Climate change one of the biggest challenges for Suffolk farmers
Ahead of the National Farmers Union county branch 100th anniversary celebrations, we caught up with their chair Glenn Buckingham.
The Suffolk chapter of the National Farmers Union (NFU) is celebrating its centenary year in Ipswich today.
It was formed in 1920, when East Suffolk and West Suffolk branches of the union merged together. Although 100 years was marked last year, the celebrations were postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ahead of today's event, we caught up with the county chair of NFU Suffolk, Glenn Buckingham.
He explains what the significance of the anniversary is: "We're celebrating the fact that over the last 100 years, farmers have managed the land, cared for the land and fed British families over this long period."
In that time frame, there have been various changes in the way farmers have operated.
"Over the years, we've seen more of an emphasis on the environment, more emphasis on controlling our energy use and we've seen advances in the yields of all crops and the techniques we employ."
So what are some of the biggest challenges that the Suffolk farmer faces today?
"Our ambitions for net-zero, which we must build into what we do, is significant. With climate change, the seasons vary now. We also find ourselves seeing more extreme weather events. It may seem marginal and won't really make a difference to people's daily lives but it massively affects our farming calendar", Mr Buckingham says.
Incidentally, farming accounts for about 10 percent of global emissions.
"We're all encouraged to look at the carbon footprint of our business and where the carbon issues are. From there we can understand what we can change. We need to be planting hedges as well as trees and make best use of the land. Many farmers have diversified their energy profile. Some have installed solar panels, they will probably have wind turbines as well.
"But we need more of these measures", he added.
Over the past few months, farmers have struggled to cope with problems in the supply chain. Mr Buckingham explains: "The supply issues have affected us. We're finding it difficult to move grain, move livestock. All the inputs we need seem to be slightly delayed, and when you're dealing with a weather dependent industry like agriculture, you can appreciate why we can't wait for things to arrive."
An associated concern has been the lack of availability of staff to work on farms and move produce. He says similar situations have been witnessed during the two World Wars when large number of farm workers had to leave and enlist in the army.
"The effect of Brexit has almost had a similar effect on staff availability. In our present case, there are people who are willing to work on farms but they live in cities and have no means to travel. The horticulture and vegetable growing sectors have been particularly hard hit by the issue", he adds.
Can the Government and society at large play a role in supporting farmers?
Mr Buckingham thinks so. He argues that Government must must do more to protect British farming interests when doing trade deals with other countries and adds that local farmers will be put at a disadvantage if cheap food which is not of the standard they have to adhere to, is imported without checks.
"The agricultural industry is particularly vulnerable to the import of cheap food. There is a real danger that cheap wins. Buy local, buy British and you'll have a head-start towards doing the right thing", he says.