Gwyn Jones Farm diary: Most farmers want to forget 2024

The farming press have covered 2024 in detail for those who wanted to remember; most farmers I talk to want to forget 2024 and look forward to a far better 2025. January 2024 came with plenty of bad weather, with storms Isha and Jocelyn (not sure if naming storms as we do now make them seem friendlier or more sinister) tearing across many parts of the country. Red Tractor found itself in a great deal of trouble, mainly due to farmer’s overall frustration. In February, European farmers were up in arms, protesting about their lot in life, closely followed by crofters in Scotland.

They were upset about new proposals for National Parks, accusing their government in Edinburgh of attempting to erase their way of life. Tom Bradshaw was elected, unopposed, as the new President of the NFU.In March, farmers gathered in Cardiff to protest against the Welsh government plans to implement the Sustainable Farming Scheme amongst other things. Record breaking rainfall had brought spring drilling to a halt, as Defra revealed an underspend of £400 million At the end of March, with the publication of the Health and Safety Executive farm safety figures, we found that death in agriculture is twenty-one times those in other industries; a sobering statistic. . More flooding in April caused huge damage to many acres of crops, and farmer anger was evident, when many of those affected were ineligible for flood damage compensation.

In May, our Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held the second Farm to Fork summit, shortly after that event, announcing a General Election which caught most people on the hop, and in June, Steve Reed announced that if Labour was elected (read my lips), there will be no change in Agricultural Property Relief, or inheritance tax. In Wales we saw the collapse of the new Mona Dairy, almost as soon as it had started processing milk, and Vaughan Gething was booted out of Welsh Government having been First Minister for 118 days (or 2.5 lettuces).July saw a landslide victory for the Labour party, and newly crowned Defra Secretary Steve Reed, vowed to fight the farmer’s corner, and promising the continuation of Environmental Land Management Schemes. We also saw Minette Batters, former President of the NFU, elevated to the House of Lords. August, the Rural Crime Survey revealed the staggering £50 million losses due to theft from farms across the country. The Brian May documentary on bovine TB was shown on TV, which did not go down well. September saw more rain and flooding causing damage and serious disruption to the harvest further north.

In October, the newly arrived bluetongue virus infections continued to rise, as government and industry worked together to try and keep control and minimise the spread. Then Chancellor Rachel Reeves dropped the bombshell on Inheritance Tax, Agriculture Property Relief and Business Property Relief, impacting thousands of farms. This issue dominated November as an NFU Rally was held in London with 40,000 attending. December brought better news to Welsh farmers as the new Secretary, Huw Irranca-Davies announced the end of the ridiculous 10% tree planting requirement on all farms.

So, there we have it, 2024 was a year of severe challenges, frustration and at the end real anger from farmers.

The weather has always been a challenge, but as we know to our cost it is getting warmer and much wetter in this country, with severe flooding far more often than in the past. Unless this winter is different, we generally have warmer winters with little frost and snow, when compared to the past.Frustration over more demands, standards and inspection has been building for years and exploded in a rage against Red Tractor last year. This was mainly due to farmers being outnumbered and outvoted on the various Red Tractor boards by retail and processing.

Two points to make here I think, when I was at the NFU we contributed to Red Tractor funds; we started it after all, in order to protect and enhance our reputation as a country. When I was at the AHDB levy body, we contributed to Red Tractor funds. Neither organisation does so now, and Red Tractor has had to find its funding within the supply chain, and he who pays the piper has at least more influence that in the past.

However, as we wait for the industry report on Farm Assurance, we need to take a good look at ourselves, as we have the same representation on Red Tractor Boards as we used to when we funded it, but unlike retail and processors who know what they want and need, our board representatives in my experience, are not likely to be as cohesive or united in their messages and in what they want. I hope the industry report is decisive and coherent in what we want from Assurance so that we can move on.As far as governments are concerned, Wales seems on the right trajectory and despite local difficulties, Scotland too. Their massive advantage over Westminster is that they both have continued with the (EU) farm payments scheme.

In England that scheme has rapidly decreased and will be gone very soon, with environmental payments which are far less, and not everyone can access them. New Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner has discovered that two thirds of farm business are barely viable and rely heavily on state interventions (no surprise to any of us!). That is why Inheritance and business taxes are the tin-hat for so many, and government will need to give very quickly on this and find a compromise.

He says that there is a need to move to something different to get farming on a more business level and he is looking at a fairer distribution within the supply chain.

The truth is that the money allocated to farmers which has subsidised a cheap food policy since 1947 in various guises, has, since Brexit been in the hands of our own government. Farmers were duped, and then badly let down by the Conservatives over Brexit, as many of us knew that environment was far more important than food production to them. The Labour Party is no different and will continue with that as they too are committed to environment over food production.

We are in a real fix as markets will only move as supply tightens, and for that to happen there will be a great deal of pain, as the reality of cheap food and no support hits home. How this works in such an unstable world I don’t know as planting trees and building £100 million bat tunnels will not feed people. We are playing into the hands of the populists every day this nonsense goes on!