Chris Rundle - WordPress.com · that takeaways and pop-up eateries produces. It can be a...
1
WESTERN DAILY PRESS WEDNESDAY MARCH 2 2016 FARMING 5 WDP-E01-S3 4 FARMING WEDNESDAY MARCH 2 2016 WESTERN DAILY PRESS WDP-E01-S3 SPONSOR AN AWARD TO CELEBRATE THE VERY BEST ‘Sponsoring the 2016 Western Daily Press Food & Farming Awards couldn’t be easier and provides companies with an opportunity to inform and introduce potential new customers,’ says Peter Lloyd, sponsorship account director for the Western Daily Press. ‘Coverage will increase and maintain awareness of the sponsor’s business and complement existing advertising and communication strategies.’ Categories include: Best Food Producer, Best Independent Café or Tea Room, Best Local Food Retailer, Food & Drink Business of the Year, Best Food Pub or Restaurant, Outstanding Contribution to Farming, Best Ready to Eat/Takeaway /Pop up Eatery. For details on all category and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Peter Lloyd by email at [email protected] The categories Best Food Pub or Restaurant This category recognises the best pub or restaurant food in the South West that draws customers because of the excellence of its food. Best Independent Café or Tea Room Awarding the best independent café or tea room in the South West. We are looking for a café or tea room that stands apart from others. Best Ready to Eat, Takeaway or Pop-up Eatery Recognising the great food that takeaways and pop-up eateries produces. It can be a fish-and-chip shop, burger restaurant, sandwich shop, deli, ice-cream van or a café, pub or restaurant offering a takeaway service. Best Pub – sponsored by Thatchers This category recognises the best pub that draws customers because of its excellent drink and atmosphere, with particular emphasis on locally sourced beverages. Best Local Food Retailer – Sponsored by Higos Insurance Services We are interested in an imaginative initiative that is changing the way good quality food and drink is being sourced and sold. Best Drinks Producer – sponsored by Grant Thornton Awarded to the best drinks producer of alcoholic or non- alcoholic beverages. The judges will look for the most interesting, tastiest drink. Best Food Producer – sponsored by the Royal Bath and West Show Awarded to the best food producer, producing the best fresh, processed or packaged food which may be sold from the farm, through a farm shop, farmers’ market, local butcher, local greengrocer or supermarket. Food and Drink Business of the Year – sponsored by Smith & Wiliamson An award for an inspiring business. It could be an inspiring new product, an imaginative use of technology or an environmentally friendly food process. Outstanding Contribution to Local Food Development An award recognising an individual based in the South West, who has put the area on the map through inspiration, imagination and local ingredients. Outstanding Contribution to Farming – sponsored by Karcher An award recognising an individual based in the South West, which has put farming on the map through inspiration, energy and imagination. Best Farmer This award recognises all types of farmers who have shown vision in developing their business to meet the requirements of the market. Young Farmer of the Year – sponsored by Yeo Valley Family Farm Are you 30 or under as of January 1, 2016, and making a success of managing a distinct area of the family farming business – or even running your very own business? Agricultural Contractor of the Year – sponsored by Michelmores Farm contractors keep the wheels of UK agriculture rolling, and without them many farmers would struggle. The winning contractor will be a business that is regarded as an essential part of their farming customers’ business. Crisis across the water There’s a very good clip on YouTube which illustrates quite graphically what hap- pens when you upset the French paysan – not so much a ‘peasant’ as the translation im- plies here here but a country- dweller totally and proudly im- mersed in the traditions, cus- toms and heritage of his loc- ality. It is shot in the market at Castelnaudary, birthplace and home of cassoulet, one of the great classics of French coun- try cooking, where an English- looking salesman complete with bowler hat attempts to persuade the locals that cas- soulet was in fact an English invention and was only intro- duced to the French during the Hundred Years War. To which end he attempts to sell shoppers tins of authentic English cassoulet in flavours including mint sauce, curry, and sweet-and-sour. Initially the reaction is one of mere curiosity but the mood rapidly turns sinister once he manages to convince the crowd that this isn’t some sort of joke. He is accused of in- sulting the reputation of the town and its famous dish and advised to pack up and go. Eventually tempers rise, his bowler hat is torn from his head and thrown away and his advertising material ripped down. The final frames reveal that this is nothing more than a lengthy, elaborate advertise- ment for the products of one of the local cassoulet producers