From LEAF Farmer Duncan Farrington
January Newsletter
Happy New Year to you all,
I trust you had an enjoyable and restful Christmas break. Here at Bottom Farm we can relax a little after a very busy December keeping up with demand for Mellow Yellow during the Christmas period. Thank-you to those of you who bought some to use on your Christmas roast potatoes, I am sure they were delicious. As well as producing the oil, I always enjoy meeting our customers at food shows, and this was the case again this year; from the marathon five day event at the NEC, where we literally talk to thousands of people, to the more convivial Kimbolton Food Festival, where it is great to meet so many people who have already tried, or heard about the oil.
In January we concentrate on the continuing winter jobs around the farm. Our new young lad, Alistair has just completed his chainsaw course, and can now help with the tree and hedge maintenance. But firstly we will be hiring a digger to clean out some of our drainage ditches. This is a job which needs carrying out every few years to ensure the fields do not become flooded in the wet winters, but has been overlooked in recent years. It has now become a priority to be done this month before the start of the nesting season occurs, so as not to disturb wildlife which use these areas for their habitats.
This time last year I bravely made several predictions for the year ahead in the world of food and farming. Looking back over what I predicted, the value of our crops has halved, and of course everyone is currently more concerned about the state of the wider economy; however many of the fundamentals remain, with world food supplies still at a thirty year low. Some other countries around the world are taking this very seriously, and are acting now to secure future food supplies. South Korea for example, is hoping to lease and area of land in Madagascar half the size of Belgium solely to produce food for its own people.
In Britain I still think the long term desire for affordable, quality and sustainably produced food will prevail; although in the short term some supermarkets are tempting us with headline grabbing advertisements of cheap food. The more discerning independent shops continue the winning formula of promoting quality innovative produce we expect to buy. As do some of the multiple retailers, such as Waitrose and Booths who continue to support local small producers, or Sainsbury’s, who now only use quality high welfare British produced meat in their own brand ranges.
The interest in new technology continues a pace, last year there was only a handful of the sustainable energy producing anaerobic bio-digesters to be found in the UK. A year later and not only have they been featured as a main story line in the Archers, but the one existing local digester is being joined by a second under construction, with permission granted for a third. These digesters epitomise the idea of sustainability by taking animal manures and food waste to produce electricity and heat for local towns, organic fertiliser for the fields, whilst both reducing carbon emissions and pressure on landfill sites.
The ever controversial wind generators continue to be built, along with fresh interest in the less controversial small scale hydro-electric generators. As for genetically modified foods, the commentary in the media and by the politicians has certainly been more balanced.
I am certainly not going to try and predict what 2009 beholds. But with many of us reassessing how our future will look over the next couple of years, demands on our land resources continues. However, with careful handling, there are some great opportunities for the very best in British technology and innovation to shine through for the benefit of all our futures.
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