There is great activity out in the countryside as it comes alive with combine harvesters moving slowly through the now golden fields of corn. Ours is still firmly sitting in the barn as we wait patiently for the grain to drop to the optimum of level of 14 percent moisture which will ensure we can store it indefinitely and will not incur penalties when it leaves the farm.
We shall certainly get going sometime this week but so far the wheat is not quite where we want it and as the forecasters are predicting increasingly hot dry weather towards the latter part of the week, the pressure is off for the time being.
I am delighted to hear that crops are yielding better than expected which is encouraging. If we can also get the grain cut and into the barn in a condition which will not require drying, that will be an additional bonus. As the prices remain relatively low we don’t want to incur cost for drying.
A non-farming chum observed last week that as he drove across Sussex he was shocked by how much land was uncultivated this year. This is as a direct result of the harsh long wet winter and spring when many farmers decided to leave fields fallow rather than risk planting crops late into cold wet ground too late.
The fields now empty of cultivated crops are unsightly and mostly full of weeds, and as my friend observed, a reminder that without farmers looking after the countryside it would all end up a fine old mess.
It is all very well the environmentalists preaching that naturalisation of the countryside is their aim but I don’t actually believe that they have a clue as to what the result would be if we all packed up and stopped farming.
What they really want is managed landscapes which is what farmers do. At the same time we create the landscape which is so greatly admired and loved, be it grazed hill sides, green pastures for livestock or mile upon mile of arable crops, all of which help to feed the nation.
I think most of us were confused last week by the complaints from certain sectors that it is mostly black, Asians and Eastern Europeans who are stopped and questioned as to their legitimate immigration status. It seems those who complained that they consider this to be unfair and racist obviously have not grasped that the UK’s natural population are Anglo Saxon.
When later in the week the latest figures emerged which show our little island accepted more immigrants than any other European country in 2012 one has to question the logic and the effectiveness of the UK Border Agency which has been referred to as “laughably incompetent”.
The extraordinary high birth rate which now soars above the numbers dying is in some quarters being laughably put down to older ‘British’ women now deciding to start a family. Those who are capable or reading reports know the truth according to statistics is that we are about to reach the time when the majority of babies born in the UK will be to non-Anglo Saxon immigrant families.
It is undeniable that many sectors of our communities would not and could not function without the services of workers who in many cases came to Great Britain decades ago, some second and third generation. It is also abundantly clear that if it were not for seasonal workers vegetables, soft fruit and top fruit crops would not be harvested. It is all very well for the politicians shouting that British jobs should go to British people but until these very same politicians get behind Ian Duncan-Smith’s efforts to reform our crazy welfare system which rewards lazy, incompetent and dishonest British scroungers, businesses across the country will have to bring in migrant workers. And recruit better educated talented youngsters from abroad until Michael Gove can turn round the State education system which rewards bad teaching, no- achievers and manages to humiliate hard work and achievement.
However, it is now well over due that the incompetent Border Agency gets a grip of the situation and recruits border guards who should be positioned at every port, airport and London railways station, who have been trained in a similar way as the Home Guard when the UK was at War. Unless someone can immediately prove their legitimacy they should be locked up and immediately deported for as sure as eggs is eggs they have no rights to be here.
Tony Blair is responsible for much of today’s problems, what a pity we can’t off load him to one of the countries which seem totally unaware of his incompetence, dishonesty, and blatant manipulation of our immigration laws which he had hoped would keep him in power indefinitely. Before 1997 the numbers were bad but since then totally unacceptable. I think we can safely put the blame at his door that in 2010 alone, more migrants came to Britain than in all the years between 1066 and 1950 put together. How shocking is that?
Carola Godman Irvine
We shall certainly get going sometime this week but so far the wheat is not quite where we want it and as the forecasters are predicting increasingly hot dry weather towards the latter part of the week, the pressure is off for the time being.
I am delighted to hear that crops are yielding better than expected which is encouraging. If we can also get the grain cut and into the barn in a condition which will not require drying, that will be an additional bonus. As the prices remain relatively low we don’t want to incur cost for drying.
A non-farming chum observed last week that as he drove across Sussex he was shocked by how much land was uncultivated this year. This is as a direct result of the harsh long wet winter and spring when many farmers decided to leave fields fallow rather than risk planting crops late into cold wet ground too late.
The fields now empty of cultivated crops are unsightly and mostly full of weeds, and as my friend observed, a reminder that without farmers looking after the countryside it would all end up a fine old mess.
It is all very well the environmentalists preaching that naturalisation of the countryside is their aim but I don’t actually believe that they have a clue as to what the result would be if we all packed up and stopped farming.
What they really want is managed landscapes which is what farmers do. At the same time we create the landscape which is so greatly admired and loved, be it grazed hill sides, green pastures for livestock or mile upon mile of arable crops, all of which help to feed the nation.
I think most of us were confused last week by the complaints from certain sectors that it is mostly black, Asians and Eastern Europeans who are stopped and questioned as to their legitimate immigration status. It seems those who complained that they consider this to be unfair and racist obviously have not grasped that the UK’s natural population are Anglo Saxon.
When later in the week the latest figures emerged which show our little island accepted more immigrants than any other European country in 2012 one has to question the logic and the effectiveness of the UK Border Agency which has been referred to as “laughably incompetent”.
The extraordinary high birth rate which now soars above the numbers dying is in some quarters being laughably put down to older ‘British’ women now deciding to start a family. Those who are capable or reading reports know the truth according to statistics is that we are about to reach the time when the majority of babies born in the UK will be to non-Anglo Saxon immigrant families.
It is undeniable that many sectors of our communities would not and could not function without the services of workers who in many cases came to Great Britain decades ago, some second and third generation. It is also abundantly clear that if it were not for seasonal workers vegetables, soft fruit and top fruit crops would not be harvested. It is all very well for the politicians shouting that British jobs should go to British people but until these very same politicians get behind Ian Duncan-Smith’s efforts to reform our crazy welfare system which rewards lazy, incompetent and dishonest British scroungers, businesses across the country will have to bring in migrant workers. And recruit better educated talented youngsters from abroad until Michael Gove can turn round the State education system which rewards bad teaching, no- achievers and manages to humiliate hard work and achievement.
However, it is now well over due that the incompetent Border Agency gets a grip of the situation and recruits border guards who should be positioned at every port, airport and London railways station, who have been trained in a similar way as the Home Guard when the UK was at War. Unless someone can immediately prove their legitimacy they should be locked up and immediately deported for as sure as eggs is eggs they have no rights to be here.
Tony Blair is responsible for much of today’s problems, what a pity we can’t off load him to one of the countries which seem totally unaware of his incompetence, dishonesty, and blatant manipulation of our immigration laws which he had hoped would keep him in power indefinitely. Before 1997 the numbers were bad but since then totally unacceptable. I think we can safely put the blame at his door that in 2010 alone, more migrants came to Britain than in all the years between 1066 and 1950 put together. How shocking is that?
Carola Godman Irvine
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