SOS
SOS
Since I all too often forget my reading glasses, I frequently find myself having to guess the words of hymns. Some hymns however become part of our collective memories and there is one very familiar one which speaks in a rousing voice of “England’s pleasant pastures seen”.
Part of the appeal of this country is the sheer diversity of its landscape. The gently folding hills of Devon with its deep reddish brown soil and thick hedges provides pasture which is particularly good for dairy whereas sheep are often best suited to some of the hillside farms in Cumbria or Wales. 
Kent has apple orchards surrounded by hawthorn whilst the south of England is renowned for its high chalk downland grazed by sheep who keep the scrub at bay and allow wild flowers to take hold and scrunch underfoot as walkers clamber up looking for far reaching views. The east of England with its vast flocks of birds scudding through huge skies is particularly good for arable whilst vegetables and potatoes grow well in the Scottish lowlands or the flatter land of Essex.
Flying over the land before descending into any airport whether Manchester, Heathrow or any other, there is something hugely comforting about the checkerboard of small fields and woodlands below. It is very much human size and therein is the reason that rural England has such appeal for those who live in towns or visit from abroad. It is approachable, it is friendly.
It is also very much part of our TV and radio life. Emmerdale Farm, The Archers, All Creatures Great and Small, Poldark, films such as The Holiday or any of the Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy adaptations are all set largely amongst rural life. Then you have the wealth of novels. The countryside gives us joy and it is not surprising that our landscape leads many of the Visit Britain campaigns.
But the countryside also has a purpose apart from its looks. To survive, human beings need to farm in order to eat and to plant or nurture trees in order to keep breathing. As we continue to build over water meadows we often have to recruit the help of farmers to circumvent flooding and as industrialisation reaches ever greater heights, climate volatility is pushing farming systems to their limits in all countries.
It should be basic political common sense that food security be at the forefront of any long term policy. Everything we eat comes from the efforts of some sort of farmer. Perhaps a father-and-daughter partnership working on a sheep and beef farm in north Somerset. Perhaps a farmer working all the hours that God gives to harvest malting barley for beer or whisky and hoping his teenage son, who has got lots of experience on the farm, might still want to learn the trade and go to agricultural college in the future.
Every farm needs barns, whether to store grain or shelter cattle. They need some sort of farmhouse to live in, they need equipment and they need money to tide them over when the harvest fails or the lambs aren’t born. Perhaps they have opened a café or tourist centre on a Cornish farm with camping facilities to make ends meet.
A combine harvester costs £500,000, tractors £120,000, drills £50,000. Depending on the type of farm you might need spreaders, balers, milking parlour, barns for lambing, a corn dryer and dry stores. However you look at it, farming is a very capital intensive business which is only viable if it is perceived as a long term venture. This makes it more about stewardship than earning a salary. A farming wage on average is between £25,000 to £55,000 a year and farmers often rely on the home team working in support of them often for little or no money, at all hours and seven days a week. It does not tend to be a cash rich business.
Research suggests that whilst supermarkets post hundreds of millions in profits each year, farmers receive less than 1% of the total profits for the food they produce.
Farming is fundamentally as much a vocation as it is a job. There is a huge pride in it allied with a deep love for and understanding of the animals they breed despite the fact that they are reared for food and a quiet but intense love for the landscape. For the way the light falls over the fells or the way the shadow is cast in the evening against an oak tree. For a millennia the world has run on the idea that the farmer takes the long view and borrows to invest in a combine, re-lay a hedge, plant 5,000 trees, renovate an old barn, work to improve food defences precisely because they can pass the baton of such stewardship onto the next generation. Obviously if the next generation does not want to take on the burden, then the farm is sold and of course tax is paid.
However, the latest UK government policy threatens this entire long term view. It will make many smaller farms financially unviable with the inevitable result that some will cease to exist. Britain’s agricultural output will decrease making us even more dependant on foreign imports with all its attendant air mile costs and lack of green credentials. There is also a more hidden cost in that it has and will dishearten rural communities, removing their sense of worth and future employment.
