Ask a farmer what he would like for Christmas and most would say: A fair and sustainable level of profit from their businesses, and the right weather at the right time.
 
Dig a little deeper and you will find they would also like to be recognised for the benefits they contribute to the country by producing quality food to high environmental, animal welfare and social standards. These include as George Dunn, chief executive of the Tenant Farming Association, said:  “Supporting landscape diversity, flood risk management; clean water; clean air; renewable energy; controlled access to the countryside; carbon storage; and providing the vital backdrop to our important tourism industry.”
 
No doubt all of the above will be conveyed to whoever ends up with the Defra portfolio, following the reshuffle promised this week. I hope the Minister will also be made aware as to how vital it is to invest in small local abattoirs ensuring they are fit to process livestock for export as well as the home market. The cost of upgrading infrastructure to ensure they comply with rigorous certification requires considerable investment, without which we cannot export our beef to ready markets, such as Singapore.
 
Investment must be directed towards Research and Development to ensure technology in mechanisation, disease and pest control, and animal health and production, are at the cutting edge. And finally and most importantly the scrapping of the current 30 month beef legislation, which is now well overdue.
 
Christmas is a time for families and friends. A time perhaps to reflect on the past year and make plans for the New Year. It is also a time to recognise that not everyone is as fortunate as we are, as many who live in our communities are alone, rarely leave their home and are often isolated and lonely.
 
We manage to scoop up some of these folk and invite them to the Wivelsfield Better Together Christmas Day Lunch, now in its eleventh year. Unfortunately we recognise that despite putting out the message that we welcome anyone from our local district, including Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill, Lindfield, Cuckfield, Ardingly, Ditchling and Hurstpierpoint, we are not reaching everyone.
 
I am sure that families who gather together for their Christmas festivities will include their neighbours and individuals in their communities, who are known to be alone.
 
By reaching out and inviting those who are home alone, we can all make a huge difference. Several of our regular guests tell us that Christmas Day is the only day of the year when they actually sit down in company for a meal, and it is the highlight of their year. A sad reflection upon today’s society.
 
The problem of rough sleepers and the homeless is not just a British phenomenon. The World’s Big Sleep Out which took place recently, was not confined to Trafalgar Square where hundreds slept out in the pouring rain. Over 60,000 people slept out in cities across the world including: Edinburgh, Cardiff, Dublin, New York, LA and Brisbane, to raise money and awareness for homeless charities. The aim was to shine a spot light on this escalating international and unacceptable problem.
 
There are plenty of charities working night and day doing their best to support homeless families and individuals, but despite their efforts the problem is growing. The best way to help is to get these people into education and work, and for some ensure they receive proper medical support, in particular those with mental health issues.
 
I was greatly encouraged to hear that the number of ex-service personnel ending up on the streets has notably declined. It seems the military are now taking better care of their own.
 
I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year.

The country has spoken and Boris has lifted the majority of the public’s spirits, and with any luck there will be no more General Elections for five years, which should please ‘Brenda from Bristol’!
 
Boris has the majority he needs to lead an effective Parliament. Conservative MPs are hopefully all on the same team and will work to honour his pledge to ‘Get Brexit Done’, and put Great Britain and the people first.
 
The House of Commons fortunately has a new impartial, honest and dignified Speaker, a stark contrast to the last one.
 
Despite what some of my fellow farmers say, this result with the certainty of Brexit to follow, will be a boost for British agriculture. Prices have been in the doldrums for too long, things can only improve.
 
Farmers should have more faith in their ability to weather storms both natural and financial, and learn to manage without being propped up with state aid, mostly encouraging us not to produce food.
 
The exceptions are tenant farmers, and those only just surviving on subsistence and extensive farming on the hills and moors of our beautiful country. These farmers work tirelessly protecting and enhancing the landscape and protecting the environment and wildlife. They should be supported with public money for public good, their land management and livestock are invaluable for preserving Britain’s iconic landscapes.
 
