Farmer Patrick says – April 2024

March is a month of change. One begins to feel more positive – although I try not to ever be negative. The days get longer, the hedgerows start to green-up, and even the farm animals seem happier.

What’s going on at the farm?

Last night was a late one on the farm, due to the delivery of this week’s day-old chicks being delayed by the good old M25. To give you an idea: a day-old chick is roughly the size of a golf ball, having hatched out of a regular size egg – including all its fluffy baby feathers. They need to be kept warm, which we do with gas heaters, and within a few days they will have doubled in size.

I always find it fascinating to watch how within seconds of unboxing them they quickly find both the food and water to eat and drink. They run across the pen, occasionally tumbling over like toddlers do, and I often think of the contrast in the way the animal kingdom sets out to survive from the very moment it arrives on this world, whereas mankind requires careful nurturing for many months before becoming even remotely self-sufficient.

What’s going on in the local area?

We’ve had a few dry days, all to welcome relief for farmers in the Tandridge area which like many areas has suffered from flooding. I noticed my neighbours making the most of the dry spell to sow spring crops such as wheat and barley. Crops planted in the spring have a much-reduced yield which means a lower return for us farmers and, with significantly increased cost, it is unlikely to return a profit. But better than leaving the field fallow, which will lose even more money.

What’s going on nationally?

Just recently we have lost yet another large-scale salad producer in the UK – a Kent firm, largely supplying to the major retailers. And the second biggest apple grower in the UK has announced it will cease trading after this year’s harvest. My bitter experience is that once these close, they rarely re-open. Given the endless demand for housing, the packing centres will most likely become housing, and the orchards will be ripped out and bought up by large companies to plant trees on, in order to meet their carbon off-set credits.

In Wales, for example, where my fellow farmers are faced with an unsympathetic regional government, matters are even worse. Many will not be able to claim their grants or subsidies in order to keep their beautiful countryside looking green, with sheep wandering across the hillsides as they have done for centuries unless they plant 10% of their farm with trees. However, they are in a catch-22 situation, because they don’t have the money to plant the trees in the first place and can’t claim the subsidy until they have. It’s a vicious circle.

While none of us can deny our climate is changing, I am highly sceptical as to the sense of removing 10% or more of farmland in favour of trees – especially given the fact we are less than 50% self-sufficient in our food needs and have an ever-increasing population, plus looming worldwide uncertainty politically, and perhaps war?

What’s going on in the world?

Politicians have a history of being reactive rather than proactive and unless the voters tell their political masters what to do, nothing is done. I read with interest in the farming magazines the huge food crisis beginning to happen in Sub-Saharan Africa – currently, internal figures from Africa indicate that there are 262 million people in food poverty (starvation) and this is predicted to rise to 418 million by 2026.

Much of the instability, both politically and militarily in Africa, is due to the population having no food. It is easy for us to forget the plight of others. The global demand for food is immense and do not underestimate the impact that the war in Ukraine is having. For example, the world-wide production of ammonium nitrate has not only dropped because of the war, but also the cost of it per tonne has rocketed. What this effectively means is that our farming colleagues in Africa are unable to afford to purchase the much-needed ammonia to grow their crops because the Western World and America can afford to purchase it and, as a free world trade, it goes to the highest bidder. Again, another vicious circle.

I think the future of food on a world-wide level will be very interesting and I feel certain that the cost of food in Britain can only increase, unless we grow more of our own. I beg our politicians to take note.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter celebrating however you choose, and look forward to the clocks springing forward.