The cross-bench peer and former NFU president uses some down time to reflect on the big questions, and prepares for a charity bike ride in Africa.
August is the month when I make sure that my team on the farm gets a summer break and I take the opportunity to do my share of the ‘rubbish jobs’ — never ask anyone to do a job you wouldn’t do yourself, has always been my mantra.
I’ve cleared gutters, creosoted rails, mucked out a deep-litter stable that had been used for sheep — always a contentious issue here when the farm encroaches on horse territory, even more serious when it’s the other way around. This was followed by endless sweeping, pressure hosing and recycling. The great thing about relentless myopic work on the farm is that it’s rewarding and a great opportunity for thinking.
It’s been far from all work, however. Having the kids home from university has been great and I’ve caught up with some long-suffering friends. I was recently asked by a girlfriend, as we sipped Diet Coke in the beer garden at the local pub — oh, how times have changed — if I had any plans to correct my work-life balance.
Probably fearing I might embark on a six-hour analysis of current farming policy, she quickly added the caveat: ‘I don’t mean work wise, what about you?’ In the end I said: ‘If it has to be just about me, I’d love to grow my own vegetables, especially tomatoes and potatoes. It would be good to have more chickens and a run to protect the hens from the dreaded fox. And finally take my labrador pup Rosey to a gundog trainer or, probably more to the point, myself.’ My friend laughed: ‘No spa days or riding across Mongolia?’ ‘Happiness is the little things,’ I retorted. As long as we’re all fit and well, that’ll do me.
In October, together with 16 other women from the UK food and farming sector, I’ll be taking part in the GROW for Good Challenge in Kenya in support of Farm Africa. We’ll be cycling more than 75km (46 miles), working on different farms run by women who are taking part in Farm Africa’s regenerative-agriculture project. We’re hoping to raise more than £75,000. GROW stands for Growing Resilience and Opportunities for Women. Life in sub-Saharan Africa is far from easy: 80% of agricultural production there is by smallholder farmers.
‘Whether my Laureate spring barley yielded 10 tons to the hectare suddenly seemed a rather “first-world problem”’
A Zoom call to discuss the trip, at Farm Africa’s London office, gave me cause for reflection on how fortunate I am to be living and farming in the UK. As I contemplate the harvest at home, the relief that our spring barley is good enough quality to be classified as malting barley was coupled with disappointment that the price has plummeted, due to the amount that’s come onto the market.
However, this was put into perspective when listening to a Kenyan small-holder, Mary, one of the farmers we’ll be visiting. She explained that the money earned from her last harvest was spent on replacing the roof of their house and that this year’s harvest is paying for putting glass in the windows. Whether my Laureate spring barley yielded 10 tons to the hectare suddenly seemed a rather ‘first-world problem’.
I’ve not been the only one worrying whether my spring barley meets the grade. Jeremy Clarkson, whose latest venture is the Farmer’s Dog pub in Gloucestershire, selling only British food and drink, has also faced the frustration of his crop failing to make the grade for malt and ending up going for animal feed, forcing him to buy in malting barley for his brewery.
Jeremy has revolutionised the profile of farming in this country. It’s remarkable that he appeals to all age groups. During my time at the NFU, my kids’ proudest moment was when a school friend pointed out that their mother was one of only 240 people he follows on Twitter (now X).
Occasionally, Jeremy asks me for advice. Mostly it’s been related to cows, but back in March it was about sourcing sugar for the pub. He was lamenting that we don’t produce sugar in the UK. I was able to point out that we most certainly do and he needed to source Silver Spoon — made from 100% British-grown sugar beet — the most sustainably produced sugar in the world.
Star status in the Buy British box this month goes to the humble sweetcorn. Its rise to fame and our ability to buy it all year around is down to one man, Peter Barfoot, a vegetable visionary who founded Barfoots in West Sussex, producers of sweetcorn and other semi-exotic veg, in partnership with other countries. He was awarded the CBE for services to sustainable farming in 2020 and, like Jeremy Clarkson, is a force of nature.
Baroness Batters is now a cross-bench peer. She is a former NFU president and runs a beef farm and rural business in Wiltshire
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