but as a bit of reality TV it is remarkably revealing. It also explains why the French government is getting quite so nervous about the growing paysans’ revolt it is now facing across the country as all sectors of farming are squeezed tighter and tighter. Events took their latest, em- barrassing turn for the author- ities at the weekend when the Paris agricultural fair opened for business. The fair is much like agricultural shows here: ostensibly all about farming but maintaining a veneer of normality for the benefit of the visitors however bad things ac- tually are out in the field or in the milking parlour. However dire the straits farmers find themselves in the stormy waters are never al- lowed to ruffle the facet of the industry which the shows present to the public. But that convention was rudely swept away in Paris. Francois Hollande was de- termined to show his face, as is customary, at the event just to prove he wasn’t afraid of any trouble. At the same time he clearly intended to avoid any confrontation with protesters by rocking up at 6.45am. The ploy didn’t work: the farmers were lying in wait and ambushed him, loosing off a barrage of jeers, catcalls and insults which saw the pres- idential security team hust- ling the head of state away. Clearly the tax cuts and the Chris Rundle scrapping of charges and fees Hollande has already prom- ised the farmers aren’t re- garded as anything like enough. Worse was to come. The protesters then moved to the vast stand of the agricul- ture ministry, manned by the civil servants. The farmers’ mood had hardly been improved by hints in the press that the freeze on public sector pay is likely to be removed later this year, thus widening even further the dif- ferential between the income of those who work the land and those who regulate, monitor, inspect and penalise them. So they simply demolished the stand, reducing it to a heap of broken display panels and wrecked furniture in a matter of minutes. Riot police were called in to restore order and made five arrests. But all those held were released without charge after their colleagues warned they would occupy the building until they were. Agriculture minister and of- ficial government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll denounced the protests. But the public are mostly on the farmers’ side. So is the press, with one commentator, Périco Légasse, describing the giant logo of a low-cost super- market chain looming above the dairy cows at the show while its stores sold cheap im- DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS Time is running out to nominate your business in the Western Daily Press Food and Farming awards, run in association with Yeo Valley. However, entering could not be easier, just visit www.westerndailypress/foodandfarming. The awards give valuable exposure to outstanding businesses, and reward the hard work of you and all your staff. All finalists are invited to the black tie awards night at the Bristol Marriott Hotel, which this year takes place on May 10. ported milk as akin to a mauso- leum glorifying an arms dealer standing in the ruined cemetery of a town his weapons had destroyed. Pro- vocation, he warned, can only be taken so far. On Sunday the farmers were back, this time targeting the stand of one of the country’s largest food processors which they accused of profiteering while paying them ruinously low prices for their meat, throwing bags of flour over it and letting off fire extinguish- ers. And so the protests go on, each one looking more and more like a prelude to total anarchy. Behind the low prices lie many of the common factors that are hitting our own in- dustry – including a global milk surplus and the effects of the Russian trade embargo. And even though French governments have tradition- ally been more sympathetic to far mers’ demands than any British one ever has, Hollande is now backed into a corner. He has gone as far as he can with concessions: any more and he will run up against the EU rules on state aid which will effectively manacle him. Neither is the latest news from the retail sector offering much cheer to the producers. One of their main grievances has been the way imported meat finds itself into processed foods from saucisson to Enter at westerndailypress.co.uk/foodandfarming BY TINA ROWE [email protected] Stuart Perkins got hooked on farming and marketing poultry after being given a dozen chickens as a surprise sixth birthday present. Twenty-three years later he is a nominee for our Young Farmer of the Year Award, a category sponsored by Yeo Valley. Mr Perkins, who runs Cas- tlemead Poultry at Terry Hill, near Radstock, was born and raised on Heywood Farm, which was then a mixed en- terprise, although mainly dairy. It was a small, tenanted dairy farm, run by his father and uncle, and by the time Mr Perkins came home from ag- ricultural college, it was in need of investment. “I have been able to steer the business away from dairy and into premium free-range poultry coupled with EU-li- censed on-farm slaughtering facilities,” he said. “I’ve