Spring2012

SPRING JOURNAL 2012 • ISSUE 237

www.thefarmersclub.com

Farmers Club INSIDE Emerging markets p4 British farm science p6 Climate change p10 Sixty year insight p14

BOOKING FORMS St George’s Day lunch Hampton Court Flower Show Summer shows Henley Royal Regatta

Local food success Chef Antonio Carluccio backs Malton Food Festival p12

Farmers Club Over 160 years of service to farming 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL Patron – Her Majesty The Queen

FRONT COVER Top Italian chef Antonio Carluccio celebrates the success of Malton Food Lovers Festival with Oxford Sandy and Brown adopt-a-pig “Sophia Loren”

Contents

Disclaimer: The articles published in The Farmers Club Journal do not necessarily reflect the views of The Farmers Club. No responsibility for the quality of goods or services advertised in the magazine can be accepted by the publisher. Advertisements are included in good faith’. All rights reserved.

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Chairman’s Comments 2012 Farmers Club activities get off to a great start

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Emerging markets Developing countries hold the key to global farm commodity prices. But how they develop may not be straightforward

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Leading farm science British farm science can lead the world, given the right degree of co-operation

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Charitable development Harnessing the full potential of the UK’s 150-plus farming charities could boost farm research by £2.5 million/year

10 Climate change impacts Wheat yields down at least 10% and much more variable year to year by 2050. So what can be done?

12 Provenance pays Malton is reaping rich rewards as a “foodie” town

14 60 year perspective

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Farming delivers, so why don’t we get the credit?

16 Independent advice Impartiality is essential in the farm advice sector

17 Learning with Leonardo Report on Club visit to key art exhibition

18 Under 30s New members event attracts a healthy turnout

19 Commodity brokerage

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Under 30s writer Luke Paterson explains how his seed, grain and fertiliser brokerage is going from strength to strength

20 Jim Blanchard Obituary traces the career of this past Club chairman

21 Whitehall Court Ramblings Horse Guards Avenue update and on-line bookings

22 Information and Diar y Dates

02 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

Chairman’s Comments • Paul Heygate

Chairman’s Comments

The staff are terribly proud of the Club and very enthusiastic about what has already been achieved and what may be possible in the future.

NEW YEAR is a time to reflect and look forward. So after a difficult final six months of 2011 personally, I was able to spend a quiet Christmas and New Year with family and friends and plan for the year ahead.

Hitting the road running is something that does not seem to fit with my personal physique very well.

However, I soon found I had two extra meetings in early January, centred around the potential expansion of the Club into One Horse Guards Avenue next door (more later). So I had no choice! Grandchildren are lovely and give you great pleasure as well as colds I found out.

It was quite moving to arrive at the Club and be welcomed by one of the staff with the words “welcome home Mr Heygate”. I have already realised how apt the word home is becoming.

I recently came across an article from The Economist printed in November 2009. It was entitled ‘If words were food nobody would go hungry’. It also quoted Bill Gates telling agricultural scientists: ‘the world’s attention is back on your cause’. How true!

Two years later the situation is the same, but we now have the world financial crisis to contend with too. So it was interesting to listen to papers at this year’s Oxford Farming Conference, including several explaining how we can feed the world. I had lost my voice, so it was quite easy not to ask questions. But Minister James Paice saying he expects “to see the end of farm payments at some time” and the Oxford Union debate voting in favour of the motion “This House believes British agriculture could thrive outside the EU” drew ample comment.

It was my first Oxford Farming Conference and I came away impressed with the quality of the papers and again rebuked myself for not making the effort to attend years ago.

Next was the Chairman’s Tour of the Club, where I very quickly saw how much more there is to our Club than is realised when visiting or staying. The staff are terribly proud of the Club and very enthusiastic about what has already been achieved and what may be possible in the future. We are exceedingly fortunate to have such a supportive team.

Two days were then spent at the LAMMA show with the Secretary and Events Organiser, where we were able to update members who are not regular visitors to Whitehall Court on forthcoming events and the possible new development, which attracted considerable enthusiasm. We had plenty of new enquiries about the Club too, many from people

claiming not to have known of our existence! If just some become new members our presence at LAMMA will have been very worthwhile indeed.

Attending the magnificent Worshipful Company of Farmers banquet as a guest was particularly memorable, with Lord Salisbury giving an excellent address, and the presence of Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal adding to the evening’s splendour.

Later in January I chaired my first Club committee meetings. I am most fortunate to have four very able people leading on finance, communication, house and membership, and can report that all sections are performing on target and within budget.

I am also delighted to report that events organised up to the end of May, including the trip to Norfolk, are over-subscribed. Unfortunately, places for the latter will now have to be decided by ballot. Plans for September’s Yorkshire visit, centred on Hull, are advancing well, including a visit to an anaerobic digester, Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Puddings, Rymer Farms and the new Vivergo ethanol/butanol plant, plus a further activity, I hope. Visits to regional and county shows will also help take the Club to the regions.

Finally, this leads me on to Horse Guards Avenue....... .....LATEST NEWS.....A lot of energy and expertise has been brought to bear upon our proposal to the vendor and we are hopeful of a response soon.

I would urge you to have a look at the Expansion Opportunity area of the Club website (www.thefarmersclub.com) and also to keep an eye open for e-mails and the post over the coming weeks.

Paul Heygate

www.thefarmersclub.com • 03

Charles Abel • Farming future

ECONOMIC growth in emerging markets can drive farm profits. But will those markets live up to expectations, George Magnus, managing director and senior economic advisor to UBS Investment Bank asked a rapt audience at the Oxford Farming Conference.

“We can look in the rear-view mirror and appreciate how far and impressively these markets have emerged to date. The effects are clear for all to see.” But looking forwards things are more blurred, noted Mr Magnus, who is widely credited with having predicted the 2008 credit crunch.

“On the one hand, modernity, rising incomes, and rapid population growth create huge opportunities for emerging markets and for global [food] companies.

Nestle and Danone, for example, get 40-50% of their sales from emerging markets already.” But shifting demographics and weak institutional development could offset those beneficial effects.

Emerging markets (EMs) will clearly spawn the world’s next 1bn consumers, helping underpin demand for food and energy. On the production side their output could be increasingly hampered by economic development and urbanisation, and climate change and new weather patterns, to which they are especially vulnerable.

“As incomes per head rise, of course, so will per capita demand for food, animal protein, agricultural commodities and energy. Small wonder that the 70% increase in food demand by 2050, or over 100% in emerging and less developed nations, is making food security and access a leading global issue.”

But emerging markets, led by the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, are already finding strong demand, together with structural and water supply problems, are compromising their ability to follow stable fiscal and monetary policies, because of the risk of food price inflation.

Emerging nations need new initiatives to improve yield, and resource and water efficiencies.

“Otherwise, agriculture, itself, could brake economic development, and along with other pitfalls, keep many emerging markets firmly behind what we could call a BRIC Wall.”

Already emerged?

Some say some emerging markets, like China and Brazil, have already emerged. “But I think that is rather misleading. I think it is a process and there is a very long way to go, and it may be punctuated, as much by successes, as by slip-ups, or worse.”

We live in epoch changing times. “Emerging markets are not just catching up with the West, they are actually challenging its dominance for the first time in over 200 years.”

Since Deng Xiaoping’s reforms started in China in 1978 global expansion has advanced as 1 billion workers joined world markets. Only 2008’s financial crisis slowed growth, primarily in the West, effectively ‘fattening the wedge’ of economic divergence between emerging and developed markets.

Emerging markets now account for 40% of world GDP and perhaps four fifths of global GDP growth.

China’s GDP is set to surpass the US’s in the next decade, while India and Brazil’s economies will be bigger than any European country’s by the 2030s.

04 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

World population trends ...and farming Emerging markets are key to farm profits. Charles Abel reports on the Frank Parkinson Lecture at this year’s Oxford Farming Conference

“If China experiences a property and credit bust in 2012, or perhaps a bit later, there would be dramatic consequences for global industrial commodity prices and for the principal producers.”

Farming future • Charles Abel

and willing to broker compromises and solutions, to make global negotiations work.” The failure of the Doha world trade talks is a case in point.

Prospects In the short-term the outlook for EMs is not that good. Many are still experiencing high inflation.

Growth in Brazil has stalled, been disappointing in India, and is slowing significantly in China.

“Chinese real estate is arguably the most important sector on the planet, because of its copious consumption of raw materials. If China experiences a property and credit bust in 2012, or perhaps a bit later, there would be dramatic consequences for global industrial commodity prices and for the principal producers.”

In the longer-term attention needs to focus on population trends. World population is expected to rise by 2.4bn to 9.3bn in the next 40 years, of which all but 100m will be born in emerging markets.

