the milk powder could still come in from Poland, Austria or even Timbuktu, the trouble is that doorstep deliveries….those which still exist need fresh milk which is both expensive to transport and has a limited life. The same is true of cheese and butter production, and consumers are getting more and more fussy about where their food is from. Although the number of cows in the country had been decreasing for some time, those left were more productive. But now the hard working Holsteins who were left could no longer keep up. Shortages started to appear.

The culmination of this is that First Milk, one of the biggest farmer owner dairy co-operatives in the country is now cutting jobs at two of its cheese making plants because of shortages of milk.

And the question that now arises is whether paying farmers more in the difficult years might have encouraged more of them to stay in the industry. But there is a further problem. Even with the price of milk from the farm gate at a whopping 26 pence per litre, many dairy farms are still running at a loss because the cost of fuel and feed has gone through the roof.

So there are real fears that unless shoppers and the shops they use pay a lot more for their milk and dairy products shelves could be left empty.

So farewell then Lord Rooker

The news that Lord (call me Jeff) Rooker has gone off to spend more time decorating his house will come as a big disappointment to many farmers who believed that for once they had a farm minister who actually understood the pressures the industry faced.

It’s also a blow to those of us in the world of journalism who rage against the bland. Jeff Rooker was never a minister who could be accused of being dull. He was remarkably frank, and honest, even when that meant rocking boats.

I have two memories of encounters with him that stand out.

Back in the late nineteen nineties during his first tour of duty at what was then MAFF I was studio producing `Farming Today' in Birmingham on a live programme. Jeff Rooker, as he was then, was booked to come onto the programme, we thought in an interview conducted over the telephone. He would ring us. His press office insisted that we couldn’t ring him, as a minister it was unthinkable that we should have access to his home phone number - although it was in everybody's contact book anyway.

We waited, and waited, for the phone call until just two minutes before we went live at ten past six in the morning. Then the phone rang. It was the security guard on the front desk at the now long demolished Pebble Mill. “Is anybody there expecting a Mr Rooker? He’s in the front reception”

A mad dash ensued down the Pebble Mill corridor and the Minister, a Birmingham MP, was in front of the microphone with five minutes to spare. He could talk for England and I spent a very entertaining fifteen minutes chatting to him on the steps of Pebble Mill as he left the building after the programme.

My other memory was the Royal Show of 2007, a matter of days after Gordon Brown was crowned Prime Minister. The Obligatory reshuffle saw the replacement of David Milliband by Hilary Benn, but much to everybody’s surprise Lord Rooker stayed, infact I think he was even promoted up the ministerial ladder. No-one was more surprised than the noble Lord himself.

As we stood outside in a rare moment of sunshine at that year’s rain sodden event he told me that he’d just assumed he’d be booted out to make way for new blood, and had gone home to complete some much needed decorating when the surprise phone call came asking him to remain in the department as minister for Farming and Animal Health.

It’s not unusual to get ministers who will be frank and honest off the record, it was a joy to have a minister who would do that when the microphones were turned on.

Highland Beef T-Bone Back on the Menu

The years since the Conservative government admitted in March 1996 that there probably was a link between the cattle disease BSE and a variant of CJD, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, in humans, has been a nightmare not just for the families of those affected but also for the beef farming industry.

First of all there was the ban on the export of beef, and cattle from the UK, and then a ban on the human consumption of beef from animals over the age of thirty months. In the UK most of the beef which is from older animals comes from what’s known as `cull-cows’. That is breeding animals which have reached the end of their productive life, and which by and large then go for processing purposes. Pies and sausages.

The one big exception to this is meat from traditional breeds. In particular Highland cattle. One of our most distinctive breeds these animals produce some of the finest meat know to mankind. The only trouble is that they’re not really ready to kill before they are at least forty two months old, or perhaps even a bit older. This is because they are fed on grass, they’re slow growing and this is what makes the meat so good.

Unlike many breeds of commercial cattle they’re not `finished’, or given supplemental feed to get them up to their slaughter weight. This has meant that the ban on consumption of animals over thirty months old was a real blow to this breed. They simply weren’t big enough to kill.
Fortunately for farmers with Highland Cattle this restriction, the Over Thirty Months Rule was scrapped in 2005 allowing these animals to enter the food chain. The only trouble was that this relaxation came with some pretty draconian caveats. The brain tissue from the animals had to be tested for the `prions’ thought to cause BSE. The animals could only be killed at specified, approved abattoirs, and they could only be killed on slaughter lines which were set aside for the killing and processing of such beasts.