taken my business from its first in- vestment of a £4,000 Prince’s Trust loan in 2004 to an in- vestment in excess of £1 mil- lion completed in 2015 which was Defra-supported through the Rural Development Pro- gramme (England).” Free-range chickens are pro- duced all year, with turkeys and geese at Christmas. “We produce them on our farm, process them through our abattoir and supply farm shops and butchers within the region,” explained Mr Perkins. “The family dairy side ceased in 2012, although we still pro- duce a small amount of beef and arable. I work full-time running Castlemead Poultry with our 18 plus employees, and numerous customers. “Achieving the Prince’s Trust loan to get the business started back in 2004 was my first achievement. I bought a mobile layer shed, for 300 layers. Although small by today’s standards it provided me with the capacity to in- crease egg production and set the ball in motion for future, larger investments. “My greatest achievement was the construction of our bespoke on-farm processing fa- cility. It has been a huge turn- ing point and the accumula- tion of five years’ hard work.” To keep costs down Mr Per- kins led the project manage- ment and work cannot have been easy levelling the origin- ally sloping site. He won the British Farming Award for Di- versification in October last year. “Making a direct link between farmer and customer, the fork-to-plate approach is most important,” he says. “Traceability and provenance is essential. We use cereals produced on farm as well as purchasing those produced locally, reducing transport Childhood surprise inspired career path Western Daily Press Food & Farming Awards 2016 costs to mills and then buying the compound feed back again.” The farm is in the Natural England Entry Level Steward- ship scheme, the national scheme which helps protect hedgerow and trees as well as other environmental schemes. In addition there is a new 50- Kva solar panel system on the roof of the abattoir, a joint ven- ture between Mr Perkins and his landlords. Waste from the slaughtering, which used to be incinerated is now sorted with category 3 going into a Bio digester, again producing energy off site. Fertiliser and sprays are used at a minimum and the large amounts of poultry manure reduces the need for artificial nitrogen. The poultry paddocks do not need intensive farming, as Mr Perkins said: “The more weeds that are in the paddocks the more natural shade cover and foraging material is available to the birds. And over the next two years I hope to roll out a scheme for tree planting in the poultry paddocks.” Stuart Perkins, 29, at his farm near Radstock with his free-range chickens. Mr Perkins is a an entrant in the Young Farmer catagory of the Western Daily Press Food and Farming Awards PICTURE: STEVE ROBERTS Tim Mead, chairman of Yeo Valley said: “We are proud to sponsor the 2016 Western Daily Press Food and Farm- ing Awards. “The West Country is home to many great food pro- ducers, and some truly fant- astic farmers. As farmers, here in Somerset, ourselves we know that farming is not always an easy business, and it seems right to celebrate all the time and effort that goes into producing some of our region’s most wonderful food. “Good, well produced food is important to us all, not just now, but for the long-term sustainable future of us all. “The entrepreneurialism and amazing talent of many of our local food producers deserves a light shone upon it; not only those business that have grown to become large and well known, but also to showcase the won- derful new businesses, and fantastic young farmers we have here in our region, showing the very best about the West Country.” lasagne without the labels an- nouncing its presence. But one major company which had adopted a clearer labelling policy informing shoppers which of its products were made with wholly French meat has announced the move has not made a jot of difference to buying patterns. In a country where unem- ployment is at around 10 per cent, where the discrete fund used to pay employment be- nefit is now 25 billion euros in the red and the prospect of reduced payments now a vir- tually certain consequence, hard-pressed shoppers are de- ciding that any notion of pat- riotism can be left at the su- permarket door, and are still buying on the basis of price. And prices are at the nub of the problem. French farmers have been slow to modernise – or to accept, as others have, that in this day and age a single enterprise no longer provides enough income to support two, three or more families. As it has become less com- petitive it has lost 4 per cent of international market share in 15 years. France has tradition- ally been the agricultural powerhouse of the EU. But Ger- many now exports more pork, beef, chicken, milk and even strawberries. Its goods are on average 7 per cent cheaper, be- cause it doesn’t have France’s restricting labour laws and be- cause its farmers employ cheap migrant labour – an un- thinkable option for France with five million of its citizens already on the dole. What’s