October 2011

Most congregations will have had Harvest Thanksgiving services by now, though I can recall Nick Read daring us, a few years ago, to consider what is the best time of year to celebrate harvest when many in the diocese live surrounded by potatoes and cider apples which are harvested so much later than winter barley or the wool from our sheep. The rich diversity of the land and our farms may make a perfect date for a Harvest service impossible, but that same diversity is itself a cause for celebration and wonder.

We are blessed by being able to be more in touch with the land around us than those living in large cities or urban sprawls. We also know more of the vital nature of farming as an "industry", not just for the obvious reason of feeding us, but also employing so many of us directly and indirectly, to say nothing of caring for the land itself.

Prices that our farmers receive for what they grow are so dependent, like other products, upon international markets that the trends are not always easy to predict. Wool prices, for example, have risen sharply in percentage terms, albeit from a hugely depressed level a few years ago, because of increased demand in China. Similarly, increased living standards in India and China have led to an increase in meat eating and consequently prices.

The extremely warm spring helped fruit to set, potatoes and oil seed rape to grow particularly well and yields to be up, but prices therefore down. Milk prices remain enormously too low, despite a very slight increase, and our dairy farmers continue to struggle.

Farmers struggle for other reasons too. August, while not over hot, was significantly drier as the whole year has been, despite June rain. Sadly, theft from farms and other rural dwellings is on the increase, with tools and fuel being among the prime targets. And the will of the government to tackle bovine TB with a controlled badger cull, while never strong, seems to be even weaker. And who knows what will eventually happen with the proposed Planning Framework, or rural housing provision, or bus services, so many of which have been reduced or cut. And what about our delicious English plums that supermarkets are so reluctant to sell?

All this is to say that we need to continue to delight in the farming around us, support those involved in it, try to understand some of the issues that they face, as we would any other neighbours, and pray for them, giving thanks especially for God's bountiful provision for us which causes plants and animals to grow and flourish, and us among them.