Arable
Around 30% of the UK’s countryside is dedicated to the production of
crops – arable farming. Dove Farm is a mixed farm, which means we rear
livestock as well as growing around 300 acres of cereal crops. Wheat, barley,
oilseed rape, oats and beans are grown on a rotational basis, so as not to
strip the ground of vital nutrients.
We do apply fertilisers, fungicides and pesticides, but keep their use to a minimum. In fact, agricultural chemicals are applied at a weaker dilution, than many garden products bought every weekend by the general public at their local garden centre.
There are, of course, strict guidelines to follow in crop management, as
well as the farmer’s own professional responsibility. There is no doubt
that the way in which cropped land is managed by farmers has big implications
for birds and other wildlife. We have committed to a countryside stewardship
scheme across the arable ground. We are now in year three of the scheme, and
it is bringing visible benefits to the landscape and the diversity of wildlife
it supports.
Most cereals are sown in the autumn. This is always a nailbiting time, as
there is such a short window of weather opportunity, between harvest and the
onset of colder, wetter weather. Farmers always hope for a good mild spring,
with plenty of sunshine and rain to boost the young crops. Even better, is
a long hot summer, to give plenty of time to combine dry crops and bale up
the straw. As you might imagine, the reality is very different, and every
year brings its own disasters, from over-active slugs to non-stop rainy summers.
As a general rule, blood pressure rises as the ripened crops get wetter!
Some of our cereals are used for animal feeds, some goes for milling, and
now a small proportion goes for processing into biodiesel or bioethanol. These
are blended with conventional petroleum products, to create a ‘greener
fuel’.
Perhaps government support for sustainable energy will strengthen in the near future, helping to lower processing costs, and lower duty on the end product. The ideal scenario would then be for UK agriculture, to make a significant contribution to European sustainable energy needs.
Unfortunately, it is not quite so simple. Palm oil, which is cheaper to buy in – serves short term, localised targets in achieving greener fuels, but in the process, worldwide CO2 emissions go up, as more rainforest is cleared, in order to produce more palm oil… green energy may not always be as green as it first appears.
The situation for UK farmers then, rather than being a simple question of
supply and demand, includes a generous helping of world politics too.
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