the solution? Not, certainly, quick-fix, short-term tax holidays for farmers. The problem is far more deeply rooted. The traditional model of French farming is entirely out- dated but, more to the point, so is the machinery of French agriculture: creaking and worn out after years of chronic under-investment resulting from low prices. Pigs and chickens are being raised in units as much as 30 years old. Analysts say there is a chronic need for three billion euros to update the industry’s infrastructure. But the French government hasn’t got that sort of money even to lend – even if the farmers could afford to borrow it. Where it all ends is anyone’s guess. The mood in the French countryside is dark, and get- ting darker as despairing farmers, many of them only in their 30s and 40s, resort to the noose and the shotgun. One farm inspector has already been strangled. Roads have been blocked, towns blockaded, taboos – as at the Paris show – broken. Any food imports – such as British lamb – are now seen as threats and no target – such as ferries bringing much-needed tour- ists – too unassailable. Be prepared for massive dis- ruption if you are heading to France on holiday this summer. And whatever you do don’t make any jokes about cassoulet. They simply aren’t in the mood. ‘The mood in the French countryside is dark, and getting darker’ Tim Mead, who is chairman of Yeo Valley Family Farm Category sponsor: Yeo Valley Family Farm
Transcript of Chris Rundle - WordPress.com · that takeaways and pop-up eateries produces. It can be a...
WESTERN DAILY PRESS WEDNESDAY MARCH 2 2016 FARMING 5WDP-E01-S34 FARMING WEDNESDAY MARCH 2 2016 WESTERN DAILY PRESS WDP-E01-S3
SPONSOR AN AWARD TO CELEBRATE THE VERY BEST
‘Sponsoring the 2016 Western Daily Press Food & Farming Awardscouldn’t be easier and provides companies with an opportunity toinform and introduce potential new customers,’ says Peter Lloyd,sponsorship account director for the Western Daily Press. ‘Coveragewill increase and maintain awareness of the sponsor’s business andcomplement existing advertising and communication strategies.’Categories include: Best Food Producer, Best Independent Café orTea Room, Best Local Food Retailer, Food & Drink Business of theYear, Best Food Pub or Restaurant, Outstanding Contribution toFarming, Best Ready to Eat/Takeaway /Pop up Eatery. For detailson all category and sponsorship opportunities, please contact PeterLloyd by email at [email protected]
The categoriesBest Food Pub orRestaurantThis category recognises thebest pub or restaurant food inthe South West that drawscustomers because of theexcellence of its food.Best Independent Café orTea RoomAwarding the bestindependent café or tea roomin the South West. We arelooking for a café or tea roomthat stands apart from others.Best Ready to Eat,Takeaway or Pop-upEateryRecognising the great foodthat takeaways and pop-upeateries produces. It can be afish-and-chip shop, burgerrestaurant, sandwich shop,deli, ice-cream van or a café,pub or restaurant offering atakeaway service.Best Pub – sponsored byThatchersThis category recognises thebest pub that draws customersbecause of its excellent drinkand atmosphere, withparticular emphasis on locallysourced beverages.Best Local Food Retailer– Sponsored by HigosInsurance ServicesWe are interested in animaginative initiative that ischanging the way good qualityfood and drink is beingsourced and sold.Best Drinks Producer –sponsored by GrantThorntonAwarded to the best drinksproducer of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages. Thejudges will look for the mostinteresting, tastiest drink.Best Food Producer –sponsored by the RoyalBath and West ShowAwarded to the best foodproducer, producing the bestfresh, processed or packagedfood which may be sold fromthe farm, through a farm shop,
farmers’ market, local butcher,local greengrocer orsupermarket.Food and Drink Businessof the Year – sponsoredby Smith & WiliamsonAn award for an inspiringbusiness. It could be aninspiring new product, animaginative use of technologyor an environmentally friendlyfood process.OutstandingContribution to LocalFood DevelopmentAn award recognising anindividual based in the SouthWest, who has put the areaon the map throughinspiration, imagination andlocal ingredients.OutstandingContribution to Farming– sponsored by KarcherAn award recognising anindividual based in the SouthWest, which has put farmingon the map throughinspiration, energy andimagination.Best FarmerThis award recognises all typesof farmers who have shownvision in developing theirbusiness to meet therequirements of the market.Young Farmer of theYear – sponsored by YeoValley Family FarmAre you 30 or under as ofJanuary 1, 2016, and makinga success of managing adistinct area of the familyfarming business – or evenrunning your very ownbusiness?Agricultural Contractorof the Year – sponsoredby MichelmoresFarm contractors keep thewheels of UK agriculturerolling, and without themmany farmers would struggle.The winning contractor will bea business that is regarded asan essential part of theirfarming customers’ business.
