Ryedale | Archive | 2003 | August | 06
From the Gazette & Herald, first published Wednesday 6th Aug 2003.
Having not seen a British newspaper for a week, the headlines in Monday's Telegraph were startling, even if they only confirmed what many of us thought.
The professional body of Chartered Surveyors has published its survey on farm property sales which shows that two-thirds of farms marketed between April and June this year went to non-farmers. The reasons are not hard to find but are nonetheless worrying.
I have always been and still remain an advocate of free competition; but current trends are going to leave us a `rural population' rather than a `rural community' and that will bring a very different structure to our countryside.
It is also interesting that the situation is worse rather than better in the rest of Europe.
Latest EC figures show that over 75pc of farmers across Europe do not work full-time on their farms.
In the UK, 17pc of our farmers have more than 250 acres, whereas in Europe this drops to 3pc.
In southern Europe, amazingly, 75pc of the farms are less than ten acres in size.
Is it any wonder we have a different agenda?
I have just returned from a fascinating few days in Lexington, Kentucky, where I was invited to judge Cleveland Bays through, I hasten to add, longevity of service to the breed rather than any ability.
The Cleveland is the only clean-legged native British breed of horse as opposed to pony; and we are justly proud that it has its origins deep in the North York Moors.
There are somewhere between 100 and 150 pure and part breds in North America and nearly 50 of these honed in to the Kentucky Horse Park travelling up to 18 hours to get there.
The park itself is quite amazing, covering several thousand acres, displaying over 40 breeds of horse and holding events every day of the year.
As one might expect, everything was done on a grand scale - besides the traditional disciplines of show jumping, dressage and cross country, there was driving, trekking, pony club, camping, breed research programmes, and a wonderful museum featuring this year an exhibition of `All The Queen's Horses'.
The Cleveland Show was held under cover in a building capable of fitting two full-size dressage arenas; next to us was one of the smaller show jumping events with 800 competitors.
I have to say that the whole project had been carried out with great style, focused entirely on the equestrian world with no concession whatsoever to the non-rural leisure activities in which many of our major agriculture shows have indulged in the UK.
On the main day, I judged 14 classes including four championships.
It made me secretly very proud to hear owners tell me that their horse was by Fryup Marvel or Wigginton Antonio; and went back in their bloodlines to the Mulgrave horses at Whitby and the Forest Stud at Northallerton.
I have also to admit to jealousy when I learned that their prices run from £10,000 to £20,000 for pure-bred females; when in this country we struggle to make a fifth of the price!.
Despite the fact that we have been officially banned from burying deadstock on the farm since May 1, the Government's alternative scheme for disposal doesn't start up until January 1, 2005.
At long last, there has been a rather shaky compromise deal agreed between DEFRA and the farming representatives, whereby a national collection scheme will be operated with the following basic rules.
The sting in the tail is going to be the future funding of the fallen stock scheme as the Government has indicated it will put in its contribution for one year and DEFRA for three years on a reducing scale.
Their joint contribution is worth £15m in year one and, if the reality is that this burden then shifts to farmers, I suspect there will be a lot of missing stock in future years.
It makes me really cross that this Government is incapable of handing out a fair deal to farmers.
We do not need the scheme and do not want it.
If they perceive it is a matter of public health then the public purse should pay for it as is the case with most European countries.
I have only been away for five days and the supermarkets have taken the opportunity of reverting to more sneaky tricks of deception.
Gerald David, who runs six butcher's shops in the West Country, has called upon the big multiples to come clean on the amount of water that is pumped into their meat products.
An undercover investigation has revealed that chicken, pork and beef sold in most supermarkets are supplemented with water and protein to make it more bulky.
This water content may be as high as 20pc - and yet, under existing food laws, there seems to be no obligation to declare it.
In a separate incident, Sainsbury and Tesco have been accused of bending the assurance rules to suit their cash registers.
Sainsbury has been selling non-farm assured Brazilian beef under its Green Pastures label; and Tesco has stocked its shelves with Argentinean beef which has no guarantee whatever of farm assurance.
Meanwhile, British farmers have to comply with ever more rigorous farm assurance standards and inspections.
Hypocrisy springs to mind - but doubtless Lord Sainsbury, creeping about Downing Street, will ensure no action is taken.
David Sheppard has sent me a harvest update and the heatwave across continental Europe has decimated wheat yields with further threats upon the French and Italian maize crop.
