Herefordshire should be proud of its farms

9:19pm Friday 15th August 2008

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Someone once said Herefordshire was where the cows have white faces and farmers have red faces.

Sadly, the cows now have all sorts of coloured faces, however, while the decline in popularity of the Hereford cattle over the past 50 years has been very sad, it has certainly not mirrored a decline in farming in Herefordshire.

This beautiful, fertile county has some of the best farming businesses that you are likely to encounter within its borders, as well as some of the most attractive landscape, best managed woodlands and excellent diversification projects in the country. This county should take great pride in its farms, some of which are truly world class.

In Herefordshire, we can see excellent examples of what can be achieved when farmers look to exploit opportunities on a large or small scale.

Potatoes, berries, chickens and cider fruit are grown by farms of all shapes and sizes, for all sorts of different markets.

The rich diversity of agricultural production and scale is going to become increasingly important in years to come as we struggle to feed a global population which will reach 9 billion by 2050.

The CLA is currently working on a Food and Environmental Security policy, which we will promote for the next reform of the CAP in 2013.

We are working on the basis that food security is going to be one of the crucial challenges of the 21st century, particularly in Northern Europe, where we may be lucky enough to escape the worst impacts of climate change.

There will be many, many mouths to feed. Food security is all about the capacity, or ability, to produce food, and, most importantly, to play our part in feeding a growing, hungry global population.

This is a massive change from the policy direction of the last 25 years of the 20th century.

The environmental security element of this policy is equally important.

In addition to the existing challenges on biodiversity and resource protection, there are going to be new threats and opportunities for farmers to play their part in producing energy, providing flood protection and washlands and fixing carbon.

All areas of farming are changing faster than we have ever known - and the recent hike in food prices has made consumers realise that cheap food is no longer a certainty.

The average family still spends less than 15% of its disposable income on food of which less than a third finds its way to the farmer.

If you look at agricultural markets, the only certainty seems to be uncertainty.

Markets and farmers' fortunes will be changed by events over which they have no control (this has always been the case to some extent, as the weather has, sadly, always been the great variable) and risk management will become the effective farmers' most important skills.

There will also be enormous challenges which relate to climate change.

We will have to learn to farm with lower emissions and while we may, in the short term, benefit from improved growing conditions, we will also encounter pests and diseases which have not previously appeared in these islands (Bluetongue and avian flu are two topical examples).

Finally, there is no doubt that biotechnology has a huge part to play in the future.

Research and development have been sadly neglected over the past 25 years and this must change to give us any chance of meeting the challenges.