Crisis acrossthe waterT here’s a very good clip onYouTube which illustratesquite graphically what hap-pens when you upset theFrench paysan – not so much a‘peasant’ as the translation im-plies here here but a country-dweller totally and proudly im-mersed in the traditions, cus-toms and heritage of his loc-a l i t y.
It is shot in the market atCastelnaudary, birthplace andhome of cassoulet, one of thegreat classics of French coun-try cooking, where an English-looking salesman completewith bowler hat attempts topersuade the locals that cas-soulet was in fact an Englishinvention and was only intro-duced to the French during theHundred Years War.
To which end he attempts tosell shoppers tins of authenticEnglish cassoulet in flavoursincluding mint sauce, curry,and sweet-and-sour.
Initially the reaction is oneof mere curiosity but the moodrapidly turns sinister once hemanages to convince thecrowd that this isn’t some sortof joke. He is accused of in-sulting the reputation of thetown and its famous dish andadvised to pack up and go.
Eventually tempers rise, hisbowler hat is torn from hishead and thrown away and hisadvertising material rippedd ow n .
The final frames reveal thatthis is nothing more than alengthy, elaborate advertise-ment for the products of one ofthe local cassoulet producersbut as a bit of reality TV it isremarkably revealing.
It also explains why theFrench government is gettingquite so nervous about thegrowing paysans’ revolt it isnow facing across the countryas all sectors of farming aresqueezed tighter and tighter.
Events took their latest, em-barrassing turn for the author-ities at the weekend when theParis agricultural fair openedfor business. The fair is muchlike agricultural shows here:ostensibly all about farmingbut maintaining a veneer ofnormality for the benefit of thevisitors however bad things ac-tually are out in the field or inthe milking parlour.
However dire the straitsfarmers find themselves in thestormy waters are never al-lowed to ruffle the facet of theindustry which the showspresent to the public.
But that convention wasrudely swept away in Paris.Francois Hollande was de-termined to show his face, as iscustomary, at the event just toprove he wasn’t afraid of anytrouble. At the same time heclearly intended to avoid anyconfrontation with protestersby rocking up at 6.45am.
The ploy didn’t work: thefarmers were lying in wait andambushed him, loosing off abarrage of jeers, catcalls andinsults which saw the pres-idential security team hust-ling the head of state away.Clearly the tax cuts and the
Chris Rundlescrapping of charges and feesHollande has already prom-ised the farmers aren’t re-garded as anything likeenough. Worse was to come.The protesters then moved tothe vast stand of the agricul-ture ministry, manned by thecivil servants.
The farmers’ mood hadhardly been improved by hintsin the press that the freeze onpublic sector pay is likely to beremoved later this year, thuswidening even further the dif-ferential between the incomeof those who work the land andthose who regulate, monitor,inspect and penalise them.
So they simply demolishedthe stand, reducing it to a heapof broken display panels andwrecked furniture in a matterof minutes. Riot police werecalled in to restore order andmade five arrests. But all thoseheld were released withoutcharge after their colleagueswarned they would occupy thebuilding until they were.
Agriculture minister and of-ficial government spokesmanStéphane Le Foll denouncedthe protests.