The EU commission has already suspended export tenders indefinitely and end users of both wheat and maize are appealing to the commission for assistance to control prices which have soared by up to £25/tonne in the past six months.
This hardly smacks of a free market and one can have no sympathy with those complainants who were quite happy to grind the price down over the last couple of years when farmers needed some help.
Closer to home, the UK wheat harvest has begun with reported yields 5-10pc below last year, although quality is up.
Prices remain firm at £77 ex-farm for feed wheat, rising to £80 for November. There are few signs in the market that will knock prices, but all eyes are on Brussels to see if they take measures to cool the trade by, perhaps, releasing intervention stocks or imposing an export tax.
What goes up can come down, particularly where Brussels is involved.
81 cattle including 46 bulls, 611 sheep including 109 ewes.
Steers light to 133p/kilo (G I Marwood, Harome, ave 107.7p/kilo), heavy to 105p/kilo (A Cussons & Sons, South Ings, ave 104.5p/kilo).
Heifers light to 135p/kilo (G I Marwood, Harome, ave 109.8p/kilo), heavy to 132p/kilo (G I Marwood, Harome, ave 103.5p/kilo).
Bulls light to 105p/kilo (B Brown, Lockton, ave 99.1p/kilo), heavy to 108p/kilo (W Smith, Salton, ave 97.5p/kilo).
Black and white bulls to 87p/kilo (Broxa Farms, Scarborough, ave 81.5p/kilo).
Light lambs to 125.7p/kilo (J Benton, Gt Edstone, ave 124.2p/kilo), medium lambs to 132.8p/kilo (A Scruton, Foxholes, ave 121.05p/kilo), heavy lambs to 123p/kilo (P Richardson, Nunnington, ave 116.6p/kilo), overweight lambs to 116.1p/kilo (R Pateman, Brompton, ave 109.8p/kilo).
Ewes to £60.50 (P Bannister, Butterwick, ave £42.60).
A special early show and sale of rams, breeding sheep and store lambs was held on Friday, August 1. Forward were 55 cattle.
Cows and calves to £730.
Limousin bullocks: 1 claim to £690, Limousin heifers to £450.
Simmental bullocks: 1 claim £568, Simmental heifers to £502.
Charolais bullocks: 1 claim £490, Charolais heifers to £285.
Suffolk ram lambs: 1&2 G Harper & Son, Newton-on-Rawcliffe; 3 L & L Yewdall, Youlthorpe.
Suffolk shearling rams: 1 J T & E A Midgley, Kirby Underdale; 2 C & K Milburn, Scagglethorpe; 3 R M Teasdale, Scagglethorpe.
Texel shearling rams: 1 H & C W Burkill, Harpham; 2 A J Chapman, Folkton; 3 P A Teasdale, Scagglethorpe.
Champion ram in the show: J T & E A Midgley, sold at 450gns.
Charollais shearling rams: 1 Mackley & Pratt, Folkton; 2&3 S & J Hunter, Hunmanby.
Suffolk X gimmer shearlings: 1 R Byas, Kilham; 2 S Beachell & Son, Beswick; 3 M Field, Langtoft.
Store lambs: 1 J F W Jenyns, Huttons Ambo; 2 T W & J B Sowerby, Etton; 3 D R Brotherton, Whitwell.
Suffolk ram lambs to 305gns: G Harper & Son, Newton-on-Rawcliffe.
Suffolk sh rams to 450gns: A E Glaves, Brompton-by-Sawdon, and J T& E A Midgely, Uncleby.
Texel sh rams to 410gns: H & C W Burkill, Harpham.
Charolais sh rams to 465gns: Mackley & Pratt, Folkton.
Ac Texel females to 205gns: J & R M Lucas, Fimber.
Draft ewes to £62: Witherstone Farms, ave £49.69.
Suffolk X ewes to £90: N Thorndyke, ave £65.55.
Suffolk X gimmer sh to £111: M Field, Driffield, ave £97.16.
Continental ewes to £74: Almack Ltd, Bedale ave £52.70.
Continental gimmer sh to £97: G I Marwood, Harome, ave £76.
Gimmer lambs to £67.50: N Garbutt, Pickering.
Store lambs to £46.80: J F W Jenyns, Huttons Ambo, ave £42.94.
Updated: 11:37 Wednesday, August 06, 2003
© Newsquest Media Group 2008