While populations in China, Russia and Eastern Europe will decline, growth in the rest of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will create a “magic bullet” population bubble. This demographic dividend, with fertility rates declining but working populations expanding, reduces the dependency of the young and old on the expanding cohort of workers. That usually brings rising incomes and savings, more jobs, greater output and general prosperity.

India, for example, has a third of its population under 14. Over the next 20 years its working age population will expand by more than today’s entire European workforce. “This really is a sweet spot to be in. More labour means more incomes, consumption and tax revenues and higher standards of living.”

By contrast China will have an increasingly aged population, with just 2.5 workers per citizen aged 60 years and over by 2050, compared with 10 now.

China could get old before it gets rich.

For the demographic dividend to be realised in other emerging markets workers need to be educated, given work and equipped with capital.

If not social unrest is a risk, as seen in Arab nations.

Institutional hurdle

Over 20% of Fortune 500 global companies are now headquartered in emerging markets, many in China, Korea and Brazil.

All that new economic weight is bringing greater influence in international bodies, including the G20, IMF, World Bank and WTO. Emerging economies have simple objectives: to develop, to become richer and to stake a claim to power.

“The power that is accruing to them is, of course, the same power that is draining away from the US and Europe,” noted Mr Magnus. Particularly worrying is the threat to the US’s capacity to set and implement agendas in everything from global monetary governance to international security, from the rules of trade and commerce to climate change, and from global food security to the application of science and productivity in agriculture.

“The world needs a leader, a nation that is trusted

(Top) Soaring demand for food in emerging markets should benefit all farming sectors. But a host of factors could stifle that demand (Above) Farm commodity prices are increasingly exposed to global market forces

There is a further factor: the quality of emerging market institutions. “There’s only so much you can do with physical labour and capital. Ultimately, you get more bang for your buck if you combine and organise them efficiently, and improve the quality of both,” noted Mr Magnus.

Will emerging markets manage that? Education, training, organisational methods, incentives, the rule of law, independent enforcement of contracts, the regulatory environment and levels of corruption all need addressing.

Countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Poland and Turkey are all middle income. But Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil in particular have been middle income for a very long time, mired in a middle income trap. Institutional obstacles, including corruption, hold India back too. Institutional change is essential. But will ruling elites allow it?

Emerging markets may boost future farm profits.

But don’t assume unfettered expansion. Several factors need careful monitoring.

www.thefarmersclub.com • 05

Farm Science

Seeking a second green revolution First constituted by John Lawes in 1860, Rothamsted is the longest running agricultural research station in the world. Its cutting-edge science started with the development of inorganic fertilisers by pioneering farm technologist Prof Lawes, the Bill Gates of his day.

Since then it’s discoveries have boosted crop productivity and quality, and built environmentally sustainable solutions for food and energy production, including the discovery of phenoxy herbicides and pyrethroid insecticides, the latter still being the largest selling class of insecticides, with global sales topping $1.2bn a year.

The world famous centre, which receives substantial strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, is addressing Sir John Beddington’s Perfect Storm scenario through four key research programmes:

Britain’s farm scientists face exciting times. Charles Abel reports (Above left) 20t/ha wheat is the goal of new work at Rothamsted Research (Above right) Professor Maurice Moloney – confident UK scientists can deliver for farming

BRITISH scientists can beat all comers when it comes to farm research, particularly as they work increasingly collaboratively. Wheat able to routinely deliver 20t/ha is just one of the potential outcomes, Rothamsted Research director Maurice Moloney told the Farmers Club Committee.

“Rothamsted Research Centre, John Innes, IBERS in Wales and NIAB combined have the critical mass to beat anybody in the world on plant science research,” Professor Moloney explained.

Indeed collaboration is now global, as seen with the Wheat Yield Consortium, uniting the International Centre for Wheat and Maize Improvement (CIMMYT) in Mexico, Rothamsted and John Innes in the UK, US universities, the Rockerfeller and Gates foundations and global governments.

“It’s like space research, there’s no longer one country competing with another, because a united programme is more effective.” The goal is to develop the science to drive a second green revolution. Rothamsted’s track record suggests it is not a fanciful goal. And genetic modification has a clear role to play.

06 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

• Productivity The goal is 20t/ha wheat by 2020, by harnessing genetics, plant protection and biotechnology.

“That’s an unforeseen level of productivity, which won’t be here tomorrow, but we can develop the technology to deliver that and I believe that given the 6-7 years it takes to commercialise varieties we will have such varieties on farms within 20 years,” Professor Maloney enthused.

• Quality Improved quality in cereals and oilseeds may not necessarily command a price premium, but will bring great benefits to the nation’s health, reducing healthcare expenditure, he said.

• Reduction of carbon footprint Reducing the carbon footprint of farming is the focus. “We all know that agriculture is really a saint when it comes to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, through the photosynthesis of green plants. But it is also a sinner in other respects – namely methane and nitrous oxide, the latter of which is 300 times more damaging as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Through a combination of work on nitrogen uptake and a very active soil science programme we hope nitrous oxide losses from residual soil nitrogen can be reduced, to very substantially cut the carbon footprint of agriculture and move the entire operation to being a saint.”

Farm Science

• Sustainability Food production must not be at the expense of soil quality. “Soil quality is probably the most important issue we need to address. Our soil is clearly mostly fantastic, certainly compared with African soils, for example, which are so exhausted and poor in organic matter that they can not sustain anything more than 1t/ha of cereals or corn maize. Doubling yields in Africa would do a lot to address global food security.”

On genetic modification he said consumers needed to see a clear and manifest benefit, so they started asking why they couldn’t have access to the technology, rather than resisting it. Healthy fish oils were a case in point. Farmed fish are not as rich in such oils as wild fish, as they do not have access to the algae in their diets needed to produce them.

Using GM to insert the algae genes into oilseed rape could ensure fish receive a diet to produce more healthy oils.

Indeed, genetic analysis was advancing so rapidly that that DNA analysis would soon confirm the varietal purity of grain deliveries in three minutes not three hours.

The centre’s 150-year old Broadbalk experiment, comparing crop production systems in long rotations, is now coming into its own, providing data from long periods of drought or higher temperatures in the past, to help inform responses to future climate change, he noted.

Rather than conducting ivory tower research Rothamsted feeds basic science into the research pipeline, as part of a knowledge continuum, he argued. “If there’s one thing Rothamsted stands for it is communicating with the farming community.”

(Top) Long-term studies are helping guide on-farm responses to climate change (Below) Greater understanding of pathogen genetics aids crop protection

Genetic modification With over one billion hectares of GM crop grown, and 300 billion meals containing GM food now eaten, it was the most scientifically monitored technology in the world, he noted. “And much of that has been in the US, a most litigious society.

Yet we have not seen a single food safety lawsuit taken to trial.”

At the same time annual pesticide use in the US had fallen by over 18million kilograms (40m lbs).

“Without this technology the EU is now in the embarrassing position of being one of the heaviest users of pesticides in the world.”

Efforts invested in resisting GM would be better directed to solving real food safety issues, such as campylobacter and salmonella, he noted.

In Canada herbicide tolerant GM oilseed rape had not only increased yield by 50%, but more importantly it had allowed a switch to no-till farming, which after ten years could probably be said to have saved the soil structure on many farms in Western Canada.

In Europe the failure to adopt GM technology had seen 14,000 scientific jobs lost. If consumer demand did not open the way to GM, the sheer lack of competitiveness of farming could force a political change, he added. “Maybe there will be a break point when we see the economics and shake our heads and see that we’re the last people working with our hands tied behind our backs,” he suggested.

He went on to urge the “big six” global agricultural companies to support institutes more.

History shows more than half their product developments came from outside their own research.

“Their mindset should be that they can’t resist being involved with us.”

Professor Moloney extolled the virtues of a virtuous circle of added-value breeding, commanding extra revenues for plant breeders to reinvest in genetic development. That had happened in hybrid maize and soya, was being seen in OSR and was now needed in wheat. “Our work to develop genome markers is a step towards kick starting that process.”

NOTICE OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING NOTICE is hereby given that the One Hundred and Seventieth Annual General Meeting of The Farmers Club will be held at 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL on Tuesday 3 July 2012 at 12 noon.

AGENDA 1. Minutes To approve the Minutes of the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Annual General Meeting of the Club.

3. Officers To elect the following Officers of the Club for 2013: the Chairman, Vice Chairman and Honorary Treasurer.

2. Accounts To present the Annual Report and audited Accounts of the Club for the year ended 31 December 2011.

4. Auditors To appoint the Auditors for 2013.

The Committee recommends that Haysmacintyre continues in office.