Mental health has always been a concern in the farming industry. The pressure exerted by so many uncontrollable variables such as disease, climate and the supermarket giants’ control over prices is immense. The financial, physical, and mental toll of farming is already driving people out of the profession and discouraging new entrants from taking it up and this new policy will only exacerbate this trend. The new regime will actively discourage investment in farming activities as people fight to make fast money in order to meet their new financial obligations.
Ironically, the government has just pledged £22billion for carbon capture. What about allocating a small portion to the UK’s nature-friendly, biodiverse, flood preventing, carbon capture farming budget? That would both help the UK to meet its environmental targets and support farmers’ livelihoods.
Every person in this country would prefer that food prices did not increase, that we ate well and locally, that we could visit farms with our children and grandchildren, watch sheepdogs work, walk along ancient tracks across a headland viewing the newly planted crops just breaking through the knobbly earth to either side.
Farming is about the long view: the next 20, 50, 100 years and how we can tread lightly on this beautiful earth. Hope is such a small word but without it we begin to falter. We should be saying thank you to those who do their best to look after the earth and our food sources, not making it harder for them.
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110 Comments
From a farm background in Texas now living in GA, USA. Your long view to Ag rings true. Rents on land pays annual taxes but not the upkeep of fences, water mills, barns. In current markets, Land holding is a family habit and not the income of the family.
Well said, well said, Lady Carnarvon. Your love of the countryside is vivid in your prose The government should be ashamed of what they have done to farmers. It is an ill thought out short sighted policy and unless changed, will bring down the farming industry, causing endless problems in the future But what does Labour care. They will be voted out in 5 years. But the problems they have caused will resonate among future farmers & the public.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Well said, Lady Carnarvon! You should publish this in other publications. I think the key to acceptance of your ideas is educating policy makers and voters. We take for granted all of this and don’t consider the long view! God gave us this land and asked one simple thing - to be good stewards. We failed in the Garden of Eden and we are destined to fail again if we stay on the current path. Thank you for articulating the issues and the ramifications. Again, I hope you can share this beyond your blog.
This story needed to be told...thank you for taking the time to write each word....
Happy Holidays to YOU ....
Lovely the pictures of sos did you and lord Carnarvon have a wonderful weekend and lovely highcrlere and lovely Downton abbey
I loved the view of the farm in Highclere! Thanks for writing this Ms. Herbert.
Lady Carnarvon,
Brilliantly put. This is clearly a huge problem for the UK, and hopefully enough people will speak up to support the farmers who labor so very hard for them. Perhaps the only hope is for people to step up at the ballot box sooner than later. Family farms have forever been a key ingredient in the growth and historical success of that amazing island and hopefully will be allowed to continue to contribute so greatly.
Best regards and wishes of the season to you and yours.
Thank you...
Amen.
Good morning from snowy Pennsylvania!
Your comment about hymns struck home: as retired clergy, I often forget the words of hymns, prayers, and oddly revert to the KJV of psalms and gospels (in the USA, we have used the RSV as the default in many denominations). What we learn as children still resides in the brain and heart, not a bad thing at all. The rolling countryside, even mentioned in hymns, is a collective memory from childhood for many of us. Sadly, the value of the stewardship of the land is seeping away; too many who have power, influence and greed see the earth as a resource to be exploited for profit. Thank you for reminding us. Blessed Christmas to you and your family.
Thank you Joan
Lovely picture of so and did you have and lord Carnarvon have a wonderful weekend and lam fam of Downton Abbey and lovely highcelere castle
Your thoughts and sage wisdom struck a chord for this Wisconsin rural girl. Our beautiful fertile land is being gobbled up by industrial cement and asphalt.
Happy Christmas to your staff at highcelere castle and happy. Christmas to you and lord Carnarvon
Well done you, sticking up for the farmers and highlighting the issues around our countryside.
