The annual Oxford farming conference took place last week. The UK is by far our largest agri market – it takes 50% of our beef, as well as the cheese, pigmeat and prepared foods and spirits that make up such a key part of Irish food and drink industry sales.

This year, the conference was fundamentally different in a few key areas.

The main address was meant to be given by Theresa Villiers, the department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs secretary of state.

Never have I heard a senior British minister as unsure of her brief and so out of tune with her audience

She refused to open the conference and mainly responded to issues that had been raised by previous speakers in her session.

Never have I heard a senior British minister as unsure of her brief and so out of tune with her audience.

Among the few clear statements she made was that the full agricultural budget would be retained for the lifetime of this parliament.

In other words, the UK government would match the present Brussels allocation once the UK leaves the EU, but in England, the direct payments would begin to be phased out and replaced by payments for “public goods” from 2021.

There was a great deal of discussion about whether the UK would apply present EU standards to food imports

What this will mean for individual English farmers is not clear and is even less clear for Scottish and Northern Irish farmers, where agricultural policy is devolved.

There was a great deal of discussion about whether the UK would apply present EU standards to food imports.

The questions were mainly in relation to hormone beef and chlorinated chicken from the US.

Ms Villiers alarmed at least some of her listeners by suggesting that extra tariffs could be applied to imported food products that failed to meet EU standards.

UK food self-sufficiency has dropped from 80% in the 1980s, to 60% today

Ms Villiers said the whole question of GM technology would be kept under review and the appropriate level of UK food security would be considered.

UK food self-sufficiency has dropped from 80% in the 1980s, to 60% today.

UK food strategy

A much more long-term consequence may be the special UK government white paper on a national food strategy, due sometime this spring.

Henry Dimbleby is the senior external director at the department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and was appointed by Michael Gove, the former secretary of state in charge of the department and who was the key minister responsible for delivering Brexit.

At this stage, he intends to have recommendations on all areas from childhood obesity to national food self-sufficiency targets to gene editing technologies

With this kind of backing, Mr Dimbleby has ambitions to chart the UK’s future food policy in a new world.

The first priority, as he put it, is to make sure there is enough food grown. He plans to have a full citizens’ assembly, with representatives from all sectors of the industry.

At this stage, he intends to have recommendations on all areas from childhood obesity to national food self-sufficiency targets to gene editing technologies to why farmers get so little of the consumers’ pound.

With such a large Tory majority and some form of Brexit a certainty, this will be a crucial input into the future food and agriculture policies likely to be pursued by the British government.

The facts on red meat

The science lecture at the conference was given by Prof Alice Stanton of the Royal College of Surgeons and nutritional director of agri-tech company Devenish.

In a lecture that should be read by every agricultural policy maker, she demonstrated with the use of rigorous science, how red meat consumption, in moderation (two to five times a week) was important for both health and cognitive development.

She agreed that a knowledgeable individual who is vegetarian or vegan can be healthy

A major reduction in ruminant-based food, she declared, is bad for human health.

She agreed that a knowledgeable individual who is vegetarian or vegan can be healthy, but it takes a lot of work to supplement appropriately.

Her paper looked at the recent Lancet paper that called, from a greenhouse gas point of view, for a major reduction in meat and milk consumption.

There were a lot of well-qualified people in the audience and not one of her facts were contradicted. Her message must be taken by the industry and Irish farm sector if we are not to be swept aside.

The farm has attracted international attention

In another Devenish contribution, John Gilliland described the carbon sequestration by soil, hedges and trees that is being measured at the company’s farm in Dowth, Co Meath.

The farm has attracted international attention for its archaeological status as a world heritage site, but the work on greenhouse gases and the policy of aiming for carbon neutrality in a livestock system provides a powerful scientific basis for Ireland’s livestock industry and its ability to adapt to climate change policies.

The rain over the last few days has put paid to that idea, drains are gushing and ditches have filled up again

Last week, we wondered whether we should begin the long-delayed ploughing for the remainder of our winter wheat and gluten free oats.

The rain over the last few days has put paid to that idea, drains are gushing and ditches have filled up again.

We have, I reckon, about three weeks before we have to fundamentally re-assess.

Meanwhile, we have been weighing our bought-in Friesian Angus and Hereford cross steers.

On a diet of good silage, hay and about 2kg of a protein and barley mix, we reckon we are losing 29c for every day they are in the shed.

I don’t know how soon we will be able to turn them out, but compensatory growth on our own spring grass is going to be essential. We will keep measuring.

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