S N SKINNER Secretary

by Order of the Committee March 2012

www.thefarmersclub.com • 07

Farm charities

Making more of charitable funds A novel match-making initiative is helping charitable funds back British farming more effectively. Charles Abel reports John Bridge, former chairman of AHDB, addressing the first AFCP Annual Forum

FEW dispute British farming’s need to improve its knowledge base. So an initiative to better co-ordinate over £2m of charitable funding each year is timely indeed.

With the “perfect storm” of sustainably feeding 9bn people fast approaching, every available resource needs using in the most efficient way possible, and that includes charity disbursements, explains Paul Biscoe, chief executive of the Agri-Food Charities Partnership (AFCP).

“Charitable funds supporting research studentships may be small individually, but they have an important role to play, being eligible for leverage from other sources, as well as being able to support a wider range of activities than many other funding sources. It's all about rebuilding Britain's food and farming knowledge base.”

Improving the flow of information is essential to ensure charity spending better reflects industry’s strategic needs. Without such information projects can seem appealing to trustees, but may do nothing to address industry’s key needs, and can duplicate other work, notes Dr Biscoe.

To minimise that risk the AFCP website, www.afcp.co.uk, created with support from AHDB, offers a searchable directory of over 50 farming, food and land-based charities, plus over 50 relevant training/research organisations. Each organisation is asked to pay a minimum annual membership fee of £250.

Another risk is that many of the 100-plus charities not yet signed up to AFCP may have become effectively moribund. With returns on investment struggling to hit 3.5%, the amounts available may not be enough to finance a whole research studentship, for example. “We believe there is a lot of pent up potential we can release,” Dr Biscoe enthuses. Estimates suggest as much as £0.5m of annual funding is tied up in this way.

08 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

AFCP-facilitated collaboration aims to help charities identify partners to pool resources, so enhancing the size, number and quality of the projects supported.

A prime example was the funding of a candidate through the “life changing” MBA-style short management course at Cranfield University by the Worshipful Company of Farmers, The Felix Thornley Cobbold Trust and the Chadacre Trust, all members of AFCP, plus East of England Development Agency’s Land Skills Trust.

Collaboration Such collaboration is core to AFCP’s purpose. "When I first looked at this issue I was shocked to find that the only charities working with the levy boards were the RSPCA and the Perry Foundation," notes Dr Biscoe.

As the number of students seeking research positions rockets, and demand from the research community rises too, the need for effective matchmaking could not be greater.

One of the sector’s top funders, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, is eager to support the uptake of industry-relevant science and innovation through its Advanced Training Partnerships. It expects to fund 15 to 20 Doctoral Training Partnerships, mostly multi-institutional, for three years (2012 to 2014) with a total investment of £60 million funding 220 students a year.

The Crop Improvement Research Club, one of the BBSRC’s four Research and Technology Clubs, offered, via the AFCP website, the opportunity for charities to supplement studentships by £1000/year to further support research in the area. “Ensuring charities know who is doing what research is important. So too is the sharing of best management practices between charities, to ensure they run more successfully,” says John Reynolds, AFCP director and a

Farm charities

former chairman of the Farmers Club.

The scope for synergies is increasing, notes Professor Graham Jellis, trustee of the Perry Foundation and an AFCP director. “It is a concept that may be rather foreign to a lot of charities, but it is something we can help with.” The AFCP recently expedited a significant grant from the Felix Thornley Cobbold Trust to ensure a major RASE soils initiative was completed on time and budget, for example.

quite specific funding stream.

The research community is keen to reduce that.

Whilst the supply of graduate students has been described as “indispensible”, a senior BBSRC official branded the whole issue of studentships as a “complex offering in a complex landscape”, needing better prioritisation and co-ordination. AFCP’s single point of information could address that, bringing significant benefits to food and farming industries.

Independence Significantly, AFCP has no desire to take funding decisions itself. Neither is the amalgamation of charities nor their funds on the agenda. “We see ourselves as a facilitator, posing no threat to independence. The nuances of individual charities are their strength, bringing different objectives and the innovative thinking the industry needs,” explains Eric Wilson AFCP chairman and a former chairman of the Farmers Club.

“We are not seeking to act as a clearing house, or act as a conduit for funding, but as an umbrella organisation, to boost overall efficiency."

As a not-for-profit limited company AFCP has an annual budget of about £20,000, backed by donations from NFU Mutual, administrative support from the Institution of Agricultural Engineers based at Cranfield University, and pro bono assistance from The Farmers Club.

"We're also looking to simplify the process for students applying for charitable support, with standard application forms, a more uniform closing date for submissions and better information to guide student applications," says Peter Redman, an AFCP director and trustee of the Douglas Bomford Trust.

The better targeting afforded by the website’s search facility should also help reduce the blunderbuss approach of applications that can see dozens of speculative applications submitted for one

(Above) Paul Biscoe chief executive of AFCP, Elizabeth Stephens company secretary, and Peter Redman director of AFCP (Below left) Researchers studying phoma in oilseed rape as part of a BBSRC Link project supported by 10 industrial companies, AHDB, NFU and three charities, the Chadacre Agricultural Trust, Felix Thornley Cobbold Agricultural Trust and The Perry Foundation

AFCP • 150 food and farming research charities in UK • AFCP membership includes 50 charities and 50 institutions co-operating to optimise fund use • £2m spent per year from £70m invested in trusts • Match-funding helps maximise impacts • England, Scotland and Wales • Promoting charity best practices • Charity independence valued

www.thefarmersclub.com • 09

Climate change

Big farm impacts likely

Climate change could hit UK wheat production hard, says Farmers Club Charitable Trust beneficiary Debbie Sparkes

Wheat Under Pressure • 10% average fall in wheat yield on some of the UK’s most productive soils under 2050 mid-emissions climate change scenario • 24% fall predicted on light textured soils • Year to year yield variation up from 38% to 50% • Less summer rainfall and more winter rainfall to blame • Post-flowering droughts more common, compromising grain fill • Min-till, residue management and breeding could help offset

APSIM model predicted actual yields very well

Simulated yield (t ha-1)

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Observed yield (t ha-1)

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Climate change

(Above) Snapped from a camera phone – Toowoomba floods of 2011 were an extreme example of the implications shifts in weather patterns can have (Top left) Wheat established with a lot of residue from the previous crop on the soil surface benefits from improved water infiltration and retention, and less soil erosion (Below left) Farmers in Southern Australia are already grappling with tricky soil conditions.

These ‘swales and dunes’, comprising sandy ridges interspersed with clay, make in-field management a real challenge

UNDER the mid-emissions climate change scenario for 2050, wheat yield on some of the UK’s most productive soils will fall by an average of 10%. On light textured soils production could be cut by 24%.

But this isn’t the only concern. Variations in yield from year to year will increase dramatically too, with potentially big impacts for farm planning and marketing.

Those are key findings from my studies with the Ecosystems Sciences group of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Queensland. The Farmers Club Charitable Trust award enabled me to travel to Toowoomba for a study period of six weeks, which was extended by the University of Nottingham as a sabbatical, so I could spend six months with CSIRO in all.

Toowoomba shot to fame on 10 January 2011 when an ‘inland tsunami’ swept through the city, with tragic consequences. The devastating floods that affected the area, with major crop losses, highlight the variability of rainfall in that part of the world.

Was it a taste of things to come for the UK? It has been well publicised that under climate change the UK is likely to face a greater risk of summer droughts, and more over-winter rainfall, making water scarcity and soil erosion both increasingly important.

Modelling the future CSIRO’s Agricultural Production Systems Simulator is well suited to the study of reduced water availability, having been developed to predict average crop yield and variability in dryland cropping systems. Interestingly, it also addresses rotations, establishment, crop failure, and longer term soil processes such as organic matter content and erosion.

To ensure APSIM was relevant to UK wheat production, data from 26 field experiments across 10 years were used to validate it. APSIM’s simulations showed good agreement with actual field data collected.

The weather generator created by the UK Climate Projections project (http://ukclimateprojectionsui.defra.gov.uk) was then used to generate 30 years of meteorological data for the Sutton Bonington site, assuming baseline (current) conditions and conditions impacted by climate change, centred on 2050.

Under the mid-emissions scenario, there was no significant change in annual rainfall, but the distribution changed, with more winter rainfall (especially November to January) and lower monthly rainfall from May to September. The mean daily maximum temperature increased from 13.1 to 15.7oC and the mean daily minimum temperature from 5.3 to 7.5oC. Mid and high emissions scenarios were rather similar, which was not surprising as it is expected that these scenarios will differ little before the 2080s. My crop simulations therefore focussed on comparing baseline with the mid-emissions scenario for 2050.

Any impacts of changing ozone and CO2 levels were assumed to cancel each other out in this period.

Simulations were conducted for a moisture retentive clay loam soil (with a plant available water capacity of 222mm), and a more drought prone sandy soil (92mm plant AWC).

