Open Farm Sunday - 10 June 2007

Open Farm Sunday - 10 June 2007

Anyone who appreciates the English countryside knows that farms are important and play a critical role as custodians of our landscape. However we often have very little understanding of what farming today is all about.

Open Farm Sunday is a national day organised by LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) with the aim of showing how farmers have to balance their care of the environment with their fundamental need to produceing safe, wholesome and affordable food.

We often have a distorted view of the farmer's life and this is an ideal opportunity for farmers to help change that. It is also a great way for children to be introduced to the countryside and all the pleasures of walking (farm walks are a common feature on the farms).

Last year was a pilot for this event and involved nearly 300 farms. This year LEAF have high hopes that it will be even bigger. To find out more, as well as details of an event near you, click on Open Farm Sunday.

Today's participating pub: The Cyder House in Shackleford, Surrey.
Prizes offered: £40 meal voucher, 2-course meal for two and bottle of champagne.

The Pub Walker
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Pollen Count is not Linked to Rapeseed

The swathe of brilliant yellow across the countryside has for more years than I care to recount been one of the heralders of Spring. For some people, however, rapeseed has also marked the start of the Hay Fever Season, accompanied by the suggestion that the pollen of the rapeseed iteslf is a sigificant irritant to sufferers.

According to this morning's Farming Today, rapeseed is not the "yellow peril" of its reputation and in fact very few people have an allergic reaction to it. The pollen is heavier than air and therefore is hardly airborne compared to grasses and tree pollen. So we can enjoy our fields of oil seed rape now without any legitimate concers.

Today's pub walk: The Ship Inn, in Saxmundham, Suffolk.

The Pub Walker
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Open Access Threatened by Moorland Fires

According to Radio 4’s “Farming Today” this morning, we could see hundreds of square miles of “Open Access” land closed to the public if the hot, dry spell continues. Fires have taken their toll over the last few days particularly in Northern England but also in Cornwall and North Wales.

So we are all being asked to take particular care not to exacerbate the risk of fire with smouldering cigarette ends or disposable BBQs. I guess most of us prefer fresh (smoke-free) air and pub hospitality anyway but it cannot hurt for us all to be reminded to watch out for the danger of causing fire.

On the upside, it’s all a very good excuse to get out and enjoy the countryside at its very best.

Today's pub walk: The Duke's Head in Romsey, Hampshire.

The Pub Walker
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Posted: THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2007

Another Countryside Crisis?

Me? I’m a morning person, up with the lark. Despite my head forever telling me otherwise, I can’t quite shake off the romantic notion that farming is a way of life to be (almost) envied. So, I’m up by 5:45am each morning to get my daily fix of “Farming Today” on Radio 4.

Despite what some may expect, it’s not all gripes and bird ‘flu. They get their share of airtime for sure but I listen for those unexpected nuggets that can otherwise go unnoticed but which have an impact on the countryside we all enjoy when we are out on our pub walks.

Take this morning’s program, for example. Apparently sheep shearing could be approaching a crisis. With a global shortage of shearers and 20 million sheep to shear between May and July, we rely on skilled contract shearers coming over from Australia and New Zealand to help. Problem is, a tightening of PAYE regulations means that many may not come this year, leading to concerns of sheep dying from being “eaten alive” out in the fields by blow fly maggots that have hatched from eggs laid in their unshorn fleeces. Not nice.

Highly skilled workers but not especially highly paid … and not a drain on our benefits system either given they stay for just the season. So, if the fears are well-founded, this must surely be bureaucracy at its worst. Let’s hope it’s just the sheep farmers crying wolf!

The Pub Walker
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