STEPHEN CARR
ARABLE FARMING FOR A TENANT
FARMER IS A ‘TREADMILL’ To the Laughton and District Ploughing Match, although for how much longer such a greenhouse gas-emitting activity as ‘ploughing’ will be legal only time will tell. Amongst the tractors there was one fine pair of horses pulling a plough, so at least no diesel was being burnt in that case. But even with a horse, soil is still being inverted, so vast amounts of climatechanging carbon are being released into the atmosphere. And the horse also needs to be fed on grain throughout the year, which only adds further to
the carbon footprint of those large ‘foot’ prints. On display at the event were several ‘min-till’ tools which promise to reduce the amount of carbon that arable farming emits during the cultivation required to grow a crop. Promised government subsidies to adopt min-till under the proposed Environmental Land Management scheme will, no doubt, decide the degree to which we buy these expensive bits of kit, but I can’t say that the prospect of a ‘min-till match’ replacing a ‘ploughing match’ exactly sets my pulse racing. Most of the talk at the event was not about carbon dioxide but the spiralling cost of nitrogen and phosphate. Arable farmers, of course, buy these two essential plant nutrients in vast quantities as fertilisers. Unfortunately, nitrogen fertiliser is made from natural gas, the price of which has nearly quadrupled this year. The world is also rapidly running out of phosphate, so the cost of that is skyrocketing as well. That explains why, despite current high grain prices, the mood among farmers in the various tents at the event was distinctly subdued. There were also grumbles that the 2021 grain harvest had been a disappointment in the South East. Good-looking crops had only produced modest yields, with spring barley particularly disappointing
in both quantity and quality. Was it dry spells that had affected yields, we pondered? Was it a lack of sunshine in mid-summer that had done the damage? Or are ever-warming temperatures and other atmospheric changes starting to limit the potential of our crops? One thing that everyone was agreed on, however, was that the rapid run down in BPS payments over the next five years represents a potential economic crisis for all arable farmers. One cereal grower I spoke to informed me that, with a six-figure rent to pay and the BPS removed from his accounts, he would have lost £70,000 this year. He described arable farming for a tenant farmer as a ‘treadmill’. But, of course, like the rest of us at the event, he has no intention of stepping off the treadmill. Despite the environmental concerns about what we do and the economic hazards that we face, we chatted animatedly to our farming peers or those staffing the trade stands. As I left the event to go home to do some ploughing of my own, I watched the judges and stewards enthusiastically inspecting the neat furrows left by the competitors. This pretty bucolic downland scene reminded me that arable farming is more about the love of what we do than any profit that we might earn from it.
CHECK THE POLICY STACKS UP An agricultural expert is urging farmers to check their hay and straw stacks comply with insurance small print to make sure their investment does not go up in smoke. Rupert Wailes-Fairbairn, of rural insurance broker Lycetts, is concerned that many farmers are unaware that policies stipulate stack and distance limits for haystacks. He warned that if stack limits are contravened, such as by being too close together, too high or undervalued, the farmer could face significant shortfalls in the event of loss caused by accidental fire or arson. And he pointed out that with the value of hay and straw still unpredictable due to variable weather conditions, they could be faced with forking out considerable sums to replace feed, compounding the financial impact of the loss. “There is quite a lot of volatility in commodity values, influenced by many factors, not least the trying economic situation prompted by global market uncertainties,” said Rupert. “We saw hay and straw prices peak earlier this year, due to an unfavourable 2020 harvest, but this has seen a gradual downturn in recent months. “With prices varying so much, it is important that farmers take stock and determine the value of each year’s yield, to ensure that they are sufficiently covered
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in the event of a claim. “It is also imperative that farmers find out if there is a haystack limit defined by value rather than volume. If, for example, a stack with £60,000 worth of hay catches fire, there is a strong chance it exceeds the limit. Often there are distance limits written into policies too, usually 20 metres, but this can vary.”
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