On the clay loam soil average yield dropped from 9.2t/ha under baseline conditions to 8.3t/ha under the 2050 mid-emissions scenario. However, this 10% yield reduction masked a dramatic increase in variability, up from 38% variation around the mean yield under baseline conditions, to 50% variation under climate change.

What would that mean in the field? In 90% of years climate change would cause yield to vary between 5.7-9.8t/ha, compared with a 7.0-10.5t/ha range in the baseline scenario.

The impact was even greater on the light textured sandy soil, where the average wheat yield would reduce by 24% from 5.4t/ha to 4.1t/ha, with year to year yield variations exceeding the 50% range predicted for the clay soil.

Grain fill hit APSIM also pointed to the cause of the yield impacts on the clay loam soil, the main soil investigated.

A marked reduction in grain size stemmed from a four day reduction in the grain filling period, caused by the mean temperature rising by 2.1oC in that period. Furthermore, rainfall during grain fill fell 26%, on average, resulting in significant water stress in most years.

Extractable soil water at harvest reduced from 126mm in the baseline scenario to 96mm under climate change (26%). However, by the start of the sowing window, the differences were shown to have little impact on sowing opportunity and the profile was usually recharged over the winter period.

In terms of adaptation, the first thing to consider is whether breeders can produce varieties better suited to the anticipated new climatic conditions.

Growers will also have to take steps to increase the water available for crop growth, not necessarily by irrigation, but maybe by adopting measures currently used in Australia, such as using crop residues to protect the soil surface from erosion and increase water infiltration, and more minimum tillage/conservation agriculture.

Equally important will be a better knowledge of the available water in a given field. There has been a big push in Australia for growers to characterise their soils, including the amount of available water at various depths. This information helps them decide whether to plant, which crop to plant and (with the in-crop rainfall data) how to manage the crop through sowing rate, nitrogen application and the like.

Clearly, APSIM is a useful tool. Further validation for crops such as oilseed rape and barley is now required to allow rotational studies.

• Dr Debbie Sparkes University of Nottingham utton Bonington Campus Loughborough Leicestershire LE12 5RD e-mail: Debbie.Sparkes@nottingham.ac.uk

www.thefarmersclub.com • 11

Food provenance

Foodie focus reaps rewards Leveraging food provenance is the goal in Malton, N Yorks. Club member Robert Dalgliesh, chief agent to the Fitzwilliam Estates explains THE focus on farming and the demand for authentic, quality, local produce is predicted to rise through 2012 as concerns about health, provenance, sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint continue to influence consumer choices.

Setting the pace in the sector’s renaissance is the Yorkshire market town of Malton, planted firmly in farming and agriculture, both arable and livestock, on the edge of the Wolds, a few miles from York and the East Coast.

Its food and farming culture is alive and thriving thanks to several initiatives that have marked it out as a pathfinder in local food marketing.

Once a Roman fort town much of Malton and its surroundings have been owned and managed by the Fitzwilliam Estate for more than 300 years. And it was the Fitzwilliam Estate that launched a major initiative to focus attention on the excellence of locally produced foods in late 2008.

Establishing the We Love Malton marketing campaign, the first Food Lovers Festival was held in the town’s historic central market place in 2009. It proved the public not only had an appetite for locally produced food, but for meeting local farmers and growers too.

12 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

“Last year we had around 10,000 visitors. People are really interested in good food, and top quality cooking demonstrations, and it is a real benefit to the town and its businesses and producers,” says events organiser Tom Naylor-Leyland, heir to Fitzwilliam Estates.

A team of seven manages the Festivals, with a modest promotion and marketing budget. Sponsors are coming on board, but funds to develop the events have come from the Fitzwilliam Malton Estate and the Earl Fitzwilliam Charitable Trust, via the Malton Amenity Community Interest Company, which was established to benefit the local community. It provides free parking in the town centre, various business initiatives and community activities.

Mr Naylor-Leyland continues: “The Traders within the town are all part of the events, and are kept informed of plans well in advance. We have also come up with the Festival Taste Trail, so shops and businesses not involved in food directly can be involved, bringing visitors into their shops to taste some of the delicious foods made in Malton.

“Staging the Festival last year cost in the region of £54,000, and we are now actively seeking additional ways in which businesses and individuals can join with us to support the Festival for the future.”

Alongside over 100 stalls highlighting quality regional specialties and local seasonal produce, the Festival has an accompanying programme of activities to ensure it is seen as more than a shopping opportunity, but a day out in its own right.

(Above) Festival and market organizer Tom Naylor-Leyland sees a bright future for local food producers (Main picture) Malton Food Lovers Festival is helping to drive the provenance message locally

Food provenance

The 2012 event on May 19 and 20 will include a two-day programme of celebrity chef demonstrations and an expanded Beer, Wine and Cider Festival.

There will also be a programme of ‘Masterclass’ tasting tutorials and book signings, an Army kitchen, street theatre and outdoor music, backed by a leading line up of chefs and cooks demonstrating local produce, including Antonio Carluccio, Matthew Fort, Tom Parker Bowles, Rosemary Shrager, Andrew Pern, Yorkshire farmer’s daughter Stephanie Moon and Michelin starred James Mackenzie.

Such is the momentum around the project that a Food Lovers Market was launched last November.

Opened by broadcaster Selina Scott it attracted over 2000 visitors. Another was scheduled for March 3, with a view to it becoming a regular indoor market.

The town’s reputation as a “foodie” destination is reaping big benefits, attracting new businesses, including shops, pubs, restaurants, bakers and delis keen to work with the farming community to market locally produced food and drink.

• www.welovemalton.co.uk

Goodness Vegetables THIS small organic farm grows a huge range of vegetables, salads, herbs and fruits, as well as producing organic pork and eggs, with a veg box scheme supplying local customers. “Being involved with the Food Lovers Festival from the start really helped our business and we now rely on it to swell our database of customers, and really get our name to the people who are passionate about locally grown, superb food. It has been a really brilliant and brave initiative.”

• www.goodnessgrowing.co.uk

Skerry Hall Farm

Yorkshire Meats LUCY and James Haxton rear rare breed pigs, primarily Oxford Sandy and Blacks. Through their Adopt-a-Pig scheme, people can track their adopted piglet's life from start to finish, receiving photo packs, email updates, and internet links, and even visiting the pigs in their natural surroundings. At the end of the six months they can choose what is wanted back from the pig for a perfect porcine feast, knowing exactly where it all came from. “It is the ultimate in food provenance,” says Lucy.

The inaugural Malton Food Lovers Market worked well for them. "It was a fantastic opportunity for us to get our name across,” Lucy recalls. “We sold over £800-worth on the day."

The farm and its piglets also has endorsement from internationally known Italian cook Antonio Carluccio (see picture), who visited the farm, loved what he saw and 'adopted' a weaner, naming her Sophia Loren!

• www.yorkshiremeats.co.uk

THIS small traditional farm overlooking Fylingthorpe and Robin Hood’s Bay has been home to the Skerry Herd of pedigree Dexter Cattle since 2004. Alan and Jan Adams market their high quality Dexter beef directly to the public, the well-marbled beef from slow-maturing traditionally reared animals being hung for three-and-a half weeks to develop full flavour and texture. “We were pleased to be at both the Malton Food Festival and Market, as it attracted so many people,” the Adams say. Takings exceeding those from other events, they note.

• www.skerryhallfarm.co.uk

Beez Neez Apiary ALLAN Stonehouse produces a variety of Yorkshire Moors, flower, and field and forest honey at Rillington, North Yorkshire and has had a stall at all the Food Lovers Festivals since 2009, bringing a “live” comb each time. “Being part of the Food Lovers movement has been a terrific boost to my sales and has really increased the number of people who come and seek me out during the events, lifting my turnover by 5%,” says Allan.

• www.beezneezapiary.co.uk

www.thefarmersclub.com • 13

Member views

Modern technology is doing much to help farmers produce food and protect the environment

Delivering what matters Marketing, political machinations and the environment come under the scrutiny of Northamptonshire farmer member Jim Pitts

I WROTE to the Editor regarding comments on the unkempt nature of parts of the English countryside put forward by last years’ Chairman in the Farmers Club Journal. More fool me! I was asked to respond with my views after 60 years of farming in Northamptonshire: a county unheard of until it produced our new Chairman.

Had Richard Holland written his words in 1948 I think I would have concurred with him. But a lot of my generation of farmers may be forgiven for disagreeing in 2012 I started out as a young and inexperienced town boy, who wanted nothing more than to work on a farm. After some pretty hard graft, and a few job changes, we managed to get a tenancy of about 350 acres. A huge leap forward!

