Farm Diary

The dark clouds looked ominous at first light, and with snow forecasted, we knew that it was about to arrive, but the quantity was surprising.

The workers were out within minutes, and as it was their weekend off, had plenty of time for snowball fights, and to enjoy the full experience of a snowfall. The roads were treacherous, but luckily not busy on a Sunday, and within a couple of hours had turned to slush.

The cows were not fooled by the lovely spring weather last Friday, their built in barometer warned of the dark clouds gathering, and at the weekend, they were very snug in their beds thank you very much.

One of the bulls had his head stuck in the dividing rails at the weekend, and I was about to go off and get the grinder, when Adrian told me that this can be dealt with in a different way. The gel we use for calving cows was applied liberally behind his ears, and low and behold, he slipped his head out again!

As expected, statistics show that food prices are rising, and last week the Governor of the Bank of England warned that food and fuel are now built into expectations, which means that it is accepted that higher food prices are here to stay.

Government have relied on food deflation to balance rising costs elsewhere, and deliver low inflation, year on year. Farmers were producing food at below the price of production for years, and that is simply not sustainable in the long term. Everyone accepts that apart from some economists.

Low food prices allowed citizens to spend more on consumer goods, which delivered growth in the economy, and allowed the Government to bask in the glory of delivering a sound economic policy.

Well it's all over now! Caution is taking the place of spending freely, and coupled with the banking crisis and falling house prices, Gordon Brown has a problem. If the government really believes in their stance on climate change, then this is to be welcomed. Naked consumerism is surely the cause of planetary overload? The only way to really tackle climate change is to consume less and take several notches back in the standard of living? This is the unpalatable truth.

The risk of economic crisis is high, and speculators are moving to 'soft commodities', because people will always need food. This drives up those commodity prices, exacerbating the problem.

Families on low incomes in the UK are already being hit, and I was told by a leading retailer last week, that they have seen a big shift to lower cost food in the last month; consumers are looking to buy the cheaper lines and spending less on more expensive items. Organic is being hit, with people switching to local or regional foods for example.

This is but nothing compared to poorer countries where people spend 50-60% of their disposable incomes on food (9% in UK with 5% on eating out). Vietnam, Egypt, and India have banned rice exports.

Argentina has increased tariffs massively in an attempt to restrict exports and keep prices down; their farmers are now on strike. We have seen food riots in Mexico, and China has halted its bio-fuels programme. This is the test. Do you really believe that politicians are going to put climate change before food supply and high prices? Of course not; because the average citizen won't either.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix, we had a Pole on 'pole position'. Kubica put the BMW on the front of the grid, showing that both he and the manufacturer have now joined Ferrari and McLaren as the leading teams in F1.

In the race the Ferrari were in a class of their own and finished first and second, with BMW third and fourth, showing that Qualifying was no fluke. McLaren had a terrible race, Hamilton bogging down at the start after qualifying third, crashing into the back of his enemy of last year Alonso (did Alonso lift?), which dropped him to the back after calling in the pits for a new nosecone.

No points for Hamilton as he drops from first to third in the championship, and full marks to Massa who won in the Ferrari, which will take some pressure off his young shoulders after not finishing either of the first two grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton has it all to do now as the 'Ice-man' (World Champion - Raikkonen) leads the championship.