Last December I mentioned my visit to Jamie’s Farm, near Lewes. This educational charity, set up by ex-teacher Jamie and his psychotherapist mother, run 5-day residential programmes at their farms, now including in Sussex.
 
Last year, 1,180 disadvantaged children benefitted from staying at a Jamie’s Farm, now in their tenth year.
 
I was invited back last week to meet the first intake of young people, and see the work in progress at the farm.
 
The farmhouse which has been converted to accommodate up to 12 young guests, and teachers accompany them, is now a spacious and light but homely environment.
 
This particular group of youngsters were quite extraordinary, they brought into stark reality just what Jamie’s Farm is all about. They ranged in age from 14 to 19, and had come from London, Manchester, the West and Wales. All had formerly been disengaged or at risk of exclusion from school, before having experienced and benefitted from the ‘magic’ of Jamie’s Farm.
 
Last week this group of boys and girls came to Allington Farm as Jamie’s Farm Ambassadors. They had given up their half term to experience what this new Sussex farm had to offer, and give their honest opinions before the first new intake of vulnerable children arrive during the week of March 25.
 
Jamie’s Farm allows children to experience life in the countryside, and living as a ‘family’, in a safe environment, where no one is judged. They are encouraged to put others, including the animals, before themselves.
 
The days are busy with feeding, mucking out and getting up close to the livestock. Picking seasonal fruit and vegetables, which they help turn into tasty meals. They take long walks, which included a trip to the top of the Downs, and had planned a visit to Brighton seaside.
 
At mealtimes they all sit at a huge dining table, where they are encouraged to chat, and when supper is over, each will tell out loud what was special about their day. They say what was good or bad, and rate their feelings from 1-10, mentioning anyone who has made their day extra special.
 
These young Ambassadors who I had the privilege to chat to, explained how prior to staying at a Jamie’s Farm, they felt excluded from life, or lived in an angry bubble. Most lacked confidence, and some wanted to fight the system. Most had had poor communication skills, and all at some point had been miserable.
 
Today these young people were happy and utterly charming. They welcomed their guests warmly, and chatted enthusiastically and with genuine pride and gratitude, recognising how Jamie’s Farm had turned their lives around.
 
They were all highly intelligent, articulate, and positively ambitious for their futures. Several of the boys told me that Wales would ‘definitely’ beat England on Saturday. How right they were!
 
The farm is slowly taking shape. Eddie the Farm Manager, and the first intake of 120 ewes due to lamb in April, have arrived and are all settling in well.
 
In due course the plan is to purchase 12 Aberdeen Angus cows, a dairy cow, Suffolk and Lleyn ewes, ponies, goats, ducks, hens and some pigs.
 
A vegetable garden is in the process of being developed, and major projects include repairing the farm buildings, fencing the 120 acre field into workable paddocks, laying on water, and purchasing a loader tractor and other machinery.
 
Jamie’s Farm is working hard to raise funds of around £200,000 from grant making charities, local Trusts and individuals from across Sussex. This remarkable charity which transforms children’s lives deserves our support.
 
Donations in kind such as Sussex heifers, some pigs and laying hens, a quad bike, livestock trailer or fencing posts, would all  be welcomed with open arms.

​To get in touch or make a donation, go to:  www.jamiesfarm.org.uk

It is amazing what a little bit of sunshine can do for the wellbeing, and level of ‘cheerfulness’ amongst the farming community.
 
We get quite excited when we see our agronomist emerge from his winter hibernation and start wandering across our arable fields checking for disease, weeds or bugs. Without doubt very soon a recommendation will ping into my In Box, including a cocktail of sprays, which will be diluted a thousand fold in water when applied to the crops.
 
Robert Plumb our soil analysist has already sent through our unique Ote Hall Farms soil fertility programme for spring 2019. The crops will be treated at various growth stages with Urea, Bio N, straight nitrogen, MOP and foliar feeds including Mega-Fos and Vitaplex.
 
With that little lot the crops surely cannot fail to flourish and we should with any luck get a good yield. Let us hope the prolonged heat wave of last summer, which did little to enhance the crops, is not repeated.
 
The grass fields are starting to dry, and unless the much needed rain needed to refill reservoirs and top up the water table descends, we could soon start harrowing and rolling.
 