But the public are mostly onthe farmers’ side. So is thepress, with one commentator,Périco Légasse, describing thegiant logo of a low-cost super-market chain looming abovethe dairy cows at the showwhile its stores sold cheap im-
DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS
Time is running out to nominate your business in the WesternDaily Press Food and Farming awards, run in association with YeoValley. However, entering could not be easier, just visitwww.westerndailypress/foodandfarming. The awards give valuableexposure to outstanding businesses, and reward the hard work ofyou and all your staff. All finalists are invited to the black tieawards night at the Bristol Marriott Hotel, which this year takesplace on May 10.
ported milk as akin to a mauso-leum glorifying an arms dealerstanding in the ruinedcemetery of a town hisweapons had destroyed. Pro-vocation, he warned, can onlybe taken so far.
On Sunday the farmers wereback, this time targeting thestand of one of the country’slargest food processors whichthey accused of profiteeringwhile paying them ruinouslylow prices for their meat,throwing bags of flour over itand letting off fire extinguish-ers. And so the protests go on,each one looking more andmore like a prelude to totala n a rchy.
Behind the low prices liemany of the common factorsthat are hitting our own in-dustry – including a globalmilk surplus and the effects ofthe Russian trade embargo.
And even though Frenchgovernments have tradition-ally been more sympathetic tofar mers’ demands than anyBritish one ever has, Hollandeis now backed into a corner. Hehas gone as far as he can withconcessions: any more and hewill run up against the EUrules on state aid which willeffectively manacle him.
Neither is the latest newsfrom the retail sector offeringmuch cheer to the producers.One of their main grievanceshas been the way importedmeat finds itself into processedfoods from saucisson toEnter at westerndailypress.co.uk/foodandfarming
BY TINA [email protected]
Stuart Perkins got hooked onfarming and marketingpoultry after being given adozen chickens as a surprisesixth birthday present.Twenty-three years later he isa nominee for our YoungFarmer of the Year Award, acategory sponsored by YeoVa l l e y.
Mr Perkins, who runs Cas-tlemead Poultry at Terry Hill,near Radstock, was born andraised on Heywood Farm,which was then a mixed en-terprise, although mainlydairy. It was a small, tenanteddairy farm, run by his fatherand uncle, and by the time MrPerkins came home from ag-ricultural college, it was inneed of investment.
“I have been able to steer thebusiness away from dairy andinto premium free-rangepoultry coupled with EU-li-censed on-farm slaughteringf acilities,” he said. “I’ve takenmy business from its first in-vestment of a £4,000 Prince’s
Trust loan in 2004 to an in-vestment in excess of £1 mil-lion completed in 2015 whichwas Defra-supported throughthe Rural Development Pro-gramme (England).”
Free-range chickens are pro-duced all year, with turkeysand geese at Christmas.
“We produce them on ourfarm, process them throughour abattoir and supply farmshops and butchers within there gion,” explained Mr Perkins.“The family dairy side ceasedin 2012, although we still pro-duce a small amount of beefand arable. I work full-timerunning Castlemead Poultrywith our 18 plus employees,and numerous customers.
“Achieving the Prince’s
Trust loan to get the businessstarted back in 2004 was myfirst achievement. I bought amobile layer shed, for 300layers. Although small byt o d ay ’s standards it providedme with the capacity to in-crease egg production and setthe ball in motion for future,larger investments.
“My greatest achievementwas the construction of ourbespoke on-farm processing fa-cility. It has been a huge turn-ing point and the accumula-tion of five years’ hard work.”
To keep costs down Mr Per-kins led the project manage-ment and work cannot havebeen easy levelling the origin-ally sloping site. He won theBritish Farming Award for Di-versification in October lastye a r.
“Making a direct linkbetween farmer and customer,the fork-to-plate approach ismost important,” he says.“Traceability and provenanceis essential. We use cerealsproduced on farm as well aspurchasing those producedlocally, reducing transport
Childhood surprise inspired career path
Western Daily Press Food & Farming Awards 2016
costs to mills and then buyingthe compound feed backag ain.”
The farm is in the NaturalEngland Entry Level Steward-ship scheme, the nationalscheme which helps protecthedgerow and trees as well asother environmental schemes.
