Young Farmers

Extreme First Generation Farming, Dude ....

2011-03-02T20:23:29Z

Koh Kong, Cambodia, 10 miles from Thai border. Wednesday.

We meet a Khmer man called Paddy ... not certain this is his real name! He runs a bar, has a tuk tuk, smiles alot and is a cool dude. He takes us to the river. We meet Noy. Noy is one more notch up on the cool dude numeric scale compared to Paddy ... which is saying something.

Noy speaks excellent English. He takes us to a tiny village 30 minutes up river. Each family has their farm of between 1 to 5 hectares. They grow melons, lemongrass, sugarcane, sandalwood and funny looking fruit that I don't recognise.

The people live on very little here but the entrepreneurs amongst them harvest and sell their excess produce in Koh Kong market.

There is one in particular who - having been prosecuted for growing marijuana elsewhere (!!) - moved into the village to start again. He tried doing different things (crops, irrigation methods, fertiliser etc.). Some things were successful. The other villagers started copying him. Here was the innovator and driver of wealth creation not just for himself but indirectly a whole community .... I reflect that this might be the closest person to a new entrant I'll come across in Cambodia.

We stop at a rickety bamboo bridge and we direct another question to Noy ... He answers ... These moments are special and sweet ... We realise he is a first generation farmer ... More questions follow and we realise he is an innovator ... We realise he has an education, an immense knowledge and a mind with its gates wide open. He told us that when he decided to farm, he came to a village ... asked about land ... and was pointed in a direction and told "help yourself". I am so excited I consider wetting myself.

The Dude, Rona and me ... just before I wet myself

As we continue I also realise this is probably the most extreme first generation farmer I have met. You see, Noy was born in a refugee camp over the Thai border and stayed there until he was 12. His English is excellent because the UN taught him the language in the camp. He doesn't know what day he was born as everyone was disorientated as they fled from Cambodia. He never has a birthday.

The camp was hell. Thai soldiers guarded its perimeter with guns and unsmiling stares. No one was allowed to leave. Largely, made up of women and children, if a female strayed too far from the main group they were likely to be raped by the guards. Food was something that was always given .... never found, harvested, purchased or sold.

I asked him why he wanted to farm ... his quick and definite response was a single word that came from a deep, deep place .... "Freedom".

Hell Frozen Over ....

2011-02-23T07:58:34Z

Tuol Sleng Prison ... codename: S-21 ... Phnom Penh. It's Saturday morning.

Tuol Sleng was a tranquil school, a hub of education, that was converted to become hell on earth in 1975. The Pol Pot regime tortured and killed all those they took there (approximately 20,000). Only seven people got out alive.

I don't think I've been to a more powerful place. We see photographs of the room we are standing in ... everything is the same except for the dead body in the photograph ... throat slit, fingers cut off. The photographs were taken by the Vietnamese immediately after storming the building in 1979. Other faces stare at me from the black and white ... faces that had to suffer like no one should, before they met their end.

The lady that shows us round explains how she lost her father, a brother and a sister to Pol Pot. How Phnom Penh was evacuated in 1975 and she, as a six year old, walked for two weeks to find safety. She explains that the torturers were largely children. They were brutalised and brainwashed in jungle camps before being sent to do evil upon their fellow people.

We walk the busy streets of a city once deserted ... and people smile ... we travel by tuk tuk ... and people wave. I realise all these people will have fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, cousins or grandparents that died during the regime and the famine afterwards. 2 million died, 1 million fled the country ... out of a 7 million population. That's the equivalent of 17 million dying in the UK today; and over 8 Million fleeing as refugees. But the smiles and waves have so much more meaning here ... displaced people can still find a place for gentleness ... horror and sadness can be overcome ... me moaning about the lack of rungs on the farming ladder feels incredibly pathetic.

Too Cool For School ....

2011-02-21T22:12:03Z

24 hours. 5 minutes sleep. 6,000 miles. We are in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Straight off the plane. A tuk tuk ride - sything through the heat, smells and madness of an alien culture - to the Royal Agricultural University to meet the Rector ... the main man.

