Farm Diary by Gwyn Jones, December 1

I visited France last week, meeting up with a good friend of mine, Michel Caffin. Michel runs a 1,200-acre arable unit, and represents arable farmers in the Paris basin area of France. He holds important positions both in the Farmer's Union and the Chamber of Agriculture.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Nov 2005, 16:25 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:35 BST

I looked at his costings, and concluded that due to lower rents and land values, the best French arable farmers break even on their crops, depending on the Single Farm Payment for income.

In the UK, despite lower costs and higher yields, arable farmers tend to lose money on the crops they grow, and would be better off taking the payment without farming. However, that is not the way we operate in agriculture, and we take a very long term approach to our work and planning.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

We both agreed that the British government is taking some serious risks with the nation, by adopting the approach that they can and will, always be able to import food.

All it would take is a serious disease outbreak or a terrorist incident, and we would have bare shelves in this country. Once that happened, government would be out on its ear.

Gwyn Jones's Farm Diary appears every week in the West Sussex Gazette. To read the full version of this article, see December 1 issue.

Related topics:FranceParisWest Sussex Gazette