Well said Lady Carnarvon - let’s hope someone in 11 Downing Street reads this. Somehow I feel that the current incumbent of that address has little if any understanding of agriculture and country life and its importance to society as a whole. Excellent post
I’m a farmer’s daughter and know well the problems farmers have. One bad fire from lighting can consume 600 acres of wheat and the money needed to live on for next year. Milking cows in the cold mornings is hard when the wind is blowing and you are keeping warm by staying close to the cows. Most farmers continue to stay on the farm because you can see so much nature, the birds and where they nest, the smell of fresh cut hay, the clouds making interesting shapes and most of all the silence of nature. I’m not on the farm anymore but rarely does a day go by that I don’t wonder what is happening on the farm. It gets in your blood.
It happens de same in Catalonia-Spain.
We have to protect, preserve and improve our agriculture for us and future generations.
As citizen I always try to buy local even the price is more expensive...also our coast are in danger, so sad...
Wonderfully written Lady C. Happy Christmas to you and your family.
Well said. We in the U.S. are having the same problem. If we are not good stewards of the earth, the earth cannot give back to us.
I wish you could publish your perceptive and humane article in some of the newspapers to try to get across the point that we need to support and nurture our farmers.
I am not a farmer and have never had any desire to become one. However I totally agree with you on their importance to our welfare and their poor treatment by the supermarkets and government. What a disaster this new government is turning out to be. Lack of understanding and a refusal to listen !!
I wish you could publish your perceptive and humane article in some of the newspapers to try to get across the point that we need to support and nurture our farmers.
Lady Carnarvon you are so right! The farmers are our unsung heroes. The get up before sunlight start tending their crops and animals, then don’t stop until long after dark. Many farms have been in the family for generations. We need to do everything we can to help and show appreciation for our farmers. The cost of the equipment they need is entirely to expensive. Instead of driving small farmers out we need to ensure that they continue to have a future.
Thank you for sharing! So true in America also. Our farmers are so valuable but not given enough help or respect.
With running your estate, I'm sure you haven't much free time at all. If only you did so that you could run for Parliament. I'm sure you'r government would then be able to get things done! God bless and Merry Christmas !
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
This is such an important statement:
“ Research suggests that whilst supermarkets post hundreds of millions in profits each year, farmers receive less than 1% of the total profits for the food they produce.”
Supermarkets, the food industry manufacturers, the marketing companies … all posting huge profits. Not so the farmer. The cost to produce food rises, but the willingness for big corporations to share their profit does not keep pace. Indeed any share to the farmer or increase in production expense results in corporations simply raising prices to keep profits up. There isn’t less profit; the consumer simply pays more.
Thank you for adding your voice. Here’s hoping people … especially those making policy… are listening!
Lady Carnarvon, this was a beautiful essay to describe the importance of this critical issue for our world! Thank you for writing this, and hope to see it shared in other publications and forums! Always looking forward to your posts, they are so rich!
Thank you, Lady Carnarvon, for bringing this topic to the forefront. When people sit down to their tables, I hope people pause to understand what efforts and sacrifices were made to grow/raise their holiday meal. In the United States, we are "death taxing" (inheritance tax) family farms, straining those next-generation farmers' resources even further, or putting them out of business. I live in California where our state government wages political war on our agriculture industry, while our grocery stores are full of produce grown in other countries. The Salinas Valley used to be known as the "Salad Bowl of the World", and now it barely earnes enough to keep going. If I had to grown my own food to survive I'm sure I would starve to death. Again, thank you for being a vocal advocate for what's right. Best wishes for a Happy Christmas and New Year!
I come from a long line of family farming in northern Alberta, Canada. Very hard work for little monetary reward. It has always been said in my family that “You can make a small fortune farming, but you have to start with a large one!” With all the costs associated with producing a crop it seems to be more true now than ever before. I’m certainly thankful for everything farmers contribute for such small monetary gain. And thank you for such an eloquent post.
Well written and thoughtful.
Merry Christmas to everyone at Highclere! My family and I will be visiting from Wisconsin in early January. It will be the highlight of a trip that we have been planning for years!
Thank you Joanne, I would like that too.
How very true thank you so much
Happy Christmas to you all at Highclere
Well said Lady Carnarvon, here in the Netherlands it is the same. More and more farmers stop theire businesses because of government rules etc.
Finishing your blog this morning the words: "the time has come the walrus said . . ." popped into my head.
