Simplifying support!

WE are now into September – the last month of summer – although many people are asking, what summer?

If you farm a light land farm it has been an OK one, but if you have a heavy soil farm, it has been close to a bad one, with pretty depressing periods and close to a repeat of 2014 and 2012, both being ones we would rather forget!

There have only been two dry spells when we have had a complete week without some rain and that was the first week of June and the last week of August, which has certainly made it very catchy weather for conserving forage.

Many early June silages will be good, but after that you would have to be very lucky to conserve vintage forage of any kind, be it silage, haylage, or hay.

At home, our first cut silage in June is 40% dry matter, which makes it one of the driest in more than 50 years, with only 1976 being a year when we had silage at 50%!

Ideally, I like it around 30% and think our second cut silage will fall into this category. Unfortunately, we are not going to have exotic protein values which is simply because of the lack of sunshine, and there is not a lot we can do about that!

Cattle at grass have done no more than average, or maybe less, with the hairy breeds coping marginally better than the continentals.

In our case, if we had not been hopper feeding, weight gains would have been even less. For beef cattle to do well at grass they need lots of sun on their backs, which is one thing they sure have been short of this so-called summer.

A few days ago we came to the end of another fiscal year, which is certainly not going to go into the history books as being vintage.

The collapse of the beef prices in January, February and March made sure that HMRC is going to receive a significant drop in income from this business, and I am sure this will be the case for many other businesses this year.

The currency drop recently has helped a little, but sterling needs to weaken further from its over-valued position. Between that, and Brexit, there is certainly no encouragement to invest in expansion until everyone – agriculture and industry too – can see a clearer picture ahead, following our exit from the EU.

We have certainly put our plans for expansion on the back burner, to increase to 3000 plus finishing cattle that were in place before the referendum. This is due to the outcome and the uncertain future for Scottish farming, compounded by the fact that politicians are operating like headless chickens.

Some would say - what's new? The crumb of comfort was when the Chancellor said that our BPS would be secure until 2020 which, in farming terms, is a very short period.

Unfortunately, I do not see any chance of politicians, either in Westminster or Holyrood, coming up with any blue-print for the road ahead, particularly for Scotland, which is compounded by Nicola's desire to hold another referendum.

As I have said before, if she expects Scotland's rural vote to help her on her way, she better stop dreaming!

Intensifying the EU situation is that, over the next few months, there is going to be several elections, the outcome of which will almost certainly have an influence on its future and, in particular, how it holds the union together.

One company that must think the future of the EU is secure is the world's largest meat processor, JBS, which has moved its headquarters to Southern Ireland from Brazil.

The significance of this action to the European beef industry could be immense. At the moment, they own Moypark Poultry Outfit in Northern Ireland. This move into the south with its beef headquarters is certainly causing some speculative interest!

It seems that the interest in the desire to change the grading system of beef cattle in this country is gaining momentum, not only from the feedback I am receiving, but from the correspondence in this publication.

John Elliot certainly cleared the air last week on his adversaries who were in disagreement with his views on inconsistency. Luckily I missed the flack!

However, there are many people out there who want a change in the grading system in order that Scotch beef really is flavoursome and tasty all the time, and so reduces the bad experiences for many.

The big question is, who is going to set the change in motion.? Is it the NFUS, SAMW or QMS? Hopefully, we will find out in the not too distant future.

Come September 1, there was a noticeable change in the countryside, as the hedge trimmers attacked the overgrown masses of hedges, making our roadsides much tidier.

One of the greatest challenges we farmers face is from the over-zealous environmentalists. I used to think it was all the do-gooders in Brussels that were to blame for most of the crazy rules that have materialised and then they were gold-plated by the UK.

It seems that the route of all this gold-plating is right on our door step, here in Scotland, with a whole host of well-heeled bodies lobbying hard at Holyrood's door for even more crazy regulations regarding we farmers as to what we can and cannot do.

The counter body to that can only be our own NFUS which has a major task on its hands to counter those well-funded anti-farming groups who, as I said earlier, have no shortage of funds and the ability to open the doors of the politicians to get their views across.

More often than not, they seem to be anti-farming and anti-good farming practice, so as we head to Brexit, AlLan Bowie and his team will need to lobby extremely hard to combat the very vocal groups opposed to what good farming practices actually do for the countryside and the so-called environment.

Sadly, the only way we farmers get any plaudits is when food is in short supply, which unfortunately does not happen very often.

Having said that, it appears the tide is turning with potatoes, milk, lamb and beef all showing some tightening of supply. Potatoes are close to double what they were 12 months ago, milk is taking a much slower climb back to cost of production, but still has some way to improve before the 7 day chore becomes once again enjoyable!

Prime beef is back to where it needs to be, but it will take some time before the losses incurred during the first three months of this year are recouped!

Unfortunately, this volatility we see in much of what we produce is a facet we will have to endure for the foreseeable future. Maybe, it will even become more volatile, as we leave the EU and become subject to world over and under supply.

So, in farming terms, what, or if any, support will be available after 2020?

One aspect of future food support that has to have serious consideration is how we terminate slipper farming in all its forms. Area payment is certainly not satisfactory in focusing on active farmers.

I am afraid we may need to return to some form of headage payment if only because we do know the total head of livestock we used to have on these islands, and we do know what areas are being cropped.

One thing for sure is that any support system needs to be much simpler that what has been concocted by Brussels. There certainly seems to be an air of let us just pause on any big investment and expansion plans .

It seems that my prediction of a relaxing in land values is taking place, according to the unprecedented number of farms on the market.

Machinery sales are certainly having a downturn, with tractor sales showing the largest drop. Speaking to a few non-farming businesses here in industrial Scotland, it is the same message.

Construction, civil engineering and a steel stockholder all had the same story last week. Their work-load ahead did not full them with enthusiasm.

Even the oil down turn is filtering into the Central Belt, with some haulage firms suffering from the lack of work, so it is not only farming that is suffering from Brexit!