SO, WHAT did you think of the Oxford Farming Conference? I detect a somewhat mixed reaction from what I read and hear. Like most politicians, Hilary Benn uses some good words and phrases to encourage his audience and gain their confidence. Nothing wrong in that, of course, and it was interesting to hear him refer to how Attlee’s government introduced Britain’s first Food Strategy 60 years ago.

The post-war years had seen significant changes in British agriculture. Production was, and still is, the key word with farmers encouraged to maximise yields through the use of artificial inputs and improved plant and animal genetics. Defra graphs show that between 1948 and 2003 wheat and barley yields improved from starting point of 3.0t/ha to more than 7.0t/ha and 5.5t/ha respectively. From 1885 right up until the immediate pre World War II years, wheat yield averages were as low as 2.0t/ha.

The 1947 Agricultural Act was, in the eyes of the NFU, the foundation stone for the long period of stability and expansion that British farming enjoyed in the post-war era. By underwriting price guarantees and income support by means of subsidies, it provided encouragement to expand output by intensification and mechanisation.

Between 1960 and 1970 agriculture manpower fell by 25% while output increased by 40%. The change was dramatic. On Reading University’s farms, for instance, there was one person employed for each 31ha of arable crops in 1950, but just one for every 210ha in 1993. Mechanisation was, of course, mostly responsible for this change.

Maff published a report through Adas in1976 on agriculture in the four Eastern Counties. Thumbing through it the other day I noted that in 1953 the region had 6,458 combine harvesters, a figure that almost trebled to 16,680 by 1968/69, but came down to 12,850 in 1973/74 due mainly to improved machines, operator performance and contracting services.

There are many more statistics to show the explosion in mechanised farming. Beet harvesters, for example, went from 1,114 in 1953 to 9,000 in 1968.

So, it could be said that British farmers can be counted on to produce food for a hungry nation. After World War II, Europe’s population was short of food and rationing in Britain continued until 1954. The Treaty of Rome was signed in 1958 creating the EEC and leading to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). All 27 countries that make up the EU, from those in arctic Sweden and Finland to those in Greece and Spain, are supposed to operate by the same set of rules for farming.

One of the five main objectives of the CAP is “To increase agricultural productivity”. No doubt we all remember the wine lakes, beef and butter mountains and disposing of surpluses to Russia at ridiculously low prices. Then came quotas, decoupling, cross compliance, modulation and so on. Maff had gone and we had five years of Margaret Beckett, the RPA and Defra; how depressing.

When Hilary Benn talked about to the industry at the Oxford Farming Conference he did not, as far as I can see, mention the EU, which directs most of our farming policy, once.

This fact did not escape Norfolk farmer and UKIP MEP Stuart Agnew who said: “It is ridiculous to urge farmers to produce more while at the same time enacting EU legislation that bans various pesticides whose absence will increase cost of production, reduce yields or deter production altogether.

“He failed to mention how the implementation of EU NVZ rules are going to make agriculture less able to achieve its potential. These rules are not based on sound science and there is nothing he can do to change them.

“Hilary Benn has neatly demonstrated at the Oxford Farming Conference how restricted are the powers of a British cabinet minister because of Britain’s membership of the EU.

“But do all 27 members abide by and follow the same rules?”

More mouths to feed.

An important ingredient in this call for increased food production is, of course, the growing world population and the predictions of less land, water and suitable weather in which to grow it.

In 1960 the world population stood at 3,028,654,024, but by 2008 this had increased to 6,692,630,277. In those same years the British population increased from 52,807,000 to 61,399,000 and is officially predicted to rise to 70 million by 2031.

The influence of immigration on this figure is a subject clearly on the agenda of both Gordon Brown and David Cameron as the general election gets closer. Gordon’s “British jobs for British workers” still rings in the ear and now David is calling for the population of Britain to be kept below that alarming figure of 70 million.

But, like Hilary Benn’s avoidance of outwardly admitting the almost complete control of our agriculture by the EU, David Cameron avoids the simple fact that control of our borders has been ceded to Brussels. We can still limit those from non-EU countries and David envisages placing a stricter control here, but we have yet to feel the full impact of the freedom of movement under the Treaty of Rome EU rules.

For the 10 countries that joined in 2004, including Poland, Czech Republic and Latvia, the door to the UK will be wide open next year. And there won’t be any point closing it, because the following year it will be the turn of those countries that joined later such as Bulgaria and Romania to take their place in the benefits queue.

Finally a badger cull

I see that the Welsh have given the final go ahead for a trial cull of badgers to combat bovine TB. The pilot will take place in a bovine TB endemic area in North Pembrokeshire where 42% of cattle owners have had at least one case of TB in their herd since 2003.

Welsh rural affairs minister Elin Jones said: “Bovine TB is out of control and unsustainable and last year cost the taxpayer nearly £24 million in compensating farmers. This is a dramatic rise since 2000 when the compensation bill was just over £1 million.”

And finally

An Irish priest transferred to a new church. One fine spring day he awoke in his new parish and walked to the window of his bedroom to get a deep breath of the beautiful day outside.

Looking outside, he noticed there was a donkey lying dead in the middle of his front lawn. Not knowing who else to call, he promptly ‘phoned the local police station.

“Good morning. This is sergeant O’Riley. How might I help you?”

“And the best of the day ter yer goodself. This is Father O’Malley at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church. There’s a Donkey lying dead right in the middle of me front lawn.”

The sergeant, considering himself to be quite a wit, replied with a smirk: “Well now Father, it was always my impression that you people took care of the last rites!”

There was dead silence on the line for a long moment before the priest replied: “Ah, to be sure, that is true; but we are also obliged to notify the next of kin.”