Wouldn't it be fine if excess and greed could be eliminated from our cultures.
But there is always hope and our community has joined the growing Transition Movement: building community resilience through local initiatives - eating well, reduce, reuse, renew, regenerating the land and sharing the talents we all have if we look a little closer.
We experienced first hand the banks refusal to support farming endeavors. Despite a great track record for over 60 years, our line of credit was never increased. We diversified and are now enjoying success all on our own merits again.
We are so pleased that you shed much light on the truly important things in our world. You never know how much power can come from this.
Your beautifully written piece perfectly describes what is happening to our country at the moment. How can you get through to a group of people who cannot understand that we need our farmers if we are going to eat? At what point will they understand that we will soon be totally dependent on sub standard food flown in from abroad. I know from friends in France that, for example, the French keep all their best fruit for themselves, leaving the second rate ones for us.
Beautifully written and factually correct - please get this out into the media.
Growing up on a working farm, it is sad to see the smaller farms are disappearing. In my family alone there are three farms that are not worked by the owners; most for financial reasons. Today, farming has gotten to be a business that is "to big to fail."
It is nice to see that Lord Carnarvon is a member of the John Deere family.
Thank you for your insightful and relevant column. I live in Iowa in the heart of US farming country, and so much of what you described, could also apply to here. The Mid West is currently in a major fight about carbon capture pipelines and whether private companies have the right take land if the farmers won’t let them cross their property. We are suburb dwellers, but owned a family farm which was worked by a management company so just basically broke even, until we sold when the land values became better than keeping the land. We are also witnessing the spread of large scale factory farms and the demise of a lot of small scale operations. My husband and I have attended a number of farm shows for fun and looked at our share of 500,000 dollar plus farm equipment in multiple colors, but green is a favorite since it is made in this area. We have also visited England and Scotland multiple times, and the view along the north south expressways reminds me so much of parts of where we live, minus the sheep and different colored crops, when in season. In some places in Iowa, farmers also augment their income with wind turbine leases as we are one of the biggest producing states in the US. There are multiple wind farms located along the major east west highway through the state and the crops grow between them. Not all farmers want or are happy about them, but the lease money is very good. We looked into it once, but were too far off the grid. Once again, thank you as ever, for sharing.
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
Amen. AMEN. The long view is so fundamentally important. It is heartbreaking and sickening to see the poor choices being made by the government. May someone in power see sense. Bless you for your beautiful words.
As you and Lord Carnarvon continue to farm your magnificent land, may others follow, or remain, in this vital work.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Charlotte Merriam Cole
So eloquently written! And so touching as well.
I do so love walking in the countryside and hearing the birds twitter.
Your countryside is heavenly.
I always thought that politicians, anywhere should be given the lowest average wages of their constituents for their term, to get acquainted with reality.
So rightly put! My USA is the same...Please publish your thoughts extensively! A blessed Christmas to you and yours from Idaho.
Such a well thought out comment! I totally agree and thank you!
Have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for your very enjoyable posts.
Lady Carnarvon,
A very thoughtful piece this morning. I loved working with farmers for ten years helping them establish educational and entertaining farms to educate all ages about the hard work and worth of agriculture. They had sold their tobacco allotments and had investment money, but didn’t know about how ‘agritourism’ could bring income back.
Interestingly, the Labour Party’s name invokes work, or labor, not absorption of small businesses. Seems as if the Conservative Party has its work before it. Here’s hoping England’s lovely pastures survive.
Martha
Here Here Wonderfully Well Said! Beautifully written as Ever.
Thank you for the lovely words and communicating what we (you included) face as farmers. Farming can, at times, seem such a solitary effort made more difficult by nature's whims and government regulation. It warms my heart to know that someone understands.
A farmer in Northern California
Lady Carnarvon, Bless you for such a direct and heart felt article. The countryside in the UK is magical. Each time I am blessed to visit your beautiful country, I am amazed at what my eyes have seen. Beauty, beyond description.