The cattle have wintered well and are heading off to the butchers and farm shops we supply with Ote Hall Farm Sussex beef.
 
It is disturbing that vegan activists are stopping farmers and trying intimidate us as we arrive at abattoirs. They unsettle and scare our stock, while saying ‘goodbye’ to cattle, sheep or pigs.
 
We do our level best to ensure our cattle are loaded and travel from farm to abattoir stress free. I go out of my way to ensure I take an uninterrupted route, avoiding stopping at junctions and traffic lights. What does stress them is being stationary in the trailer, and strangers invading their space.
 
These over grown kids, many with beards and balaclavas, leap in front of the truck waving banners and demanding I stop, as they shout obscenities, while theoretically ‘peacefully’ saying ‘goodbye’ to my cattle. With whom I am certain they have never previously been introduced.
 
These idiots are in danger of being flattened, as I will not stop or allow them to stress my cattle. Before long one of these clearly ignorant and very annoying banner wavering vegans will end up under the wheels of my truck.
 
The NFU annual conference takes place this week. It is interesting to learn from reading the Farmers Weekly that the current President, Minette Batters’, is acknowledged by some in the industry, as having the ability to connect with the non-farming public. This, due to the fact that she does not just talk about farming, but about agriculture in terms of food.
 
This is puzzling as farmers do little else but talk about food production and the importance of its sustainability. We have consistently reminded the public of the importance of buying British, and local when possible. We have  even marched with banners, and indeed the public have marched with us.
 
Nothing about the NFU surprises me but I find it puzzling that we need to remind the industry that Mrs Batters is a woman, the first to be NFU President, and is doing a reasonable job because she talks about food!
 
I sincerely hope that during her conference speech she will send out a positive message to British farmers, and abandon her usual doom and gloom rhetoric. Brexit offers us the opportunity to regain control of our destiny, expand our markets, and escape the EU controlled stultifying Common Agricultural Policy.
 
Through protectionism, tariffs, red tape and bureaucracy, and funding which has created unnecessary waste and discourages food production, British agriculture has been damaged.
 
The only person Mrs Batters need remind of the important role British farmers play in maintaining the natural environment, while feeding the nation is the Minister, Michael Gove.

The Daily mail is doing well with campaigns to raise the profile of important community and environmental issues. Campaigns like ‘Turn the Tide on Plastic’, and the call for members of the public to volunteer to help out in their local hospitals and care homes, have encouraged thousands to take up the challenge and support their communities.
 
The more recent campaign to ‘Tidy up Britain’ has also caught on. It is good to see people making a major effort to pick up litter from parks, beaches and roadsides. Unfortunately their efforts do not appear to have made much of an impact in Sussex. I know valiant members of the public, including community groups, school children and club members are trying but so far their endeavours are but a drop in the ocean.
 
We shall never get our county cleaned up until the lazy louts who continue to drop litter, throw McDonalds wrappers out of car windows, and toss empty cans and bottles into hedgerows are named, shamed and pressed ganged into clearing up the disgraceful mess they are contributing to.
 
Every morning we find fresh rubbish littering the end of the farm drive. And each day fly tipper’s debris and filth is dumped in farmer’s field entrances and farmyards.
 
Driving along the A23, A27, and the A259 to Hastings as we did last week, we were shocked to see the mountains of litter clinging to hedges, along verges, and blowing into fields where sheep were grazing.
 
This is an epidemic which starts with the casual attitude of not caring or having pride in our surroundings and communities. We should naturally have respect in our DNA. Sadly the demise of the feeling of pride in our community and country is linked to the reason we have escalating delinquency, including the shocking statistics of knife crime, now at an all-time high.
 
What I fail to understand is the attitude of politicians and authorities who should be keeping our streets safe. They wring their hands complaining they do not understand why this has happened. To most it is perfectly clear. When the Politically Correct decided to take charge of society, including abolishing discipline in schools, at home where they interfere with child nurturing and family life, with their ‘anything goes’ attitude, and ‘children must be allowed to do as they please’, the rot set in.
 
