Farm Diary January 14 2009

Welcome to winter wonderland '“ and we are not enjoying it! Mind you the scenery has been stunning, especially last Saturday, when freezing fog left all the trees, bushes and hedges draped in sparkling pure crystal. I was out with my camera on Saturday morning, but photographs rarely do full justice to such complex scenes.

I must congratulate the local authorities for their gritting service this winter. I travel the length and breadth of the country, and I have yet to experience a road which has not been gritted if necessary. Well done!

We are still having problems with the milking parlour, although with heating it is minimal now. Can't say the same for the concrete workers cabins! A bit smelly these days as their showers don't work everyday and the sewerage tanks froze up solid one day last week as well.

On Sunday morning our main tractor on the feeding wagon would not work, as the air compressor system had frozen (first time ever), and we were in need of some advice from the 'Ice-Truckers'. I gather the methanol bottle on the back (which I was unaware of) had run dry. Had there been any alcohol around at the time, we would have drunk it. Global warming? Waiting impatiently for it to start happening actually!

The steel work is taking shape, as the builders start on the walls of the first tower. Four meter high shuttering is being built, which will hold the poured concrete, and the intricate steel mesh and numerous water pipes which will eventually heat the walls.

They have promised me that they will have the concrete poured and the first tower finished by the end of the month (weather allowing of course). They prefer the cold and dry to wet weather, but it needs to be warmer before concrete can be poured. A word of advice for the 'tea-leaf' who stole 25 new railway sleepers and all my ply-wood sheets from the building site last week; if my Yorkshire mates catch you, you will not steal anything else for a very long time. In fact we could easily deal with local thieves 'mafia style' at the moment '“ so be warned!

Hilary Benn made so many 'U' turns and twists at the Oxford Farming Conference last week; it was a miracle that he did not do himself serious injury.

He claimed that 'The future of the world will literally depend on farming' (we have all I think concluded privately over the last few months that bankers have ruled themselves out of this one!) He wants farmers to 'produce as much food as possible', without damaging the environment of course, he also thinks that food labelling rules need to change.

That's odd; I thought that he could have done something about that a long time ago. No, it's Brussels apparently and they must get their act together, however retailers and processors could introduce better labelling voluntarily, if they got their act together, and he intends to meet them to discuss how 'we' can make this happen.

Given that the 'Red Tractor' differentiates British food produced to 'Farm Assured' standards, and that it is usually banished (as small as possible) to the back of packs by retailers, so as to not interfere too much with trade, and that Government procurement ignores Red Tractor because it interferes with budgets, he has a nerve to be honest.

Mr Benn then praised the quality and quantity of food produced by British farmers, claiming that environmental protection and increasing production goes hand in hand! He must have confused Oxford with Damascus?

Here is the man who (with his department DEFRA) stood in the way, and has no interest in productive agriculture whatsoever. We all welcome the rhetoric, but I hope we as farmers will be forgiven for judging Hilary Benn in 2009, by his actions, and we will be watching at the NFU with renewed vigour, to see if he can begin to live up to the rhetoric of Damascus '“ sorry, Oxford.

The 'Soil Association' were deeply upset by Mr Benn's comments on labelling too. Did he not know that there was a label that delivers what he is calling for? The Soil Association's organic symbol, offered a 'one-stop shop' for consumers who wanted food produced to high environmental and animal welfare standards claimed Robin Maynard, their campaign's director.

This of course is true, and to be valued, but Mr Maynard may not have realised that Red Tractor does that too, and that there is a recession on? Furthermore, with world population forecasted to increase from the present 6 billion people to 9 billion by 2050, one needs a bit more than muck and magic to begin meeting their needs.

Lets give Hilary Benn credit where its due however, he is aware of the fact that the costs of 'Electronic Identification of Sheep' outweighs the benefit, anaerobic digestion rules are to be adjusted which no longer deems the slurries as 'waste' (they are in fact valuable fertilizers), he is also keen to move the debate on GM by carrying out trials, opposes the 'soils directive', and is still fighting the potentially disastrous pesticide ruling. A new spirit of co-operation?

Let's hope so.