The true hero's of our nations are not the athletes or movie stars or rock stars. Our hero's are the farmers, who day in and day out, give their all to feed the masses. Hopefully, the leaders and decision makers in the USA and the UK will wake up and realize the true value of farmers, before it is too late. There is something wrong when an athlete makes millions of dollars and the farmer is just glad he can break even. My gratitude and kudos to all the farmers who are so dedicated to the craft. May the future see a change to the better for them.
May you and all those at Highclere have a joyous Christmas and a happy, prosperous and healthy New Year.
Happy Christmas!
Lady Carnarvon, thank you so very much for sharing this. My grandparents were farmers. This outlook very much rings true here in the US. I hope in time, your government improves and makes positive changes for the future. Your Estate is so amazingly beautiful. Your hard work and love truly shine through everywhere!
I remember in the U.S. back in the day, thousands of farmers were forced to auction their equipment, land, and even the farms themselves, most that had been in families for generations, all to the pay bills that accrued. This created the organization (originally a musical fundraiser) called FarmAid. It’s heartbreaking to think a generation is growing up not knowing where their food really comes from. Excellent vlog as always, Lady Carnarvon!
Thank you Pat. Wishing you a wonderful festive season too.
WHY IS COMMON SENSE NOT COMMON!!!!
I STAND WITH THE FARMERS!
Jodi, please find an ‘agrioturism’ farm near you. They are developed by farmers who love farming to show our children, and sometimes their parents, who did not grow up near farms, how farming is such an incredible and necessary part of our lives - every day! Milk, cereal, fruit, eggs, meat, vegetables - what would we do without food.
Thank you for sharing your ideas with Lady Carnarvon and all her friends!!
Happy holidays and a better New Year!
Martha Glass
Thank you Carla, you are very kind.
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
I couldn't agree more. I have watched in horror (from Australia) at the "poor" farmers of the UK and the continent trying to get people to see that farming is so much more than making money. As you so rightly point out - most barely make a living - plus all the outside influences that make farming a hazardous occupation. Farmers a breed apart and need protection not more taxes!!
I send my thanks and God's blessing and protection on every farmer - whether on land or at sea. You truly are the salt of the earth.
Kindest Regards,
Anne Stille
I agree with you, Joanne! As a Commonwealth Country, this article should be published in Canadian magazines and newspapers.
Luckily, Lady Carnarvon, you DO often remember to bring along a camera! The photos of the tractors in front of the manor house are a fabulous statement of timelessness.
As a retired farmer in Canada, with a farming son, i see your statements as being very true for Canada as well. Many young people can’t afford to take over the family farm.
And why indeed do governments not put these “carbon dollars” back into our farms instead of selling them as points to other countries?
Keep speaking up! We appreciate your words.
Thank you for your supportive words
You are kind - please share it
Thank you - they are the remarkable ones..
I agree - thank you
I wanted to write something to wave a flag as we tip over into another year
Raising a glass to you!
Nuture nature - nourish nature - value nature not in terms of money but what it gives
Please share
Thank you - we all need to keep the countryside to keep walking
We are for sure imperfect but we try
There is no one answer -
Yes - great tractors
Please post and share
Very French
Tring to share, to move away from consumerism now so that the balance sheet is about treading lightly on this beautiful planet - are our actions positive for it or negative?
I have no idea what happens when people of common sense enter politics - they leave all their sense behind and forget we are all people with things in commmon
Apt quote!
Please do do post it to other platforms
They tend to transmit rather than listen!
Small, medium and large farms all have a role
You are very kind
It is the listening bit - but perhaps they have some fluff in their ear like Winnie the Pooh?
If I get something wrong - often do - I stop and listen rather than carrying on ..
Any help so to do appreciated
No nutured earth - no people
From Nova Scotia Canada, wholehearted support. Have been following the news from the UK, as well as here in Canada. I am currently developing a course called Women, Culture and Food, but also teaching a course on how climate change is impacting food systems. Governments need to support farmers, now more than ever. But change is likely to come from grassroots advocacy and activism. In solidarity!