14 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

With a relatively free mind and keen to progress, fortune smiled and we became involved with that once great British company, ICI, which was at the forefront of agricultural technological advance.

Initially, we kept 45 cows on 55 acres of grass and kale, reared no young stock and planted wheat wherever we could. We rarely afforded the luxury of dairy cake, preferring to use sugar beet pulp, soya, and whatever was going.

Silage making was the mainspring of our grassland management and the key to our winter milk production. Haymaking seemed about as daft an occupation as one could think of!

The next major advance was feeding maize with concentrates and grass silage through a mixer wagon. It was a very steep learning curve. But it really

Member views

boiled down to common sense, understanding the dietary needs of high performing cows, and simple mathematics.

Our aims were simple: try to make several blades of grass grow where only one grew before; quadruple the yield of the cow; raise the yield of wheat from a low base in the 1940s to what it is today (ie about fourfold); keep no animal that failed to produce; monitor wheat and grass varieties; and keep up to speed with new technology in fertilizer, sprays, and mechanisation.

But there was one big problem, which I could never fathom. It persists today: marketing.

The Milk Marketing Board was the sole receiver of our milk. Note, I refrain from saying it marketed our milk, because it did not! It distributed it to wholesalers, who pretty much dictated the price paid, although in theory it was supposed to be a decision between the Ministry of Agriculture, the MMB, and the dairy trade. But clever wording of the Milk Marketing Act meant the trade was not allowed to do business at a loss!!

When the MMB was closed dairy farmers had a golden, and once in a lifetime, opportunity to market their milk from a position of strength, through the formation of Milk Marque. What staggered me was that there were many “bright” managers of dairy farms who shunned this opportunity, and gave in to the very quick buck of as little as penny a litre, to join the likes of Northern Foods and Express Dairies.

There was huge political pressure put on the Ministry of Agriculture, and Permanent Secretary Richard Packer, who appeared personally to take on the Minister’s case, and became the ‘yes man’ of the dairy trade, right to the point of actually playing a key role leading the EEC to rule that Milk Marque was illegal. What utter rubbish.

That was all bad enough. But Dairy Crest, which was solely owned by dairy farmers, and could and should have been the sound base of a farmer-owned retailer of dairy produce, was forcibly sold. This too was at the behest of the trade. Another lost opportunity.

Those who fled Milk Marque for a quick penny finally found they had lost 10p per litre, or more.

The next 15 years saw dairy farmers struggle like never before, all because those involved were unable to see beyond their own farm gate.

When it became clear Milk Marque was going to fail, following much soul searching we reluctantly sold the bedrock upon which our farming career had been founded. It remains one of the saddest days of my life. The farm is now stockless, and at times depressingly quiet, but it was a sound financial decision.

The grain market is pretty uncomfortable for producers too, although today’s relatively high prices make it less apparent. I do feel the inevitable emergence of large grain co-ops is beginning to put pressure on our traditional grain buyers though.

But I have strayed into farm politics. I had better revert to shallower water and the current trendy interest in the environment. When we began farming on our own I don’t think I had ever heard the word used in a farming sense. Now it seems to take precedence over food production, with so many

schemes, all with their rules and regulations.

We can’t even cut hedges in August. Whoever heard of a self-respecting bird nesting in August?

Of course there must be mandarins hiding in the corridors of power in Smith Square who think they do! Indeed, I am sure I am not alone in believing that Defra is now “restrictive”, whereas in the past the Ministry of Agriculture was a “promoter.” A really sad change. It is time for a reversal.

So the years roll by. If I look at the land our sons now farm I am on the one hand hugely proud of what they do; their yields, the use of the latest technology, and their cost control, and all this with wide headlands, grey partridges, and wild birds in profusion. But as a nation struggling financially, with food not exactly coming out of our ears, I wonder if so many ‘set aside acres’ can be afforded?

I have had a wonderful farming career. I have been at the forefront of development for 60 years, when farming has changed more than at any other period. I get tremendous satisfaction from watching the next generation take on new challenges and it is a real joy to drive a tracked combine cutting a 30 foot swathe and see the monitor indicating a rate of over 60 tonnes an hour!

So, finally, I think I can safely say that the generations of farmers since the Second World War can be immensely satisfied that we have done a far better job of looking after our bit of England than our urban cousins have done with theirs. It therefore amazes me that these same cousins still believe we are not doing our bit for the green and pleasant land which, through our stewardship, looks splendid at all seasons of the year.

What more have we to do?

Farming has done a fine job of protecting Britain’s landscape, despite big challenges, not least of which was the lost opportunity to take more control of milk marketing, says Club member Jim Pitts

www.thefarmersclub.com • 15

Farming Views

Farming Views Farming Figures

£10.83bn

Value of UK food and drink exports, up 59% since 2005 and now the UK’s 4th largest export sector

34% Share of adults who paying any attention to where their food is grown or produced when shopping

$5.5 trillion Amount of world’s $10tn of foreign exchange reserves held in China, Russia, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Korea and Taiwan

70%

Area of English and Welsh farmland covered by agri-environment schemes (7 million hectares)

0% Target for total waste from commercial operations set by Coca-Cola for 2020

25million Anticipated population of Shanghai in China, within 10 years, many aspiring to a middle class lifestyle

1882 First year New Zealand shipped lamb to UK

16 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

What value do you place on independent advice, asks AICC chairman Mike Warner

Independent values WHAT is independent advice? With thirty years of experience the Association of Independent Crop Consultants believes it knows and is working hard to ensure farmers have access to truly independent advice well into the future.

Born in the early 80s it now has over 200 independent members advising farmers on over 1.4M hectares – that’s almost half the UK entire agronomy advice market.

“Central to our success has been our Code of Conduct,” says AICC chief executive Sarah Cowlrick. “In all this time it has hardly changed – the principle remains the same – to provide a professional organisation for the truly independent agronomist.

“The challenge we face is the use or understanding of the word independent,” says Mrs Cowlrick.

“The AICC understanding of the word independent is simple – no vested interest, no commission, no bias, no influence.”

Advice from AICC members is based on the technical merit of the product rather than a recommendation linked to a sales target. “The need for this truly none commercial advice for UK farmers is still there – it’s just harder for them to distinguish between companies which state they are impartial,” Mrs Cowlrick notes.

To ensure a steady supply of independent agronomists for the future, the AICC has launched an innovative training programme in collaboration with Management Development Services, Syngenta and the Processors and Growers Research Organisation.

“The average age of AICC members is increasing, and

although new agronomists are coming into the profession it is often very difficult for individual agronomists to take on a new trainee, because of the cost,” says AICC chairman Mike Warner.

The MDS Agronomy Partnership is equipping future agronomists with a range of skills, experience, knowledge, and qualifications. The first intake of graduates joined last October, with numerous applications for the second intake later this year.

AICC’s national trials programme has also expanded. In 2011 it included 41 field trials looking at early sown wheat varieties, stacking of pre-em and post-em blackgrass herbicides, brome and meadow grass control, development herbicides in oilseed rape, SDHI fungicide performance in wheat and barley and a comparison of epoxiconazole fungicide formulations.

The results are published to AICC members in the secure area of the AICC web site, with time spent at the National Conference discussing results in greater detail. “We now have up to 3 years data for the new SDHI cereal fungicides, which has been particularly valued by our members, as they can come to a more informed opinion as to the best ways of using them,” Mr Warner notes.

Growers use independent agronomists for three main reasons: • Untainted, genuine advice • Transparent fees, separate from input costs • Wealth of knowledge, including new technologies, environment and legislation Source: AICC grower survey

Club Event

Afternoon with a genius*

By James Cross LIKE many I was too slow off the mark to apply for tickets for the National Gallery’s Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition. So I was rather quicker to respond to one of two trips offered by the Club.

It proved a delightful afternoon, beginning with an excellent lunch in the Eastwood Room – the chocolate tart with morello cherry sorbet being particularly well received. As one regular observer commented, the babble of conversation from a group of 20 members, many of whom had not met before, was indicative of one of the great merits of the Club as a wonderful meeting and mixing place.

The exhibition itself was all it promised to be, exploring Leonardo’s time in Milan in the late Fifteenth Century under the patronage of its ruler Ludovica Sforza. While his approach to portraiture broke with convention, allowing sitters to turn towards the viewer and so become a living person, we saw in The Lady with the Ermine that he still included allusions, both symbolic and to his patron.

His impact was rapid and within a few years he had become the leader of a gathering of artistic talent. This, together with his tendency not to finish many of his works, allows scope for enquiry into who is responsible for what, with his pupils participating in some works (the landscape in The Madonna Litta has been suggested) and being encouraged to develop his studies into their own works. Another surprising feature is his tightly scripted, reverse left-handed notes!

