The Farmers Mart Feb-Mar 2020 - Issue 67 | Page 69

QUARRY FARM 69
• FEB/MAR 2020
‘Already, straight after the
election virtually, we’ve had
commitment to the same level
of funding that we’ve had from
the EU for the lifetime of this
parliament, so that’s five years
and hopefully gives us five years
of maintained payments.’
‘Where we are going to see
the change is in how clever we
are in asking for the money
and instead of wanting support
to keep beef cattle and sheep
we need to start asking for it
to create biodiversity, which
means any crop from grass to
cereals and improving water
and soil quality.’
‘As long as the money is
there, farmers are very good
at getting it and at the NFU
we will make sure it is
as easy as possible to
get it. The Agriculture
Bill announced in
January has changed
slightly from what
was potentially going
to be announced
originally, so food
has been raised in its
profile and now has much
greater recognition. There
was hardly any mention of it
initially.
‘There is a commitment to
review, every five years, our
self-sufficiency as a country
and that’s good. There are a lot
of things that have remained in
the bill, such as fairness in the
supply chain and if you’re a dairy
farmer, fruit and vegetable farmer
or red meat producer that’s
really important. It’s effectively
a contract that the government
is committed to that should see
the producers getting a fair share
proportionate to the risk they are
taking. That’s really good.’
Richard is also encouraged
by new legislation and other
improvements
being made in the livestock
industry.
‘Grading of lamb is now a long
way down the route of having
specific legislation, bringing it in
line with beef and pork – and
we’re on the brink of a tech-
nology revolution with the new
Livestock Movement Recording
Service about to be trialled that
will replace BCMS and ARAMS
and is due to be introduced next
year using apps on phones. At
the moment tens of thousands
of animal movements are in the
post every week taking up to
three weeks to update, whereas
the new system through iCloud
will show exact figures on farm
and the movements imme-
diately a button is pressed.
This will demonstrate ultimate
traceability and will allow us to
provide the best detail when
opening up new markets in
other countries.’
‘We have very high animal
welfare standards compared
to Third World countries or in
Australia and New Zealand and
a combination of ultimate trace-
ability, high welfare standards
and carbon footprinting will
be the new measurement of
quality, so if we can’t compete
on price we can certainly sell
on quality.’
‘We are happy to improve in
every aspect of what we do and
provide whatever the customer
wants as long as we are not
undermined by imports that are
not the same, that’s one of our
biggest concerns. We’ve had a
verbal commitment from the
secretary of state and we shall
wait and see when it is in writing,
but we definitely need to be
protected from being under-
mined by produce that is illegal
to produce over here. Some
of these are currently being
imported and are undercutting
our market, such as cereals
using sprays that are banned
here. We’ve had quite a crop
failure with oilseed rape since
neonicotinoid dressings were
banned and now we are import-
ing the crop that that has had
this protection. It’s outrageous.’
‘This time last year we, the
NFU, announced we were
looking, as an industry, in being
carbon neutral by 2040. That
wasn’t just a wild, pie in the
sky statement, we have a clear
plan of how we can achieve it,
but we will need help from the
government.’
‘Where I farm is all in a
severely disadvantaged area
and instead of being encour-
aged to keep more cattle and
sheep we will become more
like habitat managers, big scale
gardeners using sheep instead
of lawnmowers. We will
continue what we are doing
here up at 1300ft and as the
government is committed to
public money for public goods
that should fit in perfectly
for upland farming so long as
the support is there from the
government.’