ASHFORD MARKET

WE TOLD YOU SO!

As the rain continues to fall on saturated ground and the best the forecasters can offer is the prospect of more rain and then a week of cold north winds and maybe snow, I am reminded by the calendar that Candlemas (2 February) is traditionally held to be the halfway point of the winter, and a point where farmers would expect to have half of their winter fodder remaining.

It is also held to be the start of the farming year, as we move through that halfway point between the ‘shortest’ day and the spring equinox.

That would seem to suggest that better days are ahead, at least meteorologically. As always, that is the difficulty of farming, where nothing is guaranteed and planning a business strategy is riskier than picking the winner of a novice hurdle in soft ground at Fontwell.

Whether, as in the past, the over-arching support for farmers came from the EU or now, as the domestic government seeks to find an answer to its replacement, the important feature to any producer is to receive clear directional guidance satisfying short, medium and long-term ambitions.

Coupled to this financial support is the importance of the major retailers recognising the long-term nature of farming and that their responsibility is not only to their shareholders but also to the producers who, through thick and thin and with many uncontrollable circumstances such as the weather, continue to produce food that is needed 52 weeks of the year.

As we start a new year, it is quite clear that these massive corporations, with all the resources necessary to have made the right decision for all parts of the chain, have clearly failed badly by looking after themselves; failing producers to the point of unsustainability and not actually giving a great deal to consumers.

For decades farming organisations and others with a view to the long-term viability of the countryside and its businesses have warned of treating farmers too harshly, but these warnings have gone unheeded.

Valuable generations have steadily left the industry to find greener pastures better able to sustain their dreams and their families. The age profile shift has left the livestock sector, particularly, exposed, with the heavy physical demands catching up on older farmers who have found no one to fill their boots.

Consequently, national herd and flock numbers reduce and, ultimately, an expanding population sees demand outstrip supply, creating a belated increase in price for the remaining producers but causing increased pressures and reduced margins in the other sectors of the chain. This leads to a consumer having to pay much more than the historically low food prices they have been accustomed to.

One doesn’t need to feel sorry for the sectors now affected, but maybe we can shout “We told you so!” Had the giant retailers paid those extra few pennies a litre, a kilo, or a tonne; had they not flown in products from across the world, burning damaging fuels in order to ensure strawberries at Christmas; had they developed procurement staff with sound relationships with producers and processors that lasted more than five minutes before moving them onto fresh flowers or tinned fish, we might have seen a balance created between producer and consumer rather than the downward pressure that has been too easily exerted on the primary producer for the past 50 years.

WHERE DO WE GO NOW?

Prices in many sectors are very good, although perhaps not as good as they originally looked, with costs eating away at margins in all sectors.

But in a world that undoubtedly is going to get bigger as environmental pressures increase costs on shipping and flights, so the move away from French beans and baby sweetcorn from Kenya to swedes from Devon, carrots from Norfolk and potatoes from the Romney Marsh will undoubtedly change the look of the supermarket aisle.

We must preserve our livestock farming legacy before it is too late, and ensure that those born and raised with the knowledge are able to expand their opportunities, be rewarded for their 24/7 work lifestyle and bring another generation in behind them to continue to supply a nation that needs to understand more about its food supply and its security. It will probably take another 50 years.