from the editor
We hope that you all enjoyed a good Christmas
and are looking forward to the New Year probably
with a mixture of optimism and trepidation.
2014 was certainly another
eventful year for farmers –
what with CAPS the EU
debate, insecticide bans,
falling beef and lamb prices,
climate change, badger culling
and even a resurgence of the
horsemeat scandal, it was – as
ever – a series of challenges
to the farming industry.
The stresses of the job the
long hours, lack of holidays,
rural crime and all the other
pressures that can keep you
awake at night explains why
there is such a high incidence
of depression and even suicide
among the farming community.
But for the most part, farming
people are a resilient and
tough breed. They have to be.
The dairy industry is taking a
real beating and there is real
concern not just in the UK but
globally, about milk production
and prices, and what the
long term prospects may be.
Farmers for Action and the
NFU are doing what they
can but this is a worldwide
problem that just does not go
away - yet the public seems
largely unaware. As 2015
gets underway, there must
be many more anxious dairy
farmers considering a change
of focus.
Farmers across the world
are facing huge problems. I
recently spent time travelling in
South Africa where farmers are
not only confronted with the
challenges of climate change
and the pressure to produce
more food – but also have
to live with the constant fear
of violence and even murder
against themselves and their
workers. The ANC government
has plans to take back land
from the white farmers and
re-distribute it among black
people, a plan that will cause
even more violence as it did in
neighbouring Zimbabwe, and
inevitably result in a shortage
of food.
Here in the UK we have
the approaching General
Electio