Agriculture at heart of climate change and its solution

We certainly think so, we are drilling maize, drilling grass, spraying weeds, rolling silage fields, turning cows out, fencing; you name it and we are doing it at the moment.

Half the maize is drilled, although not quite half since I took another 100 acres on, but it's going well, except for quicksand at Ripley which needed four tractors and a loader to rescue the tractor and plough. I kid you not; the sandy soil was up to the diesel tank.

*We had a new experience with our 'virtual' cow last week, when James and I managed to overfeed it and it had 'bloat'! We kept having 'time-out' on the feeders, where the net result was underfeeding, and as we did not quite know why this was happening and it was resulting in less gas which meant we were losing 100kw/hour in production, we came up with a farmer's answer.

We programmed the feeder to over-feed the AD plant, that way we thought, even if it suffers from 'time-out' on the feeders, it will have still fed the required amount. Well it was going really well, fully fed the gas was 100% and the engine was singing away; problem solved. Then 'sod's law' stepped in, and the feeders worked perfectly for a two day period with no 'time-out', and now we had over fed it.

When we looked into the No1 tank, we couldn't see in through the windows, because the bacteria were going ballistic and the gas was rising up through the slurry so fast and in such volume that there was over two feet of froth!

We quickly re-programmed the computer, and it all settled down again in a day or so. We have since found out what was wrong; the lobe pump was not pumping the solid muck, silage and slurry into the tank in the required time, which meant that it was failing to feed the plant adequately, and the reason for this was worn rubber lobes on the pump.

No one told us they needed replacing on a regular basis, and once we did that it feeds very fast indeed. Another lesson learnt.

Allowing it to froth like that is exactly what happens to a cow grazing clover, and just as the cow is unable to burp out the methane due to its frothy nature and as the gas pressure builds pressing against the heart and lungs, the cow will die without treatment.

The AD plant was also unable to handle the frothy gas and would have blown off the roof if we had allowed it to continue; then it too would be dead!

That at least livened up the week which was otherwise dominated by the over-hyped TV debate. To read at the weekend that the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is now more popular than Churchill makes me want to weep. Is this what we are going to have to put up with?

Maybe I should mention that Churchill lost the election very soon after the peak of his popularity. There are two more TV debates, and I will try not to watch, but then I might miss something; and if I don't I shall go to bed angry with myself for watching; can't win.

Now that the media have tempted the three leaders to take part, by allowing them to dictate terms, it really is a big rod for the future. At the next election it will be on media terms, and no-one will dare not take part; another slide into American style politics.

In Europe, we are all debating the future of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013, and getting it right will be of crucial importance to British farmers.

We would like to see a common policy which affects all countries equally, a simple policy which will be easy to administrate, market orientation which will allow farmers to focus on markets and customers, and finally a strong steer towards competitiveness and productivity.

What we do not want is re-nationalisation of the CAP where each country decides to put in what it considers the right amount of money. That would instantly re-focus farmers minds on obtaining money from government, other governments would put in different amounts, which would result in distortion and a playing field which would be anything but level.

It is remarkable that 80 per cent of European citizens support the CAP, valuing the fact that it provides food security, high quality, safe affordable food, and high environmental and animal welfare standards.

Rural development and upland areas of the countryside are also supported by the CAP, and tourism depends on these areas of outstanding natural beauty being looked after properly.

All farmers would rather obtain their full return from the market place, but given that agricultural markets the world over are affected by political decisions, and that food is always going to be too important for politicians not to get involved, and that powerful commercial players abuse their colossal power in the market place, the CAP ensures that farmers survive the trough years and that the productive capacity of each country is there for next year.

Volatility in world markets is likely to increase, and it is very important that if we are to double food production by 2050, and impact less on the environment whilst doing so, that a system that prevents catastrophe in the food markets is in operation.

These days it's not only food; agriculture is increasingly playing its part in energy security, with bio-fuels, wind farms, and Anaerobic Digestion all contributing.

Agriculture is at the heart of climate change too, and is actually part of the solution. We are well placed to really make a difference, and I hope that the next British Government will recognize that and work with us; together we could achieve so much.