Farm Diary September 24 2008

I am pushing on with my grass reseeding programme, and although it is getting late and the nights are cold, I feel I can chance a few more acres.

The grass seed we did put in the ground in August has been water-logged much of the time but it's away now and the fields are turning green. Much of our straw has been a total loss but I have managed to get a reasonable stack, which will last some months.

The building site is still drying out after the flood and it now has a generous coating of cow slurry on it which had got into the mix as the flood water washed through the sheds and overflowed the reception pit '“ nice!

I was at the Dairy Event last week at Stoneleigh Park. It was extremely busy on the first day but the sunshine kept many away on the second day and it was much easier to look around and talk to people for that reason.

I spent the first day on the NFU stand talking to members, politicians, retailers, processors and other people in the industry, with Dairy UK and our (NFU) resignation from that organisation the hot topic of the day.

Farmers were supportive to a man but many of the farmer representatives find it difficult to draw the line between representing their farmer members and loyalty to the company or organisation they are involved with.

I understand how difficult this is and those with confidence in themselves and no vested interest do it well. But there are many more who cannot, and that I find worrying.

The general mood among dairy farmers was 'fragile' but there are many who have confidence in the future and their ability to compete.

Mind you, there was enough equipment and shiny stainless steel to ruin every farmer in the land twice over!

While at the Dairy Event, news came through of further bluetongue cases from imported cattle.

This time, the outbreak was in north Wales '“ an area where little vaccination has been taking place because of unfounded fears that the vaccine will affect sheep fertility.

The risk these farmers are running is huge, as the situation is similar to that in northern Europe in 2006, where BTV8 was first found. The following year, a dramatic increase of new cases took place, with huge mortality rates in sheep and production losses.

It is frustrating that 'rumour' of mortality or fertility problems after vaccination is so much more powerful than sound scientific fact.

The power of rumour is not to be underestimated and sometimes I don't think we have moved on from the days of the 'witch-hunt', where rumour (often deliberate and malicious) was king.

Food inflation is now slowing down and the retailers are defending themselves against those who accuse them of having profiteered in the past 12 months.

There is no doubt that their profits have climbed steadily over the past few years but now they are involved in a raging price war and it is very difficult to see exactly where the margins are, as thousands of different lines are cut each week.

Record wheat and rice harvests have coincided with the fall of oil prices, and Andy Bond of Asda brilliantly called the top of the market with impeccable timing as it announced 5,000 price cuts (planned some time ago of course) the day after the Wall Street crash.

This took all other major retailers by surprise, especially Tesco which is the largest, and the fear is that the 'big four' are now taking on the discounters (Aldi, Lidl, Netto and others) on their own turf and food discounting is now really going to change the way we shop and the way they run their businesses.

Tesco has brought back the 'tertiary' brand, with the biggest new range since its 'value' line was introduced 15 years ago.

The aim is to have a 'discounter under every roof', as it attacks the competition, challenging the discounters' 20 per cent sales growth enjoyed of late by offering better quality at low prices.

Asda, which took a record 17.3 per cent market share in the past three months, seems ready for the war.

Meanwhile Sainsbury's is hailed as the 'greenest' supermarket by a team of independent environmental analysts.

Question is, in these times of economic uncertainty will anyone really care? Or is price king? We will soon see.