In addition there is a new 50-Kva solar panel system on theroof of the abattoir, a joint ven-ture between Mr Perkins andhis landlords. Waste from theslaughtering, which used to beincinerated is now sorted withcategory 3 going into a Biodigester, again producingenergy off site. Fertiliser andsprays are used at a minimumand the large amounts ofpoultry manure reduces theneed for artificial nitrogen.
The poultry paddocks do notneed intensive farming, as MrPerkins said: “The more weedsthat are in the paddocks themore natural shade cover andforaging material is availableto the birds. And over the nexttwo years I hope to roll out ascheme for tree planting in thepoultry paddocks.”
Stuart Perkins, 29, at his farm near Radstock with his free-range chickens. Mr Perkins is a an entrant in the Young Farmer catagory of the Western Daily Press Food and Farming Awards PICTURE: STEVE ROBERTS
Tim Mead, chairman of YeoValley said: “We are proud tosponsor the 2016 Wester nDaily Press Food and Farm-ing Awards.
“The West Country ishome to many great food pro-ducers, and some truly fant-astic farmers. As farmers,here in Somerset, ourselveswe know that farming is notalways an easy business, andit seems right to celebrate allthe time and effort that goesinto producing some of ourre gion’s most wonderfulfo o d .
“Good, well produced foodis important to us all, not justnow, but for the long-termsustainable future of us all.
“The entrepreneurialismand amazing talent of manyof our local food producersdeserves a light shone upon
it; not only those businessthat have grown to becomelarge and well known, butalso to showcase the won-derful new businesses, andfantastic young farmers wehave here in our region,showing the very best aboutthe West Country.”
lasagne without the labels an-nouncing its presence.
But one major companywhich had adopted a clearerlabelling policy informingshoppers which of its productswere made with wholly Frenchmeat has announced the movehas not made a jot of differenceto buying patterns.
In a country where unem-ployment is at around 10 percent, where the discrete fundused to pay employment be-nefit is now 25 billion euros inthe red and the prospect ofreduced payments now a vir-tually certain consequence,hard-pressed shoppers are de-ciding that any notion of pat-riotism can be left at the su-permarket door, and are stillbuying on the basis of price.
And prices are at the nub ofthe problem. French farmershave been slow to modernise –or to accept, as others have,that in this day and age a singleenterprise no longer providesenough income to support two,three or more families.
As it has become less com-petitive it has lost 4 per cent ofinternational market share in15 years. France has tradition-ally been the agriculturalpowerhouse of the EU. But Ger-many now exports more pork,beef, chicken, milk and evenstrawberries. Its goods are onaverage 7 per cent cheaper, be-cause it doesn’t have France’srestricting labour laws and be-cause its farmers employcheap migrant labour – an un-thinkable option for Francewith five million of its citizensalready on the dole.
W h at ’s the solution? Not,certainly, quick-fix, short-termtax holidays for farmers. Theproblem is far more deeplyro o t e d .
The traditional model ofFrench farming is entirely out-dated but, more to the point, sois the machinery of Frenchagriculture: creaking andworn out after years of chronicunder-investment resultingfrom low prices.
Pigs and chickens are beingraised in units as much as 30years old. Analysts say there isa chronic need for three billioneuros to update the industry’sinfrastructure. But the Frenchgovernment hasn’t got thatsort of money even to lend –even if the farmers couldafford to borrow it.
Where it all ends is anyone’sg u e s s.
The mood in the Frenchcountryside is dark, and get-ting darker as despairingfarmers, many of them only intheir 30s and 40s, resort to thenoose and the shotgun. Onefarm inspector has alreadybeen strangled.
Roads have been blocked,towns blockaded, taboos – as atthe Paris show – broken. Anyfood imports – such as Britishlamb – are now seen as threatsand no target – such as ferriesbringing much-needed tour-ists – too unassailable.
Be prepared for massive dis-ruption if you are heading toFrance on holiday thissummer. And whatever you dod o n’t make any jokes aboutcassoulet. They simply aren’tin the mood.
‘The mood in theFrench countryside isdark, and gettingdarker’
Tim Mead, who is chairman ofYeo Valley Family Farm
Category sponsor:Yeo Valley Family Farm
