As farmers busy themselves with the harvest there is an optimism in farming that has not been present for some years.

Once more food production is important as world population growth means that every year we have an additional 87 million mouths to feed.

That coupled with changing weather patterns means that the production from more temperate climates such as Europe will become even more important and if we are to keep a lid on food prices the challenge is how do we produce more food from a reducing acreage?

As fuel costs have escalated alarmingly it is not surprising that the cost of food too has risen (diesel up 350% over 6 years, fertlisers (imported) at well over £300 a tonne) - these costs have to be passed on.

But there are unnecessary costs too – it beggars belief that the government is content to waste in excess of £100m of your taxes every year on bovine TB (and the industry pays far more) because it lacks the political courage to tackle the issue.

The latest decision by Hilary Benn that some of the best English land is to be taken out of production as set-aside is an expensive sop to the environmentalists that offers little environmental gain.

No wonder our Continental (and Scottish) cousins laugh at us as they move away from the restrictive and bureaucratic impediments of the past.

In Europe too we will all have to pay more for our food if the new pesticide directive is passed in its present form later this year.

The decision to move away from a risk based registration system to one based on hazard (i.e if it contains a hazardous substance it will be banned) will have huge effects on yield and quality of European produce.


The result?
More imports grown using precisely the substances that we have banned and have been tried and tested as safe over many years.

But the reason why farmers are optimistic is that they have thrown off the shackles of a support regime that tied them to producing a particular commodity.

They are now free to produce what the market wants and there are signs that those messages are at last being received by the supermarkets. All is not well at present.

Prices are rising in the pig and poultry sector but they need to go further to stem the exodus from the industry; horticultural producers have seen negligible if any rises in prices over the last year; recent gains in the livestock and dairy sectors have been hit by increased fuel and feed costs and sugar producers have a major decision to make as to whether or not it is worth planting next year's crop or not.

However the long term prospects are good.

No wonder politicians are worried for now farmers have a choice. To stay in business farmers must be competitive on a world market and world prices will decide what they grow.

The trick will be to find the right balance between producing food, looking after the environment and helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Farmers will do their bit but politicians need to step up to the mark and show the leadership that has been conspicuously absent in recent decisions.