The winter continues with exceptionally high rainfall which is wreaking havoc with plans for planting next year’s harvest. Few of us have crops in the ground and those who have watch as they slowly become water logged at best, totally submerged at worst. Rice would have been a better option but I doubt we have the right climate for that crop either.
 
The public have made the right choice and voted in a strong government with a powerful and principled leader. Now is the time for the same public to support one of our most important industries - British Agriculture.
 
It is unhelpful to restrict diets to vegan food much of which is developed from reconstructed soya, pulses and palm oil. These crops are rapidly replacing traditional rain forests in South America and Indonesia. Countries which have much to answer for the damage the forest clearance has already contributed to climate change.
 
As the slogan goes, ‘Use us or Lose us’. British farmers generate the best home grown food in the world. Our beef, lamb, pork, dairy produce, fruit and vegetables supply us with highest welfare and standard food money can buy. It is safe, local and healthy - Buy British, Buy Often and support this vital industry.
 
It is depressing that even now as the General Election is over and infinite analysis of why’s and where fore’s continue across the airwaves, the impartiality of commentators is dismal. To their shame the media have not accepted that the British people have cast their votes and chosen who they wish to run the country.
 
The public have put their faith in Boris to lead the nation forward out of the EU into a brighter, prosperous and fairer future.
 
Listening to the offensive and patronising dialogue coming from the mouths of so called ‘professional’ political commentators, who demean their profession by stooping to the level of their left wing and bitter friends who so badly read the wishes of the people, is depressing.
 
Their job is to mediate debate not sneer at the Prime Minister and MPs chosen by the public to lead this great country forward. They should reflect the public mood and not give air time to the very people who have consistently done their best to thwart the will of the electorate. By so doing they demonstrate their utter lack of professionalism.
 
Boris is right to question the purpose of the BBC, an organisation which should be unbiased in its role as the British Broadcasting Corporation.

It is somewhat ironic that as political parties bang on about saving the planet by reducing waste, planting millions of trees and cutting back on British food production, they are at the same time distributing millions of paper leaflets to households across the country, most of which are thrown into bins without being read.
 
It is time to stop this ridiculous form of communication. The public are sick and tired of worthy volunteers and candidates stuffing pamphlets of all colours through letter boxes.
 
Let us hope this is the last election that this outdated form of communication is used. The airwaves, TV screens and social media are full of the same information, and candidates have access to local publications and 24 hour media. It is time to adopt 21st century technology.
 
There is an idea floating around that to assist the NHS in their battle to halt the steep rise in UK obesity, which has doubled since 1993, and support those with mental health issues, farmers should allow the public open access onto their land.
 
The belief is that those suffering with mental health and obesity problems would take exercise in the countryside, and perhaps find peace and fitness alongside nature.
 
Theoretically this is a good idea, but I suspect that the uptake will be limited and certainly not by the very people who should benefit. As they say, “You can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”!
 
Those who have come up with this idea believe that the NHS will pay landowners to provide this public service. At a time when the NHS is struggling to cope with running hospitals and services due to the pressure of an ever increasing population, and a public who block casualty departments, wards and GP waiting rooms with non-urgent minor ailments or drink and drug excesses, thus preventing the really sick receiving treatment, one can be certain they have no funds available to pay farmers.
 
I have a vision of local authorities insisting on laying ‘super highways’ across beautiful open countryside, for ‘health and safety reasons’. These pathways will be congested by the overweight driving buggies and demanding Burger Bars along the route!
 
Forgive me for being cynical but statistics show that most ‘disabled’ buggy drivers who charge along high-street pavements pushing pedestrians into the road, and running over ones toes in supermarket isles, are not genuinely old, disabled or fragile, just overweight.
 
Our towns and cities have some of the best parks and open spaces in the world. Today many are falling into disrepair, are unloved, neglected and unused. These should be the first point of call for attention. They belong to local communities, and gardeners and DIY experts should be encouraged to care for them.
 
