Gwyn Jones Farm Diary: Planning ahead has always been a major part of farming industry

 The budget has been and gone, with little fuss despite the media trying to whip up all sorts of excitement beforehand. Chancellor John Healy does not strike me as someone who could excite, and that was true of his budget. For agriculture there were a few crumbs such as the increase in business rates, a freeze on fuel duties and tariff cuts on fertilizer. No change to the family farm tax and no rural reset which was talked about recently by Andy Burnham. Were we surprised? In a word. No. I must add that the Chancellor drinking a pint of beer in one go and putting the empty glass upside down on his head was not a good look and most inappropriate considering the mess we are in.

A rise in minimum wage will add to farmers costs and generally the budget and attitude of this government will do nothing for growth or indeed food security. This government has talked a good deal about food security and resilience, but there is no action to match the rhetoric. As they encourage us all to have a few tins of beans in the cupboard, just in case, it shows how little preparation there is in this unstable world. I think their worry is about disruption to food imports, and they turn a blind eye once again to home production.

Farming is a long-term business, planning ahead is and always has been a major part of our industry and production. Decisions taken today will bite in 5-10 years’ time and will take a similar time frame to reverse without drastic government action which would be very costly. Investment on many farms is paused for now due to Inheritance tax, hampered on other farms due to planning laws, and red tape, as umpteen government arm’s length bodies and local government all have their say.

Add to that the drive to de-stock many upland areas in the name of nature and environment, the end of food production support and the dominance of climate and environment everywhere, we are driving down food production and food security. In fairness to the present government, this was actively pursued and certainly accidentally pursued by 14 years of incompetence from the Conservative Party, but there is no change in course. Many farmers will become part time as they need to seek work in order to subsidise food production which will of course diminish on those farms, others are turning to alternative use of their land.

Some farmers are turning prime agricultural land over to solar panels as net zero installations pay up to 10 times as much as food production. Many are against doing so but do so due to food production being so risky and the rewards so low. The biggest solar farm has been given Ministerial approval in Nottinghamshire, which is on a par with another huge solar farm in Lincolnshire given the go ahead in the spring. Michael Shanks the energy minister commented that such schemes were crucial to energy security and reducing bills by cutting Britain’s exposure to volatile global fossil fuel markets.

Most of the 4,360 acres of land in this latest Nottingham is classed as high-quality agricultural land, suitable for growing arable crops. Approximately 2,530 acres will be occupied directly by solar panels, with the remaining acres designated for underground cabling, access routes, landscaping and environmental and biodiversity enhanced parks. The government has approved around 20 of these very large-scale solar installations, with planning inspectors agreeing that the urgent need for the scheme to reach the UK’s net-zero targets, outweighs the loss of agricultural land and landscape.

Can you imagine any other scheme which would have this sort of effect on land use, landscape, disruption and the change in local character of villages being allowed? The environmental community always up in arms are silent. It is incredible. The truth being that they all think that what we do in the UK will make a difference to the weather, pointing at the hot summer we have just had. They also think that this ‘leadership’ will inspire others to follow, both of which are incredibly foolish and naïve.

The government has also set an ambition to increase the share of English land farmed organically. With short memories of how incentives to convert to organic years ago wrecked the small organic market and plummeted farmer’s prices. They want to increase the share of land farmed organically in this country from 3% to 10%. No thought is given to why only 3% of our land is farmed organically, just that in Europe it is higher at around 10%. Such inane logic is at work here, just as it is with renewable energy. Let us establish a few facts. If there was a demand for more organic food, more would be produced, that is how markets work. The last time this market was interfered with, more organic food was produced as farmers took the money to convert to organic farming. This collapsed prices, punishing those organic farmers who have supplied this valuable, but niche market for years.

In Europe, organic farmers do not have such strict rules as we have here under the Soil Association. Being a little more laid back and not so evangelical about organic production allows cost to be taken out and cheaper organic food hence a bigger market. To think that at a time of a cost-of-living squeeze, wanting to produce more expensive food is a nonsense of the highest order.

This is of course linked to the environment again, as the environmental community can see that winding the clock back to the 1930’s would mean no chemical fertilizer. They ignore the fact that without Chemical fertilizer many millions in the world would starve! But we forget that just as in renewable energy, they are only looking at this little island. The government already has a long-term ambition for 10% of the food they buy for the public sector to meet higher environmental production standards, stating that organic would play a vital role in this.

Again, let’s look at some facts. We have campaigned for decades for our schools, hospitals, our armed forces and prisons to be fed British food. Has this happened? No. Why, because there are cheaper imports, produced to very different standards available. Do I believe that their plans will be all British food with 10% of it being organic? I don’t. It will be much more likely that cheaper imported food will be used to subsidise the 10% organic, which might be British.

Angela Eagle, our Environmental Secretary says organic farming should not be treated as a niche, as more people are looking closely at where our food comes from, how its produced and whether it meets the standards they value. Most people I know cannot find the details above on any label and the vast majority of shoppers understandably only look for the price.

We depend on cars much more in the countryside for obvious reasons and there are in total 34 million cars in the country, aggressively targeted by congestion charges, high taxes and low speed limits. We continue to drive as we have little choice in the countryside, and we are extremely valuable to the treasury. Buses absorb £2.5 billion in government subsidies each year for example, whereas motorists stump up £24 billion in fuel duties plus VAT on that and £9.1 billion in road tax. It is scandalous that we have such poor roads in West Sussex adding to the already high costs of motoring.