Farm Diary by Gwyn Jones, December 1
I looked at his costings, and concluded that due to lower rents and land values, the best French arable farmers break even on their crops, depending on the Single Farm Payment for income.
In the UK, despite lower costs and higher yields, arable farmers tend to lose money on the crops they grow, and would be better off taking the payment without farming. However, that is not the way we operate in agriculture, and we take a very long term approach to our work and planning.
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Hide AdWe both agreed that the British government is taking some serious risks with the nation, by adopting the approach that they can and will, always be able to import food.
All it would take is a serious disease outbreak or a terrorist incident, and we would have bare shelves in this country. Once that happened, government would be out on its ear.
Gwyn Jones's Farm Diary appears every week in the West Sussex Gazette. To read the full version of this article, see December 1 issue.