Importance of science, technology and training

I have at last heard the cuckoo, this is a relief for a farmer, as we would otherwise be held responsible with our modern methods of farming, for its demise.

The skylarks, woodpeckers, kestrels, sparrowhawks and buzzards, are all fit and well after the winter, as are the hedgerow birds (despite some of the above!) and the magpies, crows and woodpigeons seem to have positively thrived.

The grass is beginning to move at last, but the first cut of silage will be lighter this year.

All cows are still in at night due to the shortage of grass and low temperatures, but the mid and late lactation cows are enjoying their days out grazing with sun on their backs.

All the in-calf heifers are back home; they look very well, and have now settled down to graze after the initial gadding around the field.

We still have some youngsters to turn out once the grass really gets going. Maize drilling should be finished by the time you read this, with 900 acres in the ground; the Tillington maize, which was drilled first, is up and away, with the rows clearly visible.

We have had a troublesome time with our new trailer.

This is a very large twin axle silage trailer with 'active steering', ABS brake system and all the technology in the world.

It was the first to be built with rear-steer, and in order to make room for the very large flotation tyres (to steer), the chassis is narrower than the standard trailers built by the company, and the body also rides slightly higher.

This seems to be putting greater stress on the suspension, and it is once again off the road for further modifications.

It has already had a suspension overhaul with heavier duty springs fitted, but that did not solve all the problems. It seems that we are part of an on-going research and development programme!

n I was privileged to visit Easton College in Norfolk last week for the launch of the 'Centre for Contemporary Agriculture' and to witness the opening of the new 15m 'Jubilee Learning Centre'.

Technicians and technologists of the future will be trained in this state of the art, low carbon building; tackling the challenges of future food security and sustainable agriculture.

The inaugural lecture was given by Professor Ian Crute CBE, first chief scientist of the Agricultural Horticultural Development Board. Professor Crute highlighted the scale of the challenges ahead, and impressing on the audience the importance of science, technology and training, in meeting that challenge. His data demonstrated the progress made over the last fifty years, and how we would need twice the land area to produce the current quantity of food, had we not made such great progress.

It was during this lecture, when Professor Crute proposed that producing the largest quantity of safe, high quality food, per given area of land, using technology and science in a sustainable and responsible way, is the most environmentally friendly way of producing food with the smallest footprint, that I realised The Soil Association is promoting organic farming as a brand, and not as stated by them, a method of farming that everyone should aspire to.

This fits with the frustration that some very good commercial organic farming friends of mine, have with the Soil Association and its outspoken and controversial comments.

We have often crossed swords with the Soil Association due to its insistence on promoting organic farming, by criticising conventional farming methods, and this has angered commercial organic farmers too.

By promoting a brand that has to command a substantial premium, but has not enough of a difference in reality for the consumer to pay more, especially livestock farming and dairy; poor promotion and brand weakness seems to demand that if you are struggling to make your point of difference, then an alternative and easier approach is to denigrate others.

The Soil Association has quite comically stated recently that the world does not need to increase food production 50 per cent by 2050; it only needs to be increased by 30 per cent, and that this is in some way a great conspiracy by conventional farming and science.

Given that as Professor Crute stated that we would need double the land area to produce our current volume of food if we used 1950s methods (organic), then I fail to see how the Soil Association could even contemplate further increases to meet the growing population, were it not for conventional farming's amazing record.

However, I have always maintained that we can and should learn from the organic farming sector, and some very good farmers have made a real success of this challenging method of food production.

n One man I did not come across in the meeting was Dr Brett Mills, senior lecturer at the University of East Anglia. Dr Mills does not lack courage!

He has taken on Sir David Attenborough and all the television viewers who have been fascinated and captured by nature programmes such as '˜Springwatch' and '˜Nature's Great Events', by criticising the invasive nature of these programmes.

Such programmes are unethical he argues, the animals are being filmed without consent, therefore breaching their rights. Dr Mills compares '˜Springwatch' putting cameras in nests, to CCTV!

He maintains that animals deserve their privacy too, and some intimate moments should not be filmed.

He fails to tell us how consent could be obtained, choosing to point to the fact that most animals and birds tend to flee as an indication that they do not want to be TV stars!

n If that is not barmy enough for us during election week, how about the lady pet-shop owner who is a great-grandmother; electronically tagged after a goldfish was sold to a 15 year-old in her pet shop?

It is illegal to sell a pet to a person under 16 years of age, and the lady's son sold the goldfish to the 15 year old, who was sent into the shop in a '˜sting operation' conducted by Trafford Council.

Whilst my guns, taken by burglars while we were asleep in bed, remain unaccounted for; we are seemingly very busy in the courts tagging great grandmothers.

We need more than a new government in this country; we need a complete overhaul.

No wonder ordinary citizens shake their heads almost daily with disbelief.

Importance of science, technology and training