Harvest service and lunch

The Guild held its annual harvest service and lunch in London on Thursday, October 11. Both were excellent.
The service in the journalists' church – St Bride's, on Fleet Street – was conducted by Canon David Meera, the Guild's honorary chaplain. Lunch followed a quick dash up Fleet Street and The Strand in the Thistle Charing Cross.
The Guild is particularly indebted for the sponsorship it received for both events. Shepherd Publishing generously supported the service, while Moy Park – Britain's leading poultry processor – sponsored the lunch. Pre-lunch drinks were provided by the generosity of Keenans, the mixer wagon people.
The service proved thought-provoking. Readings were given by John Thorley, the retired chief executive of the National Sheep Association, and Rosie Carne, of fertiliser firm Yara which so generously supports the Guild's main awards.
The address was given by Lord Henry Plumb, president of the National Sheep Association and the only Briton to have ever been president of the European Parliament.
Lord Plumb's address was stimulating. He gently poked fun where it was needed, but reminded all of the importance of agriculture in Britain both today and in the future. After the summer of challenges for the industry such as flooding in many parts of England and the outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue in Surrey and East Anglia respectively, his comments were very relevant. I've put a copy of my report at the bottom of this latest blog so you can read for yourself a summary of his words.
The sponsorship from Shepherd Publishing allows us to have the choristers at St Bride's. Some view this is excessive – I have in the past when I didn't know better. The performance, if you can call it as such in a church, was amazing. I'm not one for the classics nor religion, but even I left refreshed. We had two truly amazing renditions – Laudate Dominum by Mozart and Flower Duet from Lakmé by Delibes. The latter is the tune adopted by British Airways in all its adverts and the one they play when you have the misfortune to travel in one of their aircraft.
Lunch as you might expected featured chicken, and rather delicious it was too. We had as our guest speaker Richard Hodgson, the director of buying with Waitrose. The upmarket retailer is one of the main sponsors of the Year of Food and Farming, which was launched last month by the Prince of Wales in attempt to plug the knowledge gap on agriculture in the UK. That it has at its heart a programme to educate children on the importance of farming and in telling them where there food comes from is most encouraging. Again, you'll find a report of what Mr Hodgson said at the end of this blog.
The Yara awards were presented by Tove Andersen, managing director of Yara UK. We are greatly indebted to her for attending and for Yara's sponsorship.
Three awards were presented and you will find more details on the Guild's own site at www.gaj.org.uk
It was, however, pleasing to see Mike Stones rewarded. Mike hasn't just had the best of summers; he was made redundant at Farmer's Weekly after it deemed the deputy editor post surplus to requirements. His winning piece, which you can read on the Guild site, was about biofuels in the US.
I can honestly say that the day was a delight. I met many of you and most of our guests, who included Meurig Raymond, NFU England's deputy chairman, and Reg Haydon, the chairman of the Tenant Farmers Association and who next March will retire after 13 years in the top seat.
As I said I hoped that the guests we had left as new friends of Guild.
And to those Guild members who haven't been to the lunch or the harvest service, then can I extend an invite to you next year.
Many thanks have to go to all those involved in organising Thursday's activities, not least Peter and Wendy Ryder. But let's not forget the Kelseys, Bill and Andrée, who generously provide the most amazing produce for the service.
Just one last announcement: Howard Venters, boss of Shepherd Publishing, is heading north to the river North Esk on the Angus-Kincardineshire border in north-east Scotland for a spot of salmon fishing. He bid £300 at the auction at the lunch for the day fishing. Let's hope his lines are tight when he comes north and that he's rewarded with a fish.

Here's the reports of the two speakers. Please feel free to cull anything you want out of them.


Joe Watson

The bulk of the £1million provided by Government in emergency foot-and-mouth funding to voluntary organisations assisting farmers hit by it has already gone.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced the cash on Monday as part of his controversial package which saw £12.5million in aid restricted to England only.
National Sheep Association president Lord Henry Plumb told the Guild of Agricultural Journalists of Great Britain harvest service that a range of organisations had already distributed more than £500,000 to farming families in need in the the last month.
On Thursday alone, the groups sent out £37,000 to those facing severe financial problems. He also reported a four-fold increase in telephone calls to groups such as RABI, the ARC-Addington Fund and other rural stress information networks.
Lord Plumb, a former NFU England president and the only Briton to ever be president of the European Parliament, gave the address at the service, held in St Bride's, the journalists' church, in Fleet Street.
The former Guild president said 2007 had been a year of problems for agriculture, with flooding ravaging crops and forcing more than 4,000 farmers to file claims for damage.
Foot-and-mouth and then the "double trouble and shock horror" of bluetongue disease were both further damaging the hard-pressed livestock sector.
On foot-and-mouth, he said: "It is very difficult for all of us, is it not, to believe the irony that could it could start from a research centre designed to control the disease."
The outbreaks again highlighted the vital importance for continued research into infectious diseases and risk assessment.
Despite falling livestock prices Lord Plumb said these had yet to matched by the retailers.
Lord Plumb hoped predictions were wrong that there would be just 25,000 farmers UK-wide by the turn of the next century, assuming the kingdom remained united.
The forecast indicated that most of countryside would be farmed by tenants on contract arrangements. "I hope I am not here to see that because I believe in the traditional farming that we have in this country – and long may it last."





The need for the countryside to be secured for future generations and for children to have a better understanding of where food comes from has been underlined by one of the bosses of Britain's top upmarket retailer.
Waitrose buying director Richard Hodgson said he was staggered at research which showed the lack of knowledge among children about locally-produced agricultural food products.
He added: "We've coined the phrase 'concrete children' because it's 25% of the children living in urban environments never visited the countryside.
"Fifty per cent of children have never eaten rhubarb, nor know what it is."
Waitrose is principle supporter of the year of food and farming which was launched last month by the Prince of Wales.
Mr Hodgson said action had to be taken to ensure future generations knew of the importance of the countryside and the agricultural industry that was at its heart.
Speaking at the Guild of Agricultural Journalists' lunch in London, Mr Hodgson also underlined the retailer's commitment to British farmers and to the premium it paid them for consistently high quality produce.
Waitrose last week committed itself to paying a minimum £2.30 a kg for lamb ex-farm for the rest of the reason, and put ex-farm prices to £2.25 a kg with the pledge that by spring 2009 they will be at £2.50. If more were needed, then it would work with farmers to deliver it.
Mr Hodgson said the need in Britain was for the British nation to buy British produce. That was just one way of keeping the countryside open and in ensuring that future generations can benefit from it.
He added: "We need to be sure that the British farming industry prospers going forward."