If we don’t want our industry to wither and end up as a rural backwater, the time is coming when we’ll need to take some action to avoid being trampled underfoot as every other sector of the economy races ahead'

 

A thought crossed my mind the other week as I drove home from taking some cattle through to the abattoir, passing on the way back a picket line of teachers outside the local primary school.

Now, make no mistake, with my dear wife being a member of that profession, I gave them a supportive toot and a ‘thumbs up’ as I passed – but while they might struggle to get the 10% pay rise they’re after, it made me wonder if we’re the only profession in the country actively lobbying for our ‘pay’ rate to remain static?

For nurses, doctors, council workers, firemen, engine drivers and virtually every other public sector body, all seem to be not only holding out for a major increase in their rates of remuneration, but effectively downing tools and taking to the streets with highly visible campaigns. These attract the full interest of the media in order to gain support for their efforts to get the sort of pay rise required to keep up with the recent galloping levels of inflation.

It’s got to be remembered, though, that there is really only one pot out there to fund all the numerous calls on already struggling budgets and while the agriculture budget is supposed to be guaranteed for the next year or two, we’ve already seen the sort of jiggery-pokery which can see this promise at least substantially bent, if not actually broken.

Of course, beyond next year, all bets are off on the amount of support which the industry will receive and exactly how it’s going to be delivered – but by all accounts it would appear that keeping it at current levels will be viewed as a major win.

Okay, to be fair, it has to be admitted that, away from the support side of things, the grain sector at least saw a period of strong price increases over the past 12 months.

However, as has become abundantly clear in recent weeks, these price levels are far from guaranteed – and we all know that while we’ve probably waved good-bye to the lofty heights of £300-plus per tonne for the foreseeable future, we pretty much remain saddled with the stratospheric cost structure which that brief interlude forced us to accept.

In this day and age, it does seem like a strangely naïve industry which hasn’t managed to bake in some sort of secure margins into its trading – while at the same time remaining willing to carry virtually all of the risks in sustaining production and all the while failing to ensure that it got it fair share of the rewards.

But the sad fact is that, when looking for a way to get through these tough times, the industry is likely to fall back on the old standby of working harder and longer to keep things afloat, focusing on what we can actually control ourselves.

That means becoming ever more efficient at producing grain – or whatever is your mainstream income – so we might convince ourselves that we can stay one step ahead of the crowd and maintain a viable businesses.

But, it turns out that efficiency might not always be all it’s cracked up to be. I don’t think I was alone in noticing the unintended consequences which such an approach can have, which was inadvertently highlighted at a recent potato conference.

An economist had just finished giving the low-down on the well-known effects which a small change in the overall level of supply can have on the price actually paid for spuds – with a shortage pushing prices up – while even a small surplus often led to a substantial drop in price.

But it was when the next speaker took to the floor to highlight where some efficiencies could be made in the tattie trade, that there arose a curious dawning on faces of those involved in the industry.

Even the learned academic who gave the talk, which called upon the audience of producers to address the estimated annual losses which saw 27% of the tattie crop wasted, had to admit that if such an outcome was achieved, then it was actually rather likely to have a hugely detrimental effect on prices!

So, the harsh reality is that we need to do something to make sure that our voices are heard amongst the current chorus calling for better terms – for we have to waken up to what amounts to yet another unappreciated loss which the industry has suffered due to Brexit.

That is the fact that we can no longer rely on our continental cousins to do the shouting for us – allowing us get results on the coat-tails of their greater willingness to kick up a stink.

Taking a look across the Dogger Bank in recent weeks, Dutch farmers – widely recognised as amongst the most efficient in the world and who, until recently, saw their efforts celebrated as national asset – are involved in a desperate battle with their government over plans to introduce radical measures to cut back on nitrogen emissions. These threaten to drastically undermine the industry’s famed productivity.

Plans to reduce N emissions by half by 2030 are to be introduced, proposing a radical cut not only in fertiliser use but also by reducing livestock numbers by a third – which would make many business totally unviable, a fact recognised by the Dutch government which has even proposed forced buy-outs of farms in some areas.

Tractors have blockaded roads and slurry has been dumped at government members’ homes and the country’s finance minister was confronted by angry farmers carrying flaming torches.

The backlash has generated a good deal of public support for those whose businesses are under threat – so much so that the formation of a Farmer-Citizen political party is now running third in the polls in the important regional elections which are set to take place shortly.

If they get as many representatives voted in as that suggests, this would allow them to form a coalition with the opposition party which could see the legislation overturned.

In Belgium, too, recent days have seen mass protests, with farmers from the Flemish areas organising a 2700-strong tractor blockade which brought Brussels to a standstill as they protested against regional government’s plans to introduce similarly draconian cuts in nitrogen use and livestock numbers – claiming the move would create a ‘socio-economic bloodbath’.

So, if we don’t want our industry to wither and end up as a rural backwater in this country, the time is coming when we’ll need to take some action to avoid being trampled underfoot as every other sector of the economy races ahead – and maybe we’ll have to think about heading to the cities with our own tractors and getting the placards drawn up.

My only worry would be that even if we did take to the streets to make our voices heard our version of the pay-deal chant would run along these lines:

'What do we want?'

'Whatever you give us!'

'When do we want it?'

'Whenever you can get round to it …'