With excellent English and endless patience for daft questions he draws the skeleton of Cambodian agriculture so we might be able to add bits of flesh at a later date.

He spoke of the future mostly. The one time he dwelt on the past he became emotional. By 2015 Cambodia wants to be the third largest exporter of rice in the world. The target is 1 million tonnes exported. In 2011 they officially export nothing. Already though, in the last 10 years, they have increased their average yield from 0.9 tonnes per hectare to 2.7 tonnes. New varieties, irrigation, double cropping have all helped.

Before Pol Pot - in 1974 - 85% of the population were farmers. Now it stands at 74%. 2 Hectares of Rice paddy makes a decent living especially if it can be double cropped. Yet most have around 1 hectare, many can't double crop.

Corporate agriculture is now gaining momentum. As there is no legally effective deeds of ownership, companies have started farming smaller farmers' land.

The land price has increased from $1,000 per hectare in the recent past to $15,000.

But the one question I wanted a different answer than I got was in relation to New Entrants. The brutal facts are 1. No one aspires to farm (too hard and looked down on) and 2. Most of the population have a direct family link to a farm anyway. As my study is on aspirational new entrants from non-farming backgrounds, I briefly consider my stupidity for not thinking the trip through ... I should really go back to the airport ... but then cold beer amidst the craziness of Phnom Penh with two fine Welsh gentlemen was too hard to resist.

First Light search for Wagyū beef farmers UK

2011-02-19T18:46:24Z

Whilst visiting First light venison who have specialised in supplying venison to the European market. they asked for farmers who might be interested in raising Wagyū beef here in the UK to keep up with demand. if interested contact Jason Ross or Gerard Hickey at First Light Foods Jason Ross

Deer velveting

2011-02-19T17:38:37Z

Having met one venison supplier who told me that the British public dislike deer velveting I was intrigued to see the process. I was lucky enough to help on a sunny afternoon a deer farm near Christchurch a farmer going about his regular job. This involved removing the antlers perhaps 3 times per year with local anesthetic. he injected around the antlers and took a saw and removed the antler then made a tourniquet to stop the blood. Each antler was tagged and had full traceability to the exact animal amd observations were made on condition of each animal (it was a chance to see the young males up close). This farmer had been trained by a vet and attended regular courses to update his skills as was the law with deer velveting.

The deer then ran off, once all antlers were removed we returned to the farm house to put them in the freezer, once there was enough the buyer woiuld come and collect and would send off to China. Deer velvet is said to be an aphrodisiac. the farmer is paid 100$ per kg of velvet but had been paid up to 130$ per kg before. The antlers weighed perhaps 1kg-2kg as a pair. It was another income stream for the farm who had beef, lambs and venison.

Sheep milking, New Zealand

2011-02-19T17:19:51Z

After 3 years of breeding the right type of sheep finally Bill finds the right milky sheep. he has crossed East Fresian, Romini and Texal to get the right mix. He had noticed the milkness in his sheep and decided that there was potential here for his farm. Where you are producing meat you're producing milk............
So a parlour was built on the sloping hillside half an hour from Lake Taupo. they don't milk all year round but freeze when there is a glut. They make soft and hard cheese : feta, blue vein, pecarrino, mozarella and camembert. Only producing 3 tonnes of cheese. only milking from August to March and even might shorten the season.

I meet Bill at a Beef and Lamb New Zealand meeting talking about the lake and the environmental impact farmers have on the lake water. Bill is very forward thinking and a driving force behind this Maroi owned farm. He sells product to high end supermarkets, New World and Pack n save, plus delicatessens and restaurants. He sees sheeps milk as the most adventurous of all his products and with the most potential of anyof his businesses. His lambs are making him the most money though he admits, but when you wean them why not utislise their milk?