Thank you Lady Carnarvon for sharing this information and thank you to all of the Farmers. How can we help? How can I help here from the U.S. It is I am sure obvious to all that we have our challenges in the political climate here in the states and for our farmers here as well. But England in particular has always been my sweet spot, a place to go and feel at home, a place I love. How may I contribute or help from over the pond somehow, someway to these farmers that are the epitome of strength, tenacity and steadfast to maintain their life, their farms and thrive? Merry Christmas,
Debra Burton Bennett
Kettle Falls, Washington
I love your impassioned words in support of farmers. This resonates internationally as food prices have skyrocketed globally. Politicians spend too much time supporting issues that they think are politically correct instead of solving issues that will make the world a better place to live, eat, and play. The fundamental need to provide affordable food for your country should have priority, and support of those who provide the food - farmers - is a huge priority. Thank you for speaking out for all the farmers and peoples of the world. If only dictators stop their wars so that the world can focus on what's really important - mankind's survival!
Thank you Ada.
Well said. I have been enjoying watching all series of Clarkson’s Farm. He has been bringing the plight of farmers and the difficulties that governments including local are burdening the poor farmers with. I think that is the most disheartening side of farming and the least necessary.
I wish that the King would get involved in helping farmers by not signing off on hostile to farmers policies and sending them back to the pollies for improvement!
Keep up the good work.
Merry Christmas
So well said. You should indeed share your heartfelt and accurate prose. Send it off to all the constituents in parliament for their edification. Just possibly a handful might recall their own family history and take pause with the reality of what these changes will cause. I pray daily for the comeuppance of these short term, self serving politicians. If they continue to be left unchecked our world will become nothing more than b a dead or dying memory. Your plight is the same here in our great country if the USA. God Bless you and your commitment to all that is good.
Your post hit very close to home for me. My son is a 5th generation farmer in Iowa. That seems a small amount of time for the English but quite an accomplishment in America. When my son first told me he was going into farming my heart sank a bit. The countless hours and the dependence on Mother nature to grace you with good weather. But then my brain kicked in and I realized he was going into a noble profession. What mother is not proud to see the passion her child has for working to help feed the world?! Every spring it is thrilling to see the new born calves and there is the smell of freshly turned earth. For me no perfume can complete with that. In the fall, riding with him while he harvests and seeing the bounty of crop is a fantastic way to pass a Sunday afternoon. This fall I arrived at my son's house to see my 4 yr old grand-son playing with his toy tractors and combine. He had on his flannel shirt, blue jeans and work boots, just like dad. Levi had laid a blanket on the floor and was going back and forth harvesting the blanket. As he jabbered along, telling me about what he was doing and explaining his yield per acre, I couldn't help but see the glimmer of a passion starting to grow. I pray that we will get a 6th generation to continue the farming like the generations before him. Bless you for making others aware of the situation farmers globally face.
Jeremy Clarkson has really shone a light on the life - it has been very cheering for all who do not have his social media/TV reach
When I read the proposed plans by your Parliament here in the States, I immediately thought of your estate. Sadly this seems to be a global trend. I pray things will take a turn before it’s too late. Your thoughts and writings are powerful. Hopefully, those words will make it to the ears of those in the power to put a stop to such devastating proposals! Wishing you and yours, and the wonderful staff at High Clere, a Happy Christmas and a Blessed New Year! -The Maryland Vitale’s
This was so well written. May I share this on my personal Facebook page?? My son married a wonderful girl from Iowa. They co-farm a small farm with her parents. He was born & raised a city boy, but has fallen in love with the farm & the work that's involved in keeping the farm going. It's expensive & hard, but each day he wakes up, he feels so blessed to be able to do what he does. It's articles like this that shows what is involved!
I am deeply saddened regarding the decisions being meted out to the hard working farmers by this Government They are the life blood and backbone of this country as they have been for many centuries A 365 day commitment very hard work for often little reward Most farming families are proud to carry on the tradition of handing on to the next generation why does this have to be compromised As in the hymn Jerusalem we need our green and pleasant land for health and well being I wish them all good fortune in all their endeavours to preserve a much cherished way of life Thank you so much for highlighting this issue Happy Christmas to all
I have been thinking about this for a while. We need to be able to buy directly from farmers, from farmers’ markets and farm shops.