Instead, if people attempt to plant the odd bulb or bedding plants, or cut back the undergrowth, they are in danger of being fined by overzealous council officials who consider such activities as highly dangerous!
 
Farming close to suburbia where footpaths are already overused by dog walkers, cyclists and random folk, it is even now a challenge to keep the public to the designated official routes as they stray onto growing crops, disturb wildlife and livestock, and some even complain if they encounter a bit of mud.
 
Should we really be encouraging even more people onto farmland? However sympathetic one is to these troubled individuals, I am not sure it is the responsibility of farmers to deal with societies damaged creatures.
 
I have been reliably informed that a team if mountain rescuers in Cumbria have lost regional funding due to not having rescued enough ethnic minorities. As few non-whites venture onto the Cumbrian hills, it is unsurprising that these volunteers are struggling to reach their ‘targets’!
 
Let us pray that we wake up on Friday 13th knowing Brexit is a certainty in the New Year.

The anger amongst British farmers, livestock farmers in particular, following last week’s exceedingly biased BBC documentary Meat: A Threat to our Planet, is understandable.
 
Considering its poor record and lack of understanding about British agriculture and farming practises, it is of little surprise that the BBC allowed this programme’s release without checking it for unhelpful prejudice.
 
The programme was presented by Miss Liz Bonnin, who had travelled to Brazil where she highlighted the destruction of the rainforests making way for cattle ranches. And the USA where we saw mega cattle and pig farms covering hundreds of square miles with factory like buildings and slurry lagoons, farming practises which clearly contribute to global warming and the pollution of rivers and lakes.
 
Throughout the broadcast Miss Bonnin made references to UK farming which by implication suggested that British farming methods are equally destructive of the countryside, an accusation which could not be further from the truth.
 
Not once did she explain how very different UK livestock farming is in comparison. Here cattle, beef cattle in particular, are mainly grass fed and our production standards and animal welfare are amongst the highest in the world.
 
We have become used to BBC countryside and farming programmes which are on the whole anti- farming, anti-traditional food production and anti-land ownership. When such propaganda is released upon the public at a time when UK agriculture has never been under so much scrutiny, it is hardly surprising that farmers are angry.
 
As we approach the General Election and political parties have released their manifestoes, it is clear that the environment and climate change are amongst their priorities. It seems that they too are putting British farmers in the same box as Brazil, the USA, and Malaysia where deforestation is ongoing.
 
I think we should be asking the question, “who is speaking up for British farmers”?
 
We have already done a huge amount of work over the past thirty years by supporting the environment, encouraging wildlife and preventing the pollution of our waterways.
 
We have lowered our carbon footprint by reducing soil cultivations and adopting min-till, and cutting our use of chemicals and fertilisers. We have created six meter buffer strips between crops and hedges and water courses, and planted trees and introduced beetle banks.
 
Indeed we should do more in certain sectors but it is important to acknowledge the importance of British agriculture and the part farmers play in offsetting the pollution and carbon footprint created by cities and manufacturing industries. Woodland, pastures and open moorlands are the lungs of the nation where the very oxygen we breathe is produced.
 
The working countryside is part of the infrastructure for sustainable food production, an essential process and production line which ensures we purchase mainly British and local produce, thus reducing significantly food miles.
 
Farmers and landowners are supposedly represented by organisations such as the National Farmers Union. Where have they been in this debate and why have we not heard the President countering the negative messages coming from political leaders, whilst at the same time battering down the doors of the BBC last week?
 
One would think that the NFU believes we have already lost the argument, or are they scared to confront those lobbying against us?
 
Farmers are very angry and frustrated by a lack of leadership for our industry. Do they want us to shut up shop and become park keepers? Should we open our farm gates and allow open access to the public resulting in the total destruction of wildlife habitats and valuable food producing land?
 
If politicians are failing to recognise the importance of British agriculture, I am unconvinced that we have the right people representing our industry.