Four top topics draw massive crowds to NSA Sheep 2016 seminar tent
27th July 2016
Seminar 1: Adding value by understanding the role of sheep in upland and hill areas
The Brexit decision is a once in a generation opportunity for the sheep industry to ensure future rural policy and support payments reward the ‘vital’ role sheep farming plays in helping manage the landscape, provide employment and support rural communities in hill and upland areas. That was the clear message from farmers speaking at NSA Sheep 2016’s opening seminar chaired by Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive. He opened the session by saying the UK ‘needed to get back to delivering the returns these farmers deserve’.
Coinciding with the launch of the NSA report on The complementary role of sheep in upland and hill areas, guest speakers suggested current rules and payments were in danger of harming a landscape shaped by the commitment and work of sheep farmers over generations but enjoyed by the public for free.
Derbyshire Peak District farmer Robert Helliwell told a packed audience the region attracted 16 million visitors annually and, were it not for a campsite, the 400ha (988-acre) tenanted unit’s books would not balance. Current environment schemes didn’t help in creating new avenues of income either, he said. “There’s nothing better in my mind than heather-fed lamb finished on the moor. It would be a niche market but we’re not allowed to access some moor grazing during winter,” commented Mr Helliwell.
The ‘one size fits all’ system of regulation had to end, added Jeff Gwillim, a fifth generation sheep and beef farmer from the Black Mountains of Powys. “We not only need a voice but the wherewithal to take action,” he said of future rural policy and the potential for future change. Current challenges for upland and hill areas included the unchecked invasion of bracken, a need to control indigenous populations of ponies, and addressing the risk of damage to plant, insect and animal species from under-grazing – as big a concern today as over-grazing was in the era of headage support payments, he suggested.
NSA Next Generation Ambassador and Lanarkshire hill farmer Jennifer Craig supported this view, suggesting the public had ‘very little appreciation of the history of how hill farming has maintained the landscape’ and, in that respect, it was easy for farmers to feel very under-valued. From her perspective, future policy had to be shaped to account for the demographics of the Scottish sheep sector as well as its geography. “Problems include lone working, a lack of successors, living within remote locations, falling income, regulation and legislation, and increases in predators and land loss to forestry,” she said.
County Antrim sheep farmer John Blaney added: “The Government would do well to be advised by the silver-haired farmers who remember how sheep were historically farmed in the hill areas.”
Seminar 2: The Basic Payment Scheme: Adding value or undermining our industry?
Farming Minister George Eustice told visitors to NSA Sheep 2016 he wanted to see fundamental, ground-breaking change to the current system of farm supports that could become ‘the envy of the world’. Brexit – which was not the surprise some suggested, he said – gave farming and policymakers an opportunity to think through what good agricultural support looks like. “Don’t come to me if you want to cling to the past,” he said of non-government organisations and lobbyists. “I believe passionately in a need for change; we can design something that is the envy of the world.” Mr Eustice agreed the current system of rules and fines – both of which were ‘hard-wired’ in current EU regulations – were often out of kilter with each other. Negotiations within an enlarged EU would have been problematic, he suggested, adding future policy should reward those farmers taking risks with their own capital.
These comments from the minister were an unscheduled addition to the second seminar, where the other panelists also had committed views. James Gray, Hampshire sheep farmer and Tenant Farmers Association Vice Chairman, was adamant payments that landed in the landowners’ pockets who didn’t farm did the industry no good. “It needs to go to active farmers; those exposed to entrepreneurial risk,” he said, suggesting the current payout to UK landowners from Brussels should instead be split with £1bn going to the hill and upland sector, £1bn to capital grants, £1bn to support near market research, and any extra for an ‘out-goers scheme’.
Powys farmer John Yeomans told the audience an open day at the family owned unit near Newtown suggested the operation helped support 2,300 staff in allied businesses locally. “We don’t want subsidy; we want a fair price for our produce. The current rules are founded on a culture of mistrust. Schemes need to be much simpler, not 60 days to get information in and months to get appeal decision,” he said.