His position at court allowed him free rein to explore techniques through observation and reworking sketches, often surrounding or overlaid on one another. This even occurred in the final work, as was highlighted in the recently discovered Salvator Mundi. Working in metalpoint was particularly unforgiving to the artist but highly effective. The Drapery study for an angel was delightful, created to solve a problem for Virgin of the Rocks – being able to compare both versions was fascinating, perhaps in the same room for the first time ever.

The final gallery was devoted to The Last Supper and associated studies – the copy from 20 years later of course, but an awe-inspiring send-off nonetheless!

Another lovely day at the Farmers Club. Offering members an occasion based on a “specialâ€? London event is a recent and very welcome innovation – well done MaryAnne for spotting the opportunity! * “A genius is someone who‌ is able to change one’s perceptions of realityâ€? (George Melly on Spike Milligan)

Studies of hands, metalpoint over charcoal Cecilia Gallerani (‘The Lady with an Ermine’), oil on walnut

Lent by Her Majesty The Queen. The Royal Collection Š 2011, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Property of the Czartoryski Foundation in Cracow on deposit at the National Museum in Cracow. Š Princes Czartoryski Foundation.

Top prices Paid for parcels of 10 or more trees. Best quality replacement willow sets supplied as standard.

Free advice always available.

Courteous and friendly service.

More details at www.cricketbatwillow.com/treeswanted.php

! " # ! ! "

www.thefarmersclub.com • 17

Rhydian Scurlock-Jones, Chairman; Jeremy Dyas, Vice Chairman; MaryAnne Salisbury, Secretary • U30s

U30s Chairman’s Jottings I AM very privileged to take over the Chairmanship for the Under 30s from Patrick Durnford and would like to thank Patrick on behalf of the Committee for his sterling role as our Chair last year. I am delighted that I will be supported by Jeremy Dyas, a Shropshire farmer well known to Under 30s, who was elected as Vice Chairman at our AGM. I joined the Farmers Club in 2007 as a trainee land agent after gaining my master’s degree at the Royal Agricultural College. I saw the Under 30s as a way to meet, socialise and learn from industry leaders and peers; and have gained a huge amount. As a member I have met other U30s, as well as over 30s, from varied walks of agricultural life, people I would not have met otherwise and I now feel lucky to consider many as good friends.

We have an exciting and engaging programme planned for 2012. So, whether you have recently joined, are thinking about joining, have joined but haven’t yet attended an event, or are a longstanding member, I look forward to welcoming you to this year’s Under 30s events.

I would also encourage the whole Club membership to help the next generation of the Club to flourish, by spreading the word about what the Under 30s offers – quite simply we are looking for more new members and more people to join in our planned programme of events.

I very much look forward to seeing you in the year ahead,

contact Rhydian for more information Rhydian Scurlock-Jones 07807 999177 rsjones@savills.com

18 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

Super London weekend VISITS to the Tower of London and Horse Guards were highlights of the new member’s weekend, based at the Farmers Club on 3-5th February, providing a tremendous start to the year’s calendar and a great introduction to the club for the numerous new faces.

After a fantastic three course dinner on the Friday night, with roast pork and crackling particularly well received, the satisfied crowd listened to a talk from Peter Morris. Having had a successful career as a lawyer and a professional rugby player with Wasps, he now lectures at the RAC. His talk left those of us who did not attend the ‘College of Knowledge’ (!) wishing our lecturers had been only half as entertaining and insightful. After adjourning to the bar we moved on to local night spot, Opal, for our own version of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

Think less Jason Donovan, more Anne Widdecombe!

Saturday saw the election of three new under 30s committee members – Victoria Goddard, Beth Hockham and William Benbow – and sadly, due to advancing years, the retirement of several prominent members. After the Annual General Meeting we had lunch at the Club before heading to the Tower of London.

Our fascinating guided tour started outside Traitors Gate and moved through to the White Tower, which was recently restored at a cost of £2million and looked quite spectacular.

Legend says the kingdom and the Tower will fall if the six resident ravens ever leave. We were informed they eat up to 8oz of meat every day – reason enough to stay! Keen to escape the Baltic conditions we then headed for the Jewel House, home to far more jewels than most of us realised.

The evening started with cocktails at a Moroccan themed bar in Heddon Street. With incense and authentic decor it felt like we were in Morocco.

Dinner was at the Living Room restaurant and after a busy day great food and company was just what was needed.

On Sunday morning we walked to Horse Guards to visit the Household Cavalry Museum. Dating from 1750 it is still the headquarters of the Household Division and its Household Cavalry has performed the Queen’s Life Guard in a daily ceremony which has been largely unchanged for over 350 years. The Cavalry was formed in 1661 under the direct order of King Charles II and now consists of the two senior regiments of the British Army – The Life Guards and the Blues and Royals.

The whole weekend was a great credit to the Club and we must thank MaryAnne Salisbury and our outgoing chairman, Patrick Durnford, for organising it so competently. A very high standard has been set for the remainder of the year’s events.

• Jeremy Dyas

U30s • Rhydian Scurlock-Jones, Chairman; Jeremy Dyas, Vice Chairman; MaryAnne Salisbury, Secretary

While working there I met Mike Porter of Porter Ag, who shared an office with Technology Crops, and has been a key influence on my career. When the company relocated from Hertfordshire to Suffolk the long commute prompted me to seek a new direction, but should it be London, farm management, or something else involving my rural roots?

A phone call to Mike helped my decision. Mike is a fertiliser, seed and grains broker with the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. The fact he and his wife Jayne have fostered more than 30 children and adopted three others is testament to that.

Longest ever ‘interview’ He asked me to organise visits to four potential new farm customers, where with Mike observed as I tried to sell them something. It was without doubt the longest job ‘interview’ I've ever had, but it led to me working with Mike for more than three years.

When he was approached to run Technology Crops I was self-employed, brokering fertiliser, seed and grain under the Porter Ag name. After consulting my closest customers, and with Mike's support, I started brokering as Paterson Ag in April 2011.

While it is still early days for Paterson Ag, the business is growing. I currently deal with 70 accounts, covering more than 110,000 acres. Some clients use my services for all their buying and selling, but for most I am part of their input and output supply chain.

When I first explained brokering to Jo she didn't understand how it would work. But I felt confident it would be a success, having seen Mike's brokering model when we shared an office.

Gap between prices

Developing a career in farming is the focus of this issue’s U30s article, in which Luke Paterson explains how “surprising” differences in merchant prices for seeds, grains and fertilisers can be harnessed

Building a bespoke brokering business MY life changed in 2005. I had left Harper Adams where I had met Jo, who I'm now lucky enough to be married to, and rather than returning home to Norfolk I moved to her home county of Hertfordshire.

One of my first jobs was with niche and novel crop company Technology Crops, where I evaluated agronomy and growing of many ‘weird and wonderful’ crops. It was an interesting and busy job, until wheat spiked to £170/t.

It still surprises me today the gap between the prices that different merchants offer on the same day.

Trading is a personal view, if a merchant believes the market is going up or down, they price accordingly.

The same is true for fertilisers and grains.

I specialise in fertilisers, seeds and grains, so can make each deal bespoke. There is no market average price, it is the correct price for the correct location.

In grain the variance lies in the premiums, and with very good quality this year those are harder to find than usual. Where I can add value is by matching the right product into the right home – it's like trying to match a round peg to a round hole.

Paterson Ag brokers fertiliser on a national basis and grains on a regional basis. The company also offers buy-back contracts for specialist crops.

I am confident business will continue to grow over the coming year, especially with the launch of a finance broker based at the Paterson Ag office. This broker will offer a farmer-friendly route to the futures and options market, a service I think will become increasingly important in the volatile markets we live in.

• Luke Paterson U30s member Paterson Ag, Lower Heath Farm, Therfield Road, Odsey, HERTS SG7 6SE luke@patersonag.co.uk www.patersonag.co.uk 07775 618 297

www.thefarmersclub.com • 19

Obituary

Jim Blanchard: past Club Chairman and industry figure Jim Blanchard – chairman of The Farmers Club in 1984

JIM was one of those people you meet who always remained in your memory – he did not blend away into the background!

Tall, dark and handsome, with amazing energy, he lived life to the full at work and at play, yet in his hectic schedule he had time for his family, friends and colleagues – especially the young.

Jim was born near London, in Sutton, but his father died young from the effects of wounds sustained in the First World War. Jim went to boarding school in Margate and, since his mother worked, spent holidays on nearby farms, where the cows and horses first captured his attention.

After school he worked for three years in an insurance office, before the outbreak of the Second World War, which he spent with the 7th Armoured Division in the Middle East, mainly Egypt. After the War Jim worked for Lord Selborne near Alton for three years and, undoubtedly, this would have been when his friendship with Mary developed, although they did not marry until 1957.