Some farmers are setting up an online food hub where local food growers and producers can advertise for free and where consumers who are interested in accessing fresh and nutritious food, while supporting our farmers, can come together.
I have just applied to become an ambassador for the food hub - a new challenge for me. I would like to support farmers in North Hampshire and West Berkshire and hope that this will be a positive venture.
Couldn't agree more with you and Lady Carnarvon. So many people have so little contact or any real idea where their food comes from, other than Sainsburys or similar shop. We should cherish our farmers. Many farming families have extra jobs to pay their bills whilst providing food etc. Asset rich but cash poor. I don't think the proposed changes by government have been thought through properly given how quickly the measures were announced.
This brought a chilling thought to me: in the US the farms here are barely managing to stay afloat. Many are paid by the government to basically throw away the crops they harvested (I never understood that). And as prices drop, more and more farms are going under. The devastation of drought as the weather changes, or floods, are destroying what crops they have. And fewer people want to stay working in agriculture that can't even sustain them. Some feel we will become more dependent on importing our food from other countries. But if even your country is struggling with the same thing, where does that leave us? Who do we turn to? Something has to change.
Val in California
Amazing!
Please do share and please ask others to
Thank you
WE all need to 'walk' together
Far too hasty and the wrong approach
Do MP's or members of congress listen?
Thank you for this article about farming.
Your article has touched a raw nerve in not just those in farming but also many in the UK general population. We can all see where this tax is leading, we are not stupid as we have to balance our family life and expenditure against our income, and it is difficult for many families. 35 years working in aid funded development agriculture across the world had shown me that all countires suffer with this policy unless the chief politicians have agricultural backgrounds and their country is very dependant on agriculture as a foreign currency revenue earner. Well said!!
I look back to early 1960s , Christmas morning, 0400 hrs and arrive on the farm where snow lies thick and the temperature is about minus 4degC. We decided to do an early milking so we cold have some time with our familes. No milking parlour but a vacuum line with free standing milking machines which when full had to be carried acroos the icy yard to the dairy. The cows in their stalls were nice and warm and we could hear the chickens in their huts. It was very moving and we felt that the three of us were in a small stall in Bethlehem with the noise, smells and overall enviroment. We all agreed that despite the time, date and weather, we would not have missed the experience.
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Pangbourne to you, Lady Carnarvon and yours, and to all your staff and admirers around the world, and finally to all those strangers who I have not met yet but will be my new friends in the future.
Very well said indeed, Lady Carnarvon.
Thank you
Good on you Lady Carnarvon.
Very insightful, Lady Carnarvon!
The same thing is happening here in my county of eastern North Carolina. All the farms are being bought up by out of state developers. They are putting up cheaply built but expensively priced houses on postage stamps and selling them to people from other areas.
The developers and the politicians are getting rich beyond their wildest dreams! But our valuable farm lands and our beautiful nature resources are being paved over.
Our area experiences massive rainfall and frequent hurricanes. There is no place for the water to go! Many of these new homes flood within their first year, and places that never flooded before are now flooding.
The people are crying out! But the politicians are all in bed with the developers.
Very very bad.
I saw the tractors in London for the farmers' protest. I hope things will improve in England. And I hope Highclere Castle will continue to flourish for generations to come.
Thank you for your thoughts on farming! It would be so helpful for our society in many ways to assist farmers rather than pass laws to hinder people trying to continue family farms.
The same problems are here in the USA! My mother’s family had a farm ,cows ,pigs, crops of corn, soybeans, hay , plus vegetable gardens and fruit trees, here since the 1700s, but now it had to be sold. Luckily the new owner now has a horse farm, but still the small family farm is gone!
I continue to enjoy your posts. Thank you!
Dear Lady Carnarvon:
Thank you for this Monday's blog.
I agree with you: no farms, whether small or large, independent or conglomerate: no food.
Unrealistic views are believed in the United States. The family farm is quickly disappearing, and the government does very little to financially assist or stop the situation.
Until next time, hope we learn before it is too late.
Perpetua Crawford
Much the same short-term view here in the USA as well!