But life without subsidy was already a reality for Norfolk-based Ewan Cummings, an NSA Next Generation Ambassador. Now entered into a share-farming agreement he had been able to access land having formerly been priced out of the rental market due to competition from subsidised bio-digester operators, he told delegates. Closer ties with abattoirs and retailers were a way forward and co-operatives ‘were not a mad socialist experiment’, he ventured, citing progress in New Zealand in its post-subsidy support era.
Herefordshire farmer Richard Sparey was equally as damning about current payments suggesting they ‘pushed up rents’ and provided ‘big pensions’ for some. As a recipient himself, he said: “If the Basic Payment Scheme goes we’ll suck it up; if it stays I’ll take it. We need to target support to those that want to produce, those taking the risk. We need is profit so we can survive the poorer years. I can see room for headage payments within agri-environment schemes but we don’t want to spend the next 20 years farming with our hands tied behind our back. Give us the tools to farm."
Seminar 3: Adding value by maximising the marketplace
Lamb is all too often seen as a standard product on retailers’ shelves, leading to calls at NSA Sheep 2016 for more differentiation in the marketplace – a move demanding greater information on regional identification, rearing and finishing systems, and better use of genetics to improve efficiencies.
HCC analyst John Richards told farmers attending the seminar that the shift in sterling’s value post-Brexit had seen short-term gains in prices. “Sheep sold at €5/kg have been worth £4.20/kg against £3.50/kg for the same period last year,” he explained, but added an annual fall in consumption and lower prices for offal and fleeces were longer term concerns.
The sheep meat market needed differentiation, said Bob Kennard, NSA Make More of Mutton Project Manager. “You wouldn’t go into a supermarket and just ask for a bottle of red wine,” he suggested. Instead, lamb should be differentiated by breed, age (mature carcases being a taste ‘revelation’, he ventured), rearing and finishing system, and the landscape of origin.
Breeding also had its part to play, explained AHDB’s Liz Genever. Successful breeding decisions backed up by performance figures offered lifetime benefits. These were calculated to be currently worth an extra £20m to the sector each year. Other income streams needed to be exploited, added Ian Buchanan, BWMB Chairman. “About 60% of the UK’s wool goes for carpet making, 25% is exported, and 10% is used for knitting (fabric),” he explained.
Seminar 4: Adding value and maximising output by optimising flock health
This seminar followed a special series in NSA Sheep Farmer featuring six farmers taking a proactive approach to flock health and showcasing successful farmer-vet working relationships. The farm features have been pulled together into a handy booklet and four of the farmers and vets involved led the fourth and final NSA Sheep 2016 seminar.
The seminar concluded that closer working relations between vets and sheep farmers can pay dividends in flock health, improving productivity and giving reassurance on day-to-day decision making. Gloucestershire-based sheep farmer Pauhla Whittaker said securing the services of Phillipa Page of Wood Veterinary Group had helped tackle a raft of background issues. These included
watery mouth, abortion, mastitis, parasites, orf and trace element deficiencies. “Never underestimate the value of moral support,” said Mrs Whitaker, who added the vet’s working knowledge of the farm had helped identify what action to take swiftly to limit the impact of relapses in disease.
Andy Dyer of Lazonby Estate Farms, Cumbria, suggested a close working relationship with Eva De Vries of Coomara Vets dispelled a myth that medicine bills might rise. He said: “Our figures suggest spend on medicine in 2015 was £5.25/ewe against industry figures from
SAC of £5.36/ewe.” Both Pauhla and Andy said the vet provided ‘a fresh pair of eyes’ on health matters, which was valued equally alongside the setting up a flock health plan to formalise decision making and getting regular updates on new medicines.
Contact NSA Head Office for a Healthy Flocks booklet, download a copy below.
