Farming’s future

GUEST of Honour and Speaker at the 2022 AGM Luncheon was Chairman John Lee’s near neighbour in Devon, David Fursdon, whose family has farmed there since the 1200s.

That set a useful context for farm discussions, with crop yields ‘better than 1315’ for example, and labour shortages ‘not as bad as during the Black Death’! More seriously, Mr Fursdon drew on his huge industry experience and connections to encourage a keener look at ways to adapt to the farming’s fast-changing landscape.

Farming needs to break away from traditional approaches, and embrace new ways of thinking, especially around justifying rates of return on capital, he urged.

Tenant/landlord relationships need to improve, the sharing of natural capital and carbon being a case in point. Time he had spent with the CLA, National Trust and Crown Estate highlighted the need for relationships to be significantly less fractious – as found in other sectors.

Securing more money from the supply chain for farmers is not straightforward, but local procurement hubs, like SW Food Hub, could boost direct supply to public institutions, if they received sufficient time, money and skill.

Aiming for the best is paramount. Strawberries produced by the 35,000 acre Dyson Farming business, which he chairs, proves that. A product co-branded with M&S only happened because the product was ‘the best’.

Directly linked to that is reputation – “hard won, but very easily lost”. Duchy of Cornwall Estate prioritises it, and rightly so. “We keep a very strong eye on reputation with the organisations I work with.”

As non-executive director at Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall a foray into tea growing highlighted the value of taste. “Our tea is served on GWR trains now, but you can’t get that if the taste isn’t right, no matter what the provenance story.”

Newly created skills body The Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture aims to help farmers prove what they can do – something the industry is conspicuously poor at, compared with other sectors, he noted.

Pushing technical boundaries has merit, a sprayer-mounted camera to target herbicide use, to cut input costs and benefit the environment, was one example. GPS-marking marsh harrier nests, so machines keep away, was another.

Sometimes on-farm trade-offs are needed. Feeding ryegrass and maize into an AD plant may not seem ideal, but if it provides heat, electricity and CO2 to glasshouses, and combats blackgrass, it makes sense.

Identifying the best income streams for the next 30 years is not easy. As a trustee of the Prince’s Countryside Fund he pointed to work it is doing to “lift the fog that sometimes sits before farm decision making”. Setting farm baselines, especially for nature, environment and carbon, will be key, he concluded.

Members enjoyed a number of dishes from the new Restaurant menu, including smoked quail and duck egg terrine, West Country native beef Wellington and strawberry mousse with basil sorbet – perfect for summer lunch at the Club.