kiwi fruit a story

2011-02-19T17:01:16Z

Having a few hours to kill travelling on a bus from North Island to South Island I happened to be sitting next to a Kiwi fruit farmer who told me about some issues facing these fruit farmers. I wanted to learn more about kiwi fruit and PSA.
She farmed in Te Puke, in the bay of Plenty, the kiwi capital of the world. At the time they were fighting a bug called PSA which attacks the golden variety which was probably brought in through imported pollen. She said that the government was spending $25 million to research how to stop this disease.
She told me of how kiwi fruit growing had been good, originally called the 'Chinese gooseberry', after rebranding kiwis has sold this fruit and the vines around the world.
Zespri was the marketing board she sold to, she sold per tray and got $4 per try. the kiwis are picked when green and are picked in May/June and are Autumnal fruit.
Her main costs were in the spraying then the picking and packing.
Originally a dairy farmer's daughter she had married a Scottish immigrant and they saved for a farm. Her husband had died of cancer 5 years earlier (she blamed the sprays). Now her son looked to carry it on but the farm just supported her, she was looking for other income so that he could come home to farm. Could they grow a mix of crops? Lemons? She worried who would market a new fruit off of her farm. She worried about the future of her farm.

kiwi fruit a story

2011-02-19T17:01:16Z

kiwi fruit a story

2011-02-19T17:01:16Z

Wine tour

2011-02-19T16:14:52Z

First having found myself in Hawkes bay and blown away by all the vineyards glistening in the sunshine, I thought it well worth visiting some wineries and then having a few days spare in Malborough in South Island, thought it right and proper to go on a wine tour of vineyards. So I met some others from the youth hostel and off we went on the bus rather than drive. The bus driver said that it was rather amusing to see his party getting merrier as the afternoon progresses.

The first visit was to Lawson's Dry hills , Blenheim, Malborough. I then visited 3 more in 1 afternoon including River Farm WInes.

We tried Sauvignon blanc in their wine show room served by a suave aproned assistant keen to part us with our money, in shimmering wine glasses. We are told to swirl the wine in our glasses to smell the aroma or nose of the wine and then to sup. We then tried Riesling, Pinot Gris (similar to Pinot grigio from Europe), Gwurztriminer, Unoaked chardonnay, Chardonnay, Pinot Rose, Pinot Noir and Late Harvest Riesling. Yes I am still standing at this point.

Now a good sauvgnon blanc should smell of BO(yes I do mean body odour) or have a 'gymnasium smell' I was told, it does however have an crisp palate and tastes I think of tropical fruits. Riesling has floral spice notes, pinot Gris has spiced apple and peach flavours, Gewurztraminer ( this is the first time I have tried this grape variety) is like rose petals and lychees and great with oriental food.

I am learning alot today and perhaps can impress some friends with a little grape knowledge. Why does a pinot Noir taste rounded with silky tannins and has an aroma of black cherry and spicy oak and chardonnay tastes citrusy and peachy and tropical? The grape varieties simply remind us of these flavours so we liken them to this, nothing to do with soils etc.

I have had fun, and made friends on my wine tour, to soak up the grapes we are having a joint super in the youth hostel after, I am accompanied by a barrister called Tessa from London and a German girl who works in Holland and we are putting some tapas together.

Also been told we have a glut of sauvgnon blanc this year, over production of New Zealand grapes alas. Who buys this wine where does it go, mostly to Australia. I have bought a souvenir from today a bottle of Late Harvest Riesling, which I shall save for a special day!

Being a spy New Zealand style

2011-02-19T16:08:49Z

At times out here in New Zealand I have felt like a spy and just that I needed a gabardine mac and dark shades ( unfortunately I hadn't brought these with me). Perhaps I was asking difficult questions (how do you grow a niche market?) or perhaps what I was asking was to a nation that was very protective of its export market. These are a nation of people that would kill for our domestic market and are excellent marketeers, they have to be.

Being a spy New Zealand style

2011-02-19T16:08:49Z

Greetings from a barefoot nation

2011-02-19T15:52:27Z

Walking around the supermarket this December 2010 was like going back in time, I visited a Pack n save, which looked like Kwicksave from the UK, quite minimalistic. While I was walking around I noticed quite a few Kiwis in barefeet wandering around doing their shopping. I found this amazing as they walked about on hot pavement in scorching temperatures just the same. Either they have thick skin or can stand the heat!