Lord Selborne found him a job near Pewsey managing Minister of Agriculture Lord Hudson’s farm, including a herd of Jerseys and a herd of Friesians. Jim had his eye on 20 acres of hops at Southmoor owned

by Dick Holmes and Bob Pike, buying them out in 1956, and eventually growing the farm to 1000 acres, with 60 acres of hops.

In the mid-60s, Jim’s closest friend, Ken Woolley, started Pig Improvement Company and Jim willingly received pig muck onto his light land. Later, when the PIC Fyfield Wick nuclear sow herd became surplus to requirements Jim acquired the land and the sows for his Sheephouse Farm pig unit.

Jim was already vice-chairman of English Hops, regional director of Hampshire and Berkshire Hops and president of the International Hop Growers –

20 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

involving travel all over Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

His appetite for travel was encouraged further when Ken and Alwyn Woolley moved to America as PIC grew. Jim and Mary, Ken and Alwyn, had many hilarious holidays exploring that great country, crossing the North Atlantic by Concorde and, more importantly, the QE2, their favourite ship.

Jim was now deeply involved in pig politics, as a member of the NFU Pigs Committee for 14 years from 1975, the last four as chairman. He chaired the Meat & Livestock Commission’s Pig Marketing and Promotion committee and was the driving force behind the Pig Disease Eradication Fund, formed in 1983 to counter the threat of Aujesky’s disease. Only Jim could have persuaded Government to implement this initiative – the NFU collecting the levy and pig farmers parting with their money – some feat!

Deservedly he was awarded an MBE. His energies were not exhausted as he was also chairman of BB&O Grain Group, director of Farringdon Farmers Buying Group and chairman of the Farmers Club in 1984.

If this was the working man, what about the rest of his life? Relaxation is probably not an appropriate word, as those who accompanied him on some of his favourite jaunts will testify! The first two days of every Lords Test Match, Twickenham Internationals and the Varsity match, not to mention the 1966 World Cup Final, plus many others. However, his constitution was tested most by his regular attendance at The National Sporting Club lunches at the Café Royal.

It was not unusual to return from lunch in the early hours of the following day.

Some of us found the pace a bit hot, but not Jim! He had an iron constitution, never “did” hangovers and, most annoyingly, remembered everything that had been said. But, of course, this was all in the interest of business – the first 10 pints were to support the brewers, and then he could move to his favourite tipple, G&T. Inevitably, Jim was so involved with work that his time with sons Tim and Mike was limited. The illness and untimely death of Mike was born with great courage and dignity.

He was a great support to grandsons James, Edward and Giles, being ever-present at cricket, rugby and hockey matches. It was wonderful that he could appreciate Giles represent his country at the European Young Riders Championships last year.

Jim was such a generous host, home or away – I remember countless Royal Shows, Smithfields, Farmers Club dinners and Grasshoppers meetings where he was the life and soul of the party.

He was always interested in what others were doing, or thought – even if he did not agree with them! After his first debilitating stroke he was determined to carry on and involve himself – still asking the first question at meetings, giving his own thoughts on the matter under discussion but, most importantly deriving pleasure from being amongst friends.

Jim – have a happy time with your beloved Mary, Old Boy – we will miss you!

• Giles Rowsell

Ramblings • Stephen Skinner

Ramblings A good Club winter DECEMBER proved to be a good month for the Club in respect of turnover. Members clearly found their Christmas spirit and we enjoyed a marked increase in dinners, lunches and indeed meetings while also seeing a small increase in bedroom occupancy.

January seems to have been reasonably buoyant too so despite the general

Ironing proved an irresistible temptation during the Chairman’s Tour of the Club

level of doom and gloom in the economy, I think it fair to say we are doing ok – so far!

The negotiations for One Horse Guards Avenue are on-going and I hope that we will be in a position to give Members a firm indication one way of the other in the next few weeks.

Some of you will have seen the new page on our website detailing the possible expansion into Number One, which I am particularly pleased with. It is bright, easy to read and informative.

Of course, we have to make sure it is kept up to date, but we have the people to do that. You may also have noted the site allows you to comment on the various articles/items that appear.I hope you will take the opportunity to do this as feedback is invaluable.

Below you will also see that Members are able to book on-line for certain events. This is a first step for us and one I hope to build on in the not too distant future.

Bookings ONLINE booking and payment for Club events is now possible via the Club website, hopefully making it quicker and easier for all involved.

The on-line booking area can be accessed via the “Noticeboard” section of the Club website (www.thefarmersclub.com). Once a simple one-off registration process has been completed members will be able to choose the events they wish to attend, book places and pay via a secure electronic payment service.

A confirmation e-mail will be sent.

If on-line bookings are full, members will receive an e-mail advising them they have been added to the waiting list.

The new service is not intended to discriminate against those who do not

use, or do not wish to use, the internet to make bookings. A proportion of places for each event will be reserved for those who wish to book by post or telephone.

The first events offering on-line booking are the St Patrick’s Day dinner, St George’s Day lunch and summer shows. It is hoped that on-line booking of bedrooms, meeting rooms and dining room reservations will also be possible in the not-too-distant future.

Staff Party THE traditional Christmas party for the staff this year took a different form to that of the past. Rather than have the staff served dinner by members of the Committee, we had drinks with the Chairman and his Committee before Christmas and then, in late January, a good number of us went out to a restaurant/jazz bar in the West End. While not everyone wanted to go, I have to say those that did go, myself included, thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was good to get away from the Club and let our collective hair down.

Customer Feedback WE Brits are not very good at commenting on poor service, or food, or whatever.

To that end, in the restaurant, can I encourage you to tell my staff immediately if you are not happy with what you have been served! I do occasionally get letters of complaint about a particular dish served some days after the event and while I do not doubt for a second the veracity of the problem, it is difficult to identify what the root cause is at this point. So, while I would much prefer a compliment, do tell us when we get it wrong – at the time!

John Edgar Trust APPLICANTS are sought for a three week management training course at the Royal Agricultural College, funded by the John Edgar Trust, writes course director Professor John Alliston John Edgar was a successful Hampshire farmer who contributed hugely to the agricultural industry. The course, funded by a trust established in his name (www.johnedgartrust.org.uk), is aimed at young people in their first management role, preferably from Hampshire and surrounding counties, although some from further afield have also taken part.

Up to 12 delegates spend a week at the RAC looking at personal development and hearing visiting speakers, then two weeks at the Grosvenor Hotel in Stockbridge looking at farming and diversified business case studies and visiting exemplar practitioners.

A farm walk is planned for Tuesday 8th May at Blackmoor Estate, hosted by Lord Woolmer, where some of JET’s 300 alumni and prospective delegates can view soft fruit production, packaging and marketing.

Application forms from course coordinator rhonda.thompson@rac.ac.uk

www.thefarmersclub.com • 21

The Farmers Club • Club Information

Club Information 020 7930 3751 DIARY DATES Please check the dates carefully as they are sometimes changed and new dates added for each issue. Details of Club events circulated in the previous issues are available from the Secretariat at the telephone number shown above.

APRIL

Royal Norfolk Show Drinks Reception

St. George’s Day Lunch at Butchers’ Hall, London

Wednesday 27 Booking form in this issue

Friday 20th Booking form in this issue

JULY

MAY

Day out at Henley Royal Regatta

Ulster Show Dinner

Sunday 1st Application form in this issue

Tuesday 15th Booking form in this issue

Visit to Norfolk (FULL) Monday 28th to Wednesday 30th

Visit to Hampton Court Palace Flower Show Wednesday 4th Application form in this issue

East of England Show Dinner or Reception

JUNE

Friday 6th – Sunday 8th (Date tba)

Henr y V, Globe Theatre Friday 8th See below for further details

Breakfast at Cereals, Boothby Graffoe, Lincolnshire Thursday 14th

Open Farm Sunday

(Not a Club event)

Sunday 17th

Royal Highland Show Dinner Wednesday 20 Booking form in this issue

Henry V at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre The Club is holding another theatre evening on FRIDAY 8 JUNE to see Dominic Dromgoole’s new production of Shakespeare’s masterpiece of the turbulence of war and the arts of peace. The play tells the romantic story of Henry’s campaign to recapture the English possessions in France.

The evening will start with dinner at the Club before the performance at the Globe Theatre. Tickets are £80.00 per person, which includes a two course dinner with wine, a ticket for Henry V and coach transfers to and from the theatre. Tickets will be sold on a ‘first come first served’ basis.

You can either apply online at www.thefarmersclub.com or e-mail: events@thefarmersclub.com

22 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012

Great Yorkshire Show Dinner Tuesday 10th

Kent County Show Dinner Thursday 12th

CLA Game Fair Drinks Reception, Belvoir Castle, Grantham Saturday 21st

Royal Welsh Show Dinner Sunday 22nd

Diamond Jubilee Weekend Saturday 2nd – Tuesday 5th June ‘Hang up the bunting and wave your Union Flags in London as the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.’

