By John Elliot

The surfeit of Brexit continues – we all know the problems but real insights and solutions are harder to find.

The forecasters remind me of a huge black man called Ras Prince Monolulu. He claimed to be an Abyssinian Prince. He was actually born Peter Carl McKay, in The Virgin Islands.

Dressed in long flowing robes and a tall feathered head-dress, he pedalled tips at English racecourses between the 1920s and his death in 1965.

He tipped different horses in the same race. After the race was over, he returned to the place where his tip was successful and told the world how good he was.

So, no tips from me except that it is foreseeable that a problem will arise unless we get plenty farmers’ feet under the negotiating table. The Scottish Government, many of whose members have never held a job outside politics, relies on advice from The Standing Council on Europe. It has 17 members.

These include representatives of the European Court of Justice, the London based Centre of European Reform, the Scottish Human Rights Commission, the STUC, an Irish academic economist, the European Policy Centre based in Brussels and a former scientific advisor to an ex- European president.

The personnel are reasonably equally split between those who wished for Brexit and those who wanted the UK to remain a member of the EU.

Notably missing is representation from the Scottish Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Gateway, the one body, which addresses the many complex issues facing thousands of small businesses. All of which face the challenge of new tariff barriers into the EU and tariff free imports from the rest of the world.

Nearer to home, something similar exists in our various rural forums. Less and less, practical farmers are included.

The issue has, unfortunately, two sides. Declining attendances at SNFU meetings indicate that the younger generation are less keen to be involved in agri-politics than previous generations.

So, the first challenge that Andrew McCornick and his NFUS team will face is not just knowing what to say, but to ensure that there are plenty of farmers in the room to support him.

One of the benefits of farming and maybe the downside too, is that the world outside can be shut outside and practical matters allowed to predominate. At home, our cropping programme, except for a few varietal tweaks, changes little from year to year.

The Green Revolution seems a long way back and we all await another – one with reduced costs, rather than increasing yields, as the driver. Nothing impacts more on profit than overproduction.

Every time I am exhorted to feed the world, I think of a remark from Nobel Laureate, Amarty Sen – ‘Famine and hunger are not primarily caused by shortage of food, but by lack of income.’

Of immediate concern is the significant rise in fertiliser prices caused by the depreciation of sterling. Most years we have lost little by ordering late – this year isn’t one of them.

Judging by the speeches at the British Cattle Breeders Conference, we aren’t too far off the pace in our genetic know how.

One of the Kiwi speakers at the recent QMS conference on grassland management, at Moffat, reminded me that genetics make a mere 10% contribution to profit, which is a fraction of that made by grassland management.

I am not so sure that the imbalance is so large, but certainly admit that our own grazing techniques need improvement.

Jim Logan who, with his usual enthusiasm, has made substantial changes on his own farm, in sheep and cattle breeds, variety of forages and rotational grazing is coming to set us on the right road.

We plan to start with a 37-acre field which we sowed out last summer after fallow with a grass/white clover mix. We ploughed, destoned and heavy rolled the field, which was maybe overkill, and the take was excellent.

We will graze the field rotationally with heifers that were formerly sent to rented grazing. The rented grazing was very old grass which was set stocked after spreading 70 units of N at turnout.

It will be interesting to see if we can, by using better grazing practice, get as much out of 37 acres of modern grass as we did from 110 acres of ‘traditional’ grass.

The QMS grazing group has been of tremendous interest and, provided we can master techniques which are by no means simple, we could increase the output of the grassland on the farm. The objective must be, not only to increase output, but also to increase profit.

Increasing livestock numbers will require more capital, labour, winter feed and possibly accommodation. The alternative is to keep stock numbers the same and free land for increased cropping.

Roxburgh Mains is stony and off the highest yielding land so, with current grain prices, that isn’t a runner at the moment.

I note from the reports of speeches at the British Cattle Breeders Conference that one of the conclusions was that we should finish cattle quicker. It is hardly new stuff.

Fed appropriately, we could finish both our Angus and Charlolais steers at 350 to 380kg deadweight at 14 months 25 years ago. Nothing paid better.

With modern genetics, we could certainly do it quicker today. Using information about the animals which can gain on less feed, we can cut costs further.

Provided the Government doesn’t let the EU to put tariffs on our beef and at the same time allow tariff-free beef into the country from the rest of the world, the signs for cattle farming are positive.