These supermarkets were interesting.......many Aussie owned, basic and minimal but quite functional. Food prices are high here and the pound doesn't go far. Eating out was just as expensive if not more. Compared to the lst time I was here 10 years ago this was an expensive place to live. Except for fuel this was much cheaper than back home.

We are ahead on our diffentials in the UK, pork here is sold as domestic pork and little is labelled as free range, organic etc. The NZ consumer have yet to go through the change that we have gone through with desire for local and organic and free range produce. The supermarkets here reminded me of the ones from my childhood in 1970's Great Britain. They have a lot of catching up to do.

skiing...and cashflows

2011-01-17T11:31:42Z

Well. What a fantastic skiing holiday. I highly commend the efforts of all those who organised the young farmers skiing trip to Val d'Isere 2-9 January. Even our national president Lionel Hill was out there on the slopes by day and in the clubs by night - just the sort of standards and role model every young farmer needs!

What I most liked was the camaraderie of young farmers from across the regions of the UK. Everyone was keen to integrate and share banter, which made for a highly entertaining trip, not least the fancy dress efforts on display-pirates, goths and chavs, formal farmers, 3 excellent themes! One experience I was keen for was the welcoming night silent disco, and this is definitely under-rated, bring on more of them!

So I am now back at work, but to be honest I couldn't wait to be back, I love my job! I had managed to tie up all loose ends before the festive period so had caught up with work so 2011 was ripe for a renewed work ethic! So far I have indulged in creating cashflows, applied for grants, written in-depth meeting notes, and attended media training. The relevance of the last point will be revealed in my next blog next month - but the north-west region, watch out I am on the case!

A major talking point on farm has been the influence of global volatility on commodity markets. Feed, fuel, fertiliser...all variable costs that need correct and efficient management for profits to be chased this year. And it looks like the situation will be more enhanced when 1 May kicks in and further rises are in store.

I decided to build my own personal budget cashflow to assess my monthly incomings and expenses, and 2010 revealed some interesting conclusions! Mainly that I can't resist a good restaurant, but also that my car exists simply as an avenue for extortion from my wallet. So as such I have been exploring new income streams to help address the balance. Turkeys were plucked, pubs were abstained from, and university scholarships applied for. So just waiting back on the academic side of things now to see if I made a good impression!

I am not back at university until March now which is a good little break to concentrate on work. I had my second assignment to complete by 31 Dec, and so booked the week between Christmas and New Year for the task. Typically I then managed to fall violently ill with man flu, with probably a touch of swine flu thrown in for good measure, and this put paid to my aspirations of an all-singing all-dancing piece of work. It did get done, just, well by this I mean 2 hours before I had to go skiing. And that deadline was easily the more important!

So we are now halfway through January and 2011 has already seen a holiday down on my timesheet! Just the way I like it. Here's to a profitable year and may farm performance be enhanced, whether that be lifestyle or profit orientated.

Nine thousand pound a year....

2010-12-16T15:53:34Z

I'm in a pessimistic mood today. I'm not sure if it was after I watched last night's apprentice or after I had to prize my wallet apart and buy some Christmas present's, which came with the usual stress of having to go into shops.

Nevertheless, this article didn't really help. Nine grand a year! I could have a Massey 165 with a little square baler for that. It's amazing that course fee's can go up to this however I suppose not paying it back until your earning over £21,000 isn't bad. I believe it get's written off after so many years too. However, whether your an optimist or a pessimist, fulfilling the aim of attracting 60,000 new entrants into agriculture is going to be a hard one. Uni fee's, land prices and rising input cost's dont help the matter.

On the brighter side, I'm well on my way to spending nine grand a year. With an interview for Agri Business and REALM at Harper and a conditonal place for Agricultural Resource Management at Bishop Burton, things arent looking too bad.

May I wish Simon best of luck in his turkey plucking, a job which I do not miss, and a Merry Christmas to those/anyone/if anyone who reads this. Let's hope the ongoing threat of snow goes away, as I know you southerner's cant cope, unlike us hardy northern folk.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!