Fundamentalist Farmers

[DrWazzock]

I don’t know who it was that coined this term but it was Guy Somebody who used to write in the Farming News.
And well folks here we are. It’s only fundamentalist farmers who will continue to persevere in the face of poor returns, damnation by faint praise, insinuation that we are the root cause of all ills, subsidisation of anything but production.
Here we are, yeoman farmers, unwilling to allow the rollback of 1000 years of agricultural progress and reclamation from wilderness.

 

[DrWazzock]

And so next month the draining machine will arrive and a small improvement scheme will be installed. It doesn’t really make commercial sense but we refuse to relinquish the farm to swamp, ragwort and gorse. We realise we aren’t supported in our endeavours and are swimming against the tide but that’s how it is. Whatever the financial implications, whatever the “policy” we remain firmly of the conviction that the mastery of nature not the capitulation to it is the right thing to do. And we will damn well continue to do it. We will continue to farm.

 

[David.]

As the kids say;
Dude, are you okay?

 

[DrWazzock]

As the kids say;
Dude, are you okay?

Perfectly fine now that I can see through the bulls**t.

 

[DrWazzock]

I shall continue to farm. I shall continue to produce commodities that are needed. To hell with carbon sequestration, BNG. and all that bollox. To hell with rinsing the taxpayer for money for old rope enviro schemes. I didn’t vote for Brexit to see “farming” reduced to a minion of Whitehall civil servants.
Last ever post from me. I’ll get on. Good luck to all, for if the general steerage of this forum is anything to go by you’ll need it.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Do you promise that next week you will not.

Object to profit taking by the trade for seed, fertilizer, ag chems, parts & assurance. Then threaten to put the whole lot, apart from the sheep field into SFI

 

[FonterraFarmer]

I shall continue to farm. I shall continue to produce commodities that are needed. To hell with carbon sequestration, BNG. and all that bollox. To hell with rinsing the taxpayer for money for old rope enviro schemes. I didn’t vote for Brexit to see “farming” reduced to a minion of Whitehall civil servants.
Last ever post from me. I’ll get on. Good luck to all, for if the general steerage of this forum is anything to go by you’ll need it.

Nothing will change till there's a war or famine.
Personally I can't wait till the "left" and the bureaucrats start to starve.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Perfectly fine now that I can see through the bulls**t.

 

[box]

Last ever post from me.

 

[Tarw Coch]

I for one certainly hope he will

 

[Tarw Coch]

Nothing will change till there's a war or famine.
Personally I can't wait till the "left" and the bureaucrats start to starve.

Not that the right was really any better over here, and no doubt by and large, the same beaurecrats

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Not that the right was really any better over here, and no doubt by and large, the same beaurecrats

Your "right" in the last 10-15 years was near fecking useless.
Mind you our "left" was useless and really fecking incompetent.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

I shall continue to farm. I shall continue to produce commodities that are needed. To hell with carbon sequestration, BNG. and all that bollox. To hell with rinsing the taxpayer for money for old rope enviro schemes. I didn’t vote for Brexit to see “farming” reduced to a minion of Whitehall civil servants.
Last ever post from me. I’ll get on. Good luck to all, for if the general steerage of this forum is anything to go by you’ll need it.

I sincerely hope @DrWazzock you are still reading TFF and that you change your mind and start to contribute again.

We need people like you. My business needs people like you. From what you write, you and I are very like minded.

Good luck, crack on, f**k ‘em and come back to see us very soon.

 

[DrWazzock]

Well I’ve being doing some thinking based on this years yields and prices so far. Growing crops without BPS isn’t financially worthwhile at present prices. (Offered £135 for barley off the combine. Similar price as we got in the 1990’s)
Bought a telehandler in 2000, good secondhand for £6k. Equivalent today would be about £35k. Simply unaffordable and unsustainable.
So with regret a lot of the farm is going into non cropping non food producing options like CNUM3 very soon. These will at least build soil structure and much needed fertility. There’ll be birdseed and pollinator mix as well. I think this will be damaging at a national level in terms of productivity, economic activity and food security but I simply cannot make combinable crops stack up anymore on grade 3 with high costs and low prices, never mind the work, risk and stress involved. So we’ll reduce our cropped area by about 60% and take the SFI cash. Probably time then to do another job or look after my poorly Mrs.
Doesn’t sit right for me morally on a national policy level but really from a financial angle I’ve not much choice unless commodity prices rise or we get a home grown quality premium over lower cost imports. I’d imagine hell will freeze over before the BRC allows that.

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

Well I’ve being doing some thinking based on this years yields and prices so far. Growing crops without BPS isn’t financially worthwhile at present prices. (Offered £135 for barley off the combine. Similar price as we got in the 1990’s)
Bought a telehandler in 2000, good secondhand for £6k. Equivalent today would be about £35k. Simply unaffordable and unsustainable.
So with regret a lot of the farm is going into non cropping non food producing options like CNUM3 very soon. These will at least build soil structure and much needed fertility. There’ll be birdseed and pollinator mix as well. I think this will be damaging at a national level in terms of productivity, economic activity and food security but I simply cannot make combinable crops stack up anymore on grade 3 with high costs and low prices, never mind the work, risk and stress involved. So we’ll reduce our cropped area by about 60% and take the SFI cash. Probably time then to do another job or look after my poorly Mrs.
Doesn’t sit right for me morally on a national policy level but really from a financial angle I’ve not much choice unless commodity prices rise or we get a home grown quality premium over lower cost imports. I’d imagine hell will freeze over before the BRC allows that.

Don’t worry about it. You’ve got a business asset to use as economic conditions dictate. At the moment food production looks secondary. We have an obligation I think, to care for our land, but nothing more. Do what is best for you and your family, we get little thanks nowadays for doing anything else.

 

[Widgetone]

Well I do hope you continue to post DrW, your views always make informed reading, and, unlike some smart arses on TFF who make out they never struggle, you are refreshingly honest about the challenges of farming in this era.

 

[goodevans]

I hope you are feeling ok today@DrWazzock,to put things into perspective I'm lucky (stupid) enough to also have a business other than farming and believe me other businesses also get shat on,literally, the other half runs the pub and believe me it is no easier than farming and a lot more tiring,and Friday night literally a few hours before we were lucky enough to fly away on a family holiday a member of staff phoned up to say somebody had just taken a crap in a urinal,you are extremely lucky in the fact you can put bird mix in and take other opertunities,good luck though and keep posting,its good to talk and even better to let it out,I know that from personal experience as if my other half didnt open up when pregnant with my lad I probably wouldn't have her or him now

 

[DrWazzock]

Thanks. I’ve really struggled to come to a decision and acceptance of the new reality. Putting more into schemes should free up time to do something more profitable / varied. The farm land will still be maintained including the drainage. It won’t be allowed to go to ruin and we will still have one third arable, one third grass with sheep, one third schemes. Being small anyway it should be part time job with less swingeing costs and risk. That’s the plan anyway.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Glad you weren’t gone long

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

To hell with rinsing the taxpayer

Have you not been claiming BPS?