This added a massive extra cost for the farmers. There was the extra transport involved, as there were few plants approved for the purpose, and the cost of the test itself… about twenty pounds. The slaughter cost is invariably more expensive as abattoirs generally had to handle fewer of these animals. Many farmers with Highland cattle didn’t bother to let their beats go to the full slaughter weight, and made the best of a `bad job’

Now having taken advice from the European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, the European Commission says it’s happy for this time threshold to be raised… probably to forty eight months, and possibly even further to sixty months. This would be a massive boost for Highland cattle farmers, but would also help some other breeds. For instance Dexter and Belted Galloway cattle don’t need so long, but it would be helpful to those who farm them to be able to have the flexibility of missing the thirty month deadline, even if it is just by a few months. Raising the time limit will be down to national governments, but few expect DEFRA won't take advantage of the change.

This will mean the shaggy Scottish icons will be able to reach their proper weight before being killed. One benefit is that the joints are much bigger, and much better to cook. There's less loss from shrinkage, and this makes them much more appealing to restrateurs. It could also mean the return of one of the finest bits of the Highland. The T-Bone steak. At 30 months this is little bigger than a lamb chop, by 45, it’s a fine piece of meat fit for a king.

Deer farms backed by healthy eating research.

Venison is good for you. Well, we knew that already, but it's always good to be reminded of things with the weight of academic research thrown behind what has been common knowledge for years.

And it seems that researchers have also found that it tastes good. So the hazard assessment for for this project probably went something along the lines of .....Eat lots of meat, suffer no ill effects... have a good kip.

The research was commissioned by DEFRA and the Scottish government, and led by the agricultural consultancy firm ADAS. It found amongst other things that loin of venison contains a third of the fat of a beef sirloin steak, and a quarter of that found in Lamb Chops.

There are around thirty thousand farmed deer in the UK, but as much is imported as we produce here. Mainly from New Zealand. According to Jane Emerson who rears both deer and Dexter cattle near Penrith in Cumbria, this is because domestic production simply hasn't been able to keep up with demand from consumers. She says that deer are easier to keep than cattle because they don't need to have their feed supplemented to get them to slaughter weight.

They're also marginally more profitable than cattle, but they are also quite capital intensive. For instance they need to have special fencing to keep them in... although one big advantage is that they can be slaughtered on farm. They are also a good alternative to sheep, although for upland farmers deer do need reasonably good grass to thrive so they're not suitable for the high moors.

Jane Emerson with some of her deer

The team at ADAS believes that the one thing which is stopping sales of venison from taking off is that people simply don't know enough about it and how to cook it. The health findings of the ADAS study come as no surprise to Jane Emerson. many of her customers are on low cholesterol diets, and deer is an obvious meet to eat.

Bluetongue Virus - To Jab or not to Jab…. That is the question.

Something rather bizarre’s been happening over the past few days. The sun has emerged, and for a blissful weekend it actually shone upon the righteous. That is the annual Langdon Beck Sheep show, which not only managed to take place this year, but it was also bathed in warm sunshine.

This is a traditional show in the finest traditions of the Northern Hills. Two hundred sheep and a `Bouncy Castle’. What more do you need? These are uncertain times though. Disease is never far away, and this year’s `plague de jour’ is Bluetongue. Unlike the foot and mouth virus, which knocked last year’s show on the head, Bluetongue is primarily tackled using vaccination.

Langdon Beck Show

At least that’s what the veterinary authorities would like to happen. Farmers have other ideas though, and many of those I spoke to at Langdon Beck had only vaccinated the stock which would be sold at this autumn’s sales. Of course there’s little point in vaccinating the fat lambs which will be going to the slaughterhouse in the next few weeks, they’d be dead – at the hands of the slaughterman - by the time the vaccine could take effect. There is according to vets a case for vaccinating the breeding stock which is staying on the hills.

Many farmers argue that at this time of year it’s impossible to gather in all the animals from the fells because there’s too many, and anyway the weather’s starting to get colder. Remember this is `Nine months of winter and three months of bad weather’ country. A lot of the farms take the view that the `vector-free’ period when the midges which carry the virus stop flying – and even die off, will be here quite soon.

The vets aren’t so sure and told me that a `Indian Summer’ could carry quite a risk of the disease re-emerging. There’s also a rumour circulating amongst the farmers that the vaccine can cause fertility problems amongst the ewes. Vets dismiss this saying the vaccine’s dead not live so there shouldn’t be any issues with it. Also there’s the cost. At fifty pence a dose, that can add up to more than a hundred pounds for even a small upland farm. But as one of the local vets told me that’s peanuts compared with the cost of treating even a couple of sheep which get the disease.