Farm Diary August 13

This is not a problem in Dover as ferries are frequent and have spare capacity. Outside Dover we saw a field of stubble ablaze, and judging by the fact that the roadside hedge was also on fire, the possibility of a carelessly discarded cigarette seemed likely. As harvest was only just getting under way a week or so ago, other fields of standing corn were at great risk from what I could see as we drove past. Since we had booked a crossing to Dunkerque, the cheapest available on the internet some months ago, we now faced a slightly longer journey than strictly necessary! Having crossed over later in the evening than planned, the overnight accommodation at Le Mans (itself a trifle over optimistic '“ especially in a Land Rover) was cancelled and we stayed at Dunkerque for the night; a pleasant town, which we had not visited before. The next mistake was to be guided by the 'Sat-Nav' out of town, forgetting to take my usual route and before I knew it we were well on the way to Paris, which may be theoretically the shortest route, but from past experience is most definitely not the quickest. After battling through the traffic on the 'pripherique' we were able to give the Land Rover its head and keep a steady 80 mph as we headed south. With five people on-board, luggage, tools etc: combined with its complete lack of any aerodynamic qualities, it managed to consume a fair amount of fuel. With the recent devaluation of sterling which helps UK agriculture no end in its competitive stance in Europe, the flip side is that when travelling or holidaying, fuel and food prices are no longer cheaper (not much anyway) than in the UK. Diesel is still cheaper due to govt. policy passed some years ago in most European countries to encourage the use of diesel cars; a policy that was not followed by the (previous) occupant of No 11 Downing St despite the rhetoric and 'concern' over global warming, and his long tenure as Chancellor. We saw fires in France too, which had been (as it turned out) caused by showers of sparks from the high-speed trains as they applied their braking systems. Judging by the countryside and how green it all is, the weather has been mixed in France as well, and the maize looks decidedly patchy, which is very unusual. Normally in August the road verges are brown, but not this year. The harvest is well underway and most of it has been completed by now, with straw bales cleared and muck spreading taking place ready to be ploughed in for the next crop. As a matter of interest I have never seen so many birds of prey in France before; quite incredible. Despite the changes taking place in French agriculture (as in the UK) wildlife seems to thrive (as in the UK). On August the 1st the first half of the National holiday took place, and one is well advised not to be on the road that day! With tailbacks of 47 km (total length of that strip of motorway is only 67km!) at the 'page' in Bordeaux, it lived up to its reputation, but will be probably eclipsed on the 15th of August when they all go back and the other half of the national holiday begins, with the ensuing chaos, and more accidents and deaths on the roads than for the rest of the year put together! It reminds me of my youth in North Wales, when all the factories in the midlands used to shut in August, with thousands of holidaymakers battling their way along the narrow roads, before cheap 'package' holidays took the vast majority abroad in pursuit of more reliable weather. Email and mobile mean that I am in constant touch with both the farm and NFU office; it also means that I do not return to hundreds of emails which will take days to sort out. A swift visit to the internet caf, means that I can ruthlessly cull all emails that are not of great importance, struggling to answer only the vital ones on the French keyboard (which is not easy!). I am certainly enjoying my holiday more than Gordon Brown judging by the reports in the British newspapers, and I see that Hilary Benn has again taken a decisive stance against productive agriculture in his ruling on set-aside. As our Prime Minister continues the rhetoric on food prices and food security, his minister's policies are firmly on the side of the RSPB and the environmentalists. In the same vein as his rhetoric on global warming and climate change, followed by visits to Scotland and Saudi Arabia urging them both to pump more oil, there is more than a degree of confusion, if not contradiction between what is being said by this govt. and their actions.