Farm Diary April 22 2009

Despite this, we were drilling maize by last Thursday, and Tillington was all worked down and drilled by Sunday night, after rain on Friday delayed operations. We are spreading lime on the maize ground at Ripley, surprisingly the only maize ground in need of lime this year.

We wasted a whole day at Crouchlands with the Rural Payments Agency last Wednesday, putting every animal through the race in order to read all ear tags. It went very well, especially as I was under instructions from Gwenan (my daughter) to keep well clear, as I only get worked up and upset the officials.

I was tied up the next day with another 'clip-board merchant' who had come along to ask me thousands of questions in order to calculate the farm's 'carbon '“ footprint'.

'Do you have a written protocol on waste management'? No, I replied, we have a culture of not wasting expensive food, fertilizer or anything else on this farm, and I police it vigorously. Not good enough, apparently. We need to write it down, and as usual, as long as it's written down, no one checks to see if it's carried out.

I will however be interested to see if my carbon-footprint number is lower (better) than last year. It is about efficiency and waste, therefore I will be disappointed if we have not improved, although poorer quality silage (no sun last summer) and lower maize silage yields will count against me.

The German builders are back on site today, and are bringing two more with them, so we can expect some action! The weather is ideal for building work, and I hope to see them crack on with plenty of it this week, as we are waiting on them again.

Our job this week is to lay foundations for the transformer, which is a large oil filled device, which will convert the electricity produced by the 'AD plant' to lower amperage, high voltage supply. This will then be fed underground to the nearest electricity pole, through a cable put in by us several weeks ago.

We will be cutting grass silage in three weeks time, and all the silage fields are now firmly shut as we watch them grow at an amazing pace from now on. Growth has really taken off, and I look forward to some sunny days before cutting in order to get high levels of sugars concentrated in the leaves. We shall cut a bigger acreage than usual, due to the small matter of not being able to get the cows out as early as we would like due to the building works. We had originally planned things so that access would be possible by now; however as with all building projects, it is running late.

Milk prices continue to fall, although world markets have stabilized. Retailers are telling consumers that they are 'helping them through the recession' by keeping prices low, where as in fact they are increasing their (already huge) margins as they squeeze suppliers.

Cheese processors are now being re-assessed by the banks, as cheap Irish cheese comes into the country, putting more pressure on the market. Retailer pressure on the back of this cheap cheese is making the banks nervous, and they now perceive cheese processors to be of higher risk, which of course will mean more difficulties in borrowing and higher charges.

Tony Evans, a partner at consultancy, Andersons, stated last week that unless proper investments are made in the industry by processors, the British dairy industry could be reduced to producing little more than raw milk and some high value cheese.

Making these investments and having the confidence to invest is extremely difficult with retailers who have little time for anything other than lowest price. The Irish farmers are in far worse trouble, as they have no option but to take massive price cuts at the farm gate, as their cheese has to be sold against the weak pound.

Production is now falling rapidly in the USA, in Europe and in Australia, as unsustainable prices in the dairy sector take their toll. I fully expect prices to recover next autumn, once stocks have fallen, as I do not see traders repeating their big mistake of 2007, when they refused to believe that a shortage was imminent; paying for it when commodity prices across the world spiked at an unaffordable level. Providing they can access the necessary cash, activity in the market will increase very soon.

I see that 'Rachel's dairy' in Wales has seen fit to drop the 'organic' label on their yoghurt range. The very successful Welsh organic yoghurt company claims to be 'simplifying its brand identity', where as most in the industry see it as distancing itself from a sector that is struggling, and the evangelical 'Soil Association' which is increasingly seen as a liability to this important niche market.

The farmer's Co-op 'Milklink' (supplied by many Sussex dairy farmers) meanwhile is forging ahead under CEO Neil Kennedy, securing its first Chinese contract for cheese. Milklink is supplying Stilton and cheddar cheese, under an initial two year export agreement. The company already has strong ties with the US, and other export countries.

Well done.