We now have several generations who believe they are untouchable, have no respect for anyone or anything, let alone themselves. They have never been disciplined or taught manners, how to respect their elders, authority and other people’s opinions. Without boundaries and basic rules the result is feral kids and adults, and a dangerous lawless culture which has already taken over towns, cities and playgrounds.
 
How to turn the clock back or put the Genie back in the bottle is without doubt a challenge. But until someone is courageous enough to take a grip, end the PC culture and reintroduce discipline, putting an end to this dangerous and destructive philosophy which the majority of law abiding citizens are currently forced to tolerate, things will only get worse.
 
Parents should be able to bring up their children in a civilised, safe and disciplined manner and environment. Schools, colleges, universities, and youth organisations must introduce a culture of discipline, politeness, kindness and respect for authority.
 
If society does not get a grip now and implement dramatic changes, it would be wise to brush up on William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, for surely this is the kind of world we are heading towards, fast.
 
Mrs May is heading into dangerous territory, she is clearly not delivering Brexit and her duplicity is breath-taking. The Prime Minister is being humiliated by her counterparts in Brussels who are showing their utter contempt as their backs are now up against the wall.
 
March 29 cannot come soon enough, when we must Leave and she must go.

Those who listened to BBC Radio 4’s On Your Farm last week, will have heard the story of the Findlay family who have been farming at Rainton, in Galloway since the 1920.
 
During the 1930s and 40s, David Findlay’s father, James, had a simple goal which was to produce food for a hungry population during the difficult years surrounding the Second World War. Milk from the dairy cows was used to produce farmhouse cheese, the leftover whey was given to the pigs reared for meat, and sheep made use of the grassy areas, less suited to cattle.
 
As time moved on farming and food production became more industrialised and intensive. Cheese production stopped in the 1970s as mass produced cheddar became more widely available, and the farm focused more on milk production.
 
In the 1990s David and Wilma Findlay started to diverge from the intensive direction of most dairy farmers. They decided to farm organically, and over the past twenty years they have explored new ways of producing food in a more ethical and sustainable way.
 
In 2013 they built a ground breaking new dairy, installed innovative renewable energy technology to generate electricity from farm waste, and embarked on a new way of dairy farming. One which lets the calves stay with their mothers, which dramatically reduces the stress on the cow and calf, improving their health.
 
The Findlays have de-intensified the farm which as David said, is almost the opposite of what is happening elsewhere in the industry. In traditional dairy farms calves are removed from their mothers within a few hours after birth and hand reared. The cow’s milk, except for the colostrum, ends up in the bulk tank. The aim is to produce as many gallons as possible, particularly at times when milk prices make dairy incomes marginal.
 
David and Wilma acknowledge that their ethical system is not perfect. They have far less milk to sell, but they are returning to cheese making, and have been producing ice cream for many years. Each calf consumes around £800 worth of milk from their mothers, but they remain healthy, require no anti-biotics, and the bull calves which enter the beef market, finish at least four months earlier than the traditional system.
 
Wilma said, “Our goal was to farm in a way that is resilient, ecologically sound and less stressful for the animals and the people working with them. We are seeing real benefits – longer living healthier cows, less antibiotic use, faster growing calves and less purchased feed.”
 
The interest in veganism, with campaigns like Veganuary becoming headline news, may be recent but planning at the Findlay’s revolutionary dairy farm began a long time ago. Customers of their award winning business, Cream o’ Galloway, a luxury ice cream brand, and visits to the family centre, have had ringside seats with regular farm tours and events explaining their change in approach.
 
Spare a thought for Vegans who must be shivering with cold. It seems that even electricity and gas have become morally repulsive to them after revelations that most of Britain’s biggest energy companies use animal by-products to generate power. As noted in the Sunday Times, the finding emerged after the Vegan Society was asked by an energy company, Ecotricity, if it could brand its power as vegan!
 
Most energy companies increasingly buy power generated by anaerobic digesters. These can convert farm slurry, animal-based food waste and slaughterhouse by-products, as well as plant material, into methane which is used to generate power.
 
Britain is now increasingly powered by livestock farming, causing a real dilemma for vegans. As Robbie Lockie, co-founder of Plant Based News said, “this energy can never be compatible with veganism.”
 
I shall resist sharing what my livestock farming friend, who sent me the article, suggested could also be put into anaerobic digesters!