The Club will be open throughout the extended Diamond Jubilee weekend so members can enjoy the various celebrations being held to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, patron of The Farmers Club.

Events for the weekend include a flotilla of up to 1000 boats on the River Thames at high water on the Sunday afternoon, which will include a boat bearing the Farmers Club flag.

Breakfast will be available each morning and the bar will be open from Noon until 11pm on Saturday and Sunday. A brasserie style menu will be served in the dining room for lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday, with the usual weekday opening times applying. A celebratory afternoon tea will be available from 3pm to 5.30pm over the weekend.

Members are advised to make a booking if they require afternoon tea, lunch or dinner, as the demand for places is expected to be high (email: operationsmanager@thefarmersclub.com) If you are visiting the Club on the Sunday why not dress up and add a splash of colour to this unique occasion. More information on Diamond Jubilee weekend can be found at www.royal.gov.uk.

Club Information • The Farmers Club

Further information is available on The Farmers Club Website www.thefarmersclub.com Obituaries It is with regret that we announce the death of the following members: Mr J Ash Kent Mr G Booth Devon Mr J Cradock Durham Mr B Field Hertfordshire Mr P Highwood Kent Mr J Lentell Cambridgeshire Mr A Wilson Sussex Honours and Awards The Chairman and Members of the Club congratulate the following members whose names appeared in the New Year Honours List: OBE Mr John A T Lee New Year 2012 New Members UK Members Miss Christine Armstrong Mrs Christine J Ash Lord John J Astor Of Hever Mr David B Banner Professor B Simon Blackmore Mr Geoffrey Blaken Mr Tim Briscoe Mr Richard W Buer Professor Noreen B Burrow Mr Benjamin W J Capon Mr Luke Conod Mr Peter L Coster Mr Oliver Dallyn Mr Andrew G Dawson Mr Simon L Fraser Mr James M Hampton Mr Graeme Hartley Mrs Pauline M Haxforth Mr Richard J Howard

Cumberland Kent Kent Northamptonshire Staffordshire Yorkshire Norfolk Hampshire Lanarkshire Hertfordshire Herefordshire Norfolk Gloucestershire Yorkshire Monmouthshire Cheshire Fife Suffolk Worcestershire

Mr Kenneth Hudson Miss Helen Kirby Mr Nicholas Lee Mrs Virginia Lister Mr Ian K G Macalpine Mrs Joyce Mackie Ms Caroline J Notcutt Miss Caroline L Ruffell Mr Andrew K Saunders Mr William J C Simpson Mr James Standen Mrs Annie G Streeter Mr James Francis Stockdale Mr Nicholas Piers Vaux Mr Stephen Visscher

Yorkshire Sussex Devon Gloucestershire Lancashire Aberdeenshire Hampshire Suffolk Suffolk Cambridgeshire Kent Sussex Yorkshire Devon Wiltshire

Overseas Mr Thomas Harttung Dr Horst F Reinhardt Under 30s Mr John S Burton Miss Emma L Dennis Mr Angus E Doe Mr Jack H Farmer Mr Matthew Hague Mr Simon A Hillier Mr Thomas E J Malpass Miss Amy C Merrick Miss Minnie R Merrick Miss Alison L Provis Mrs Anne-Marie Neeteson Mr Matthew John Paterson Mr Henry J Percy Mr Robert Scholey Miss Joanne M Pugh Mr Maurice Pomeroy Miss Alexsandra J Warren-Smith Miss Beth Johanna Wheaton Mr Stefan K Warren-Smith Mr Peter Wallace Mr Harry J Walker

Overseas Overseas Yorkshire Gloucestershire Essex Gloucestershire Suffolk Bedfordshire Staffordshire Lincolnshire Lincolnshire Hertfordshire Overseas Essex Hertfordshire Yorkshire Lancashire Kent Shropshire Essex Shropshire Lincolnshire Gloucestershire

Whitehall Court Mr John J McManus

London

THE FARMERS CLUB Over 160 years of service to farming 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL

Patron – Her Majesty The Queen VICE PRESIDENTS Peter Jackson CBE, Roddy Loder-Symonds, Sir David Naish DL, John Parker, Norman Shaw CBE THE COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT OF THE CLUB FOR 2012 PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN Paul Heygate TRUSTEES Mark Hudson (Chairman), Barclay Forrest OBE Mrs Susan Kilpatrick OBE, Mrs Nicki Quayle, Julian Sayers VICE-CHAIRMAN Stewart Houston CBE HONORARY TREASURER Richard Butler IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN Richard Holland COMMITTEE Elected 2007: Tim Bennett (Chairman House Sub-Committee) Mrs Anne Chamberlain (Chairman Journal & Communications Sub-Committee), James Cross, Richard Harrison, Campbell Tweed OBE (Chairman Membership Sub-Committee) Elected 2008: The Reverend Dr Gordon Gatward OBE Jimmy McLean, David Richardson OBE, John Wilson Elected 2009: John Stones Elected 2010: David Leaver, Martin Taylor Elected 2011: Andrew Brown, Micheal Summers Elected 2012: Mrs Ionwen Lewis, Charles Notcutt OBE Co-opted: Rhydian Scurlock-Jones (Chairman Under 30s) Jeremy Dyas (Vice Chairman Under 30s) THE FARMERS CLUB CHARITABLE TRUST TRUSTEES John Kerr MBE JP DL (Chairman), James Cross, Vic Croxson DL Stephen Fletcher, Mrs Stella Muddiman JP, The Chairman and Immediate Past Chairman of the Club (ex officio) Chief Executive and Secretary: Air Commodore Stephen Skinner Deputy Secretary: Robert Buckolt Bedroom & Dining Room Reservations: 020-7930 3557

COMMITTEE MEETINGS General Committee – Wednesday 18th April, Tuesday 3rd July and Tuesday 13th November.

F & GP Committee – Wednesday 10th October.

Private Function & Meeting Room Reservations: 020-7925 7100 Accounts: 020-7925 7101 Membership: 020-7925 7102 Secretariat: 020-7930 3751 Personal calls for members only: 020-7930 4730 Fax: 020-7839 7864

CLUB CLOSURE Easter – Thursday 5th April 5.00pm to Tuesday 10th April 8.00am.

Reciprocal Clubs UK Royal Overseas League, Edinburgh The New Club, Edinburgh OVERSEAS The Western Australian Club, Perth, Australia (Bedrooms not reciprocated) Queensland Club, Brisbane, Australia The Australian Club, Melbourne, Australia Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland (Bedrooms not reciprocated) Stephen’s Green Hibernian Club, Dublin, Ireland

The Muthaiga Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya The Harare Club, Harare, Zimbabwe The Christchurch Club, Christchurch, New Zealand (Closed due to earthquake damage) The Canterbury Club, Christchurch, New Zealand (Closed due to earthquake damage) Members wishing to visit any of the above Clubs must obtain an introductory card from the Secretariat.

E-mails secretariat@thefarmersclub.com accounts@thefarmersclub.com membership@thefarmersclub.com functions@thefarmersclub.com meetings@thefarmersclub.com events@thefarmersclub.com reservations@thefarmersclub.com reception@thefarmersclub.com u30s@thefarmersclub.com Website: www.thefarmersclub.com THE FARMERS CLUB JOURNAL Editor and Advertisement Manager: Charles Abel, 07795 420692 Email: editor@thefarmersclub.com Designed and produced by: Ingenious, www.ingeniousdesign.co.uk The printing inks are made using vegetable based oils. No film or film processing chemicals were used.

Printed on Lumi Silk which is ISO 14001 certified manufacturer.

FSC Mixed Credit. Elemental chlorine free (ECF) fibre sourced from well managed forests.

www.thefarmersclub.com • 23

Name(s) • Article/Section

Proposal to expand and enhance the Farmers Club Acquiring 1 Horse Guards Avenue would provide: • • • • •

18 new en-suite bedrooms, giving the Club a total of 70 bedrooms A new, larger dining-room An impressive private entrance An extended balcony area, adjoining the existing Club balcony A number of large rooms, some with views over the river to the London Eye, for: – private dining and member’s family functions – meetings, seminars and potentially conferences • A larger Business Suite than currently available • One large office to house all Club staff

Keep up to date: • Visit the website: www.thefarmersclub.com and click on the “Expansion Opportunity” heading • Watch out for e-mail newsletters (send your current e-mail address to update@thefarmersclub.com) • Keep an eye on the post!

Visit www.thefarmersclub.com for all the latest project news

24 • The Farmers Club Spring Journal 2012