FARM DIARY

FOLLOWING another week of magnificent weather, but very sharp frost, the weather has changed for a warmer, wetter spell.

Hopefully, we will be allowed to finally move claves this week after waiting for so long. FMD has long gone, as we all know, but the officials in Brussels and London are still making our lives very difficult, as they ponder their way through various layers of beurocracy. As if that wasn't enough, bird flu is back in East Anglia.

At a meeting with Hilary Benn (Secretary of State for the Environment) last week, it became clear to me that this government's obsession with climate change continues.

I did detect from the answer to my direct question about food supply and food security, that this is a subject that Gordon Brown and the government is increasingly taking notice of. The impression is that 'Hilly' hopes it will be all right (on the night), as they continue to regulate and legislate British farmers out of business.

Gordon Brown, however, has asked the Cabinet Office to conduct an in-depth appraisal of Britain's food security. This will take the form of an initial study, with comments sought from interested parties, such as the NFU, with a final conclusion in the early spring.

This is welcome, and long overdue. After years of food deflation, all of it at the farmer's expense, there is now a problem for government as shortages in food (globally) are driving prices upwards, with quite an added effect on day to day inflation figures.

Consumers and members of the public, however, are far too wise to believe for a second that food inflation is just down to farmers and the upturn in 'soft' commodity prices.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette November 21