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BF & G NOTES It is an honour to become County Chairman and represent Derbyshire within the Union and to a wider audience. Born and bred in Derbyshire, after being awarded a scholarship to study for a degree in agribusiness in Western Australia, extensive travel, lots of casual farmwork and working for Genus, I took over my parents farm in 1991. The house and quota had been sold so I started a Jersey! suckler herd and after a spell in a caravan moved into a barn conversion. The herd was ugraded with Limousin bulls and progeny intensively fattened building up numbers and acreage with grasskeep. With the beef crisis in 1996 I implemented major changes. Land was consolidated to where I had security of tenure, bull breed switched to Aberdeen Angus, conversion to organic and enrolment in Organic Farming and Countryside Stewardship Schemes. Following a major bTB breakdown in 2004 more changes were made. The Angus sucklers are bred to an Angus bull, progeny retained or finished, commercial flock of Poll Dorset ewes are kept and 70 acres milling wheat/oats grown. Cereals are sold through an Organic co-op, finished stock are sold cooperating with a colleague to supply a major retailer through a processor with some direct sales. My NFU involvement started in 1996 after attending an event for younger farmers presented by Sir David Naish at Chatsworth, encouraged by an enthusiastic local branch team and provoked by the developing BSE crisis, I overcame my initial reticence and found myself being pushed forward. I have chaired Derby NFU and the East Midlands Livestock Board; delegate for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire on the old national Livestock Board, and serve on the Derbyshire Farmers Asset Management Committee. So what have I learned from all this activity. Principally that the more things change the more they stay the same. We face much the same issues as our founders a century ago and appear to have learned nothing from our history. Read agricultural text books from any era and you will find similar problems and proposed solutions as today. We must be constantly involved at all levels and with a range of organisations to promote and defend our industry as we strive for fair terms of trade and sensible regulation. Very few people or bodies we have a dialogue with have the slightest interest in farming only in building their own empires and protecting their own position. It is only where we can persuade them to change a view or that we have a mutual interest that we can be successful. The need for a strong union increases as the environment in which it operates becomes more complicated. What we have got to our aid is an excellent organisation with a very good reputation that constantly punches above it's weight. So, we achieve more when we work together. I am tired of non-members sponging on our union reducing its power and resources. I am well aware the history of agricultural co-op's is littered with failure. But there are also shining examples of success. You can benefit by simply working more closely with a neighbour. You can join a buying/selling group to give economies of scale. You can join large regional or national co-ops. Whatever you choose it is important to tread carefully and limit your commitment to your confidence. You might consider the benefits of organic farming; excellent business opportunity, lower costs and double ELS plus conversion payments (while the money lasts – hurry!) Unfortunately I was unable to attend the Centenary conference. I hear it was a triumph for the NFU, the high profile of the speakers reflecting the high profile that our Union manages to sustain. The messages that have come out reinforce my views. Brown is interested in us because he is now concerned about food and energy security. Benn dare not make a decision on bTB, leaving us no alternative than to find our own solutions. Cameron advises to ride the wave of consumer support and interest in food quality and provenance.
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