Friday 25 August 2017

End of an era indeed




Will Hetherington is leaving the Shooting Gazette. He will be missed by every reader. Under his leadership the Gazette has been interesting, often irreverent, always entertaining and surprisingly varied. The journal of driven shooting it may be, but that very fine epithet perhaps belies the diversity of quality writers Will has assembled over the years. 

The end of Will's tenure is of particular significance to me because he gave me my start in writing. My very first column was printed in the February 2012 edition of the Shooting Gazette. Also the first time I saw myself as a line drawing.


That was real bucket-list ticking moment for me, driving to the newsagent straight after work to see myself in such a venerable publication. I had already seen it in my own home-delivered copy, but picking it up off the shelf is the moment that stays with me.

That column ran for a year, documenting a year in the life of the Lackham College shoot, its wonderful students and those who try their best to teach them. It really was the beginning of everything I have done in the wider shooting community, leading to more writing opportunities, my eventual move to the Countryside Alliance and everything that has happened since.

Since then Will has been kind enough to take a number of features and articles from me and has been tremendously supportive since I hung up my whiteboard pens and swapped lecturing for a career in writing and campaigning at the Alliance. He also caught me on film getting knocked from under my hat by a black powder muskatoon, at a Help for Heroes day at EJ Churchill last year.

So the end of an era indeed. All the best in whatever you're up to next Will, and thanks for taking a chance on me. I am forever in your debt.

Saturday 22 November 2014

Nuffield Reflections

"On the whistle" match reports are the current big thing in football blogging, so I thought I would offer my "on the whistle"  reflections on the Nuffield Farming Conference. The pre-eminent minds and movers in the agricultural sector (and me) descended on Ashford, Kent, for this prestigious event and it most certainly left its mark on me.


If you have never been to a Nuffield Farming Conference then stick it on your bucket list. Innovators and visionaries from across the land based sector return from two years of travelling and researching to deliver their findings on a topic of relevance to the future of agriculture. And given that agriculture is the only way we are going to feed ourselves and, you know, survive as a species, it is pretty important stuff. The whole conference is a workout for your mind and fuel for your motivation.

Proceedings were kicked off by Tanya Robbins, introducing us to some extraordinary women leading rural development in some surprising corners of the world. John Millington had some salient advice on how to communicate with staff in a farm business that had application in maximising any enterprise. The importance of bringing new human capital onto farms was emphasised by Andrew Brewer, who outlined some real practical measures to put the "agri"  back into the culture.

One of the more emotive moments of the conference came when Tamara Hall literally embodied the value of organ donation before delivering a stellar presentation on the potential for community supported agriculture. I took a really practical idea from this one, there's a derelict orchard that I've been wondering what to do with and I think this might be it.


Rebecca Hill clearly struck a chord with the audience with her advice on farm succession planning that was both empathetic and authoritative. The first hashtag of the conference was introduced by Jamie McCoy, whose message on the future of the family farm was epitomised in the phrase #tradition&transition. Andrew Janaway's Paxmanesque handling of questioning was a particular highlight for me, as he deftly defended the concept of diversification while detailing how to make the most of a near-city location.

A very polished performance from Ali Capper assured the room that the future of British hops and apples are in the most capable of hands, as  Ali outlined the exceptional work she has done to promote the uniqueness of British produce to the world. Matt Ware spoke to a topic very dear to my heart- lobbying and countering the social media mob. His particular take on tackling hashtag activism that is long on emotion and short on science (an accusation no one could level at Jamie's wonderfully chosen words!) will be of interest to the fieldsports community as much as the farming. I'll probably return to this theme in a future post, Matt has certainly set my mind racing.

Some serious technical firepower then took to the floor. Countryfile superstar Jason Vickery not only delivered a passionate exposition on how farmers around the world had shown him how to remove the costs from a dairy business, he also delivered a truism in front of the Duke of Gloucester that I don't think any of us will forget in a hurry. Robert Neill extolled the virtues of EID in cattle following a thorough investigation of the industry around the world and probably won the title of best one-liner of the conference-
"I don't get subsidies, I pass them onto the consumer in the form of cheap food".
The technical tour de force continued as Andrew Williamson and Davina Fillingham explored the full potential of precision farming. Andrew explained the remarkable benefits he had found around the world in a really accessible style, with variable rate irrigation particularly interesting to me, while Davina made the important point that the data associated with land should move with that land when it is sold. The first day was closed by the ever-inspirational Jake Freestone, who channelled Norman Borlaug in name and spirit. Jake highlighted the effect of soil quality on gene expression in wheat, and in the twittersphere his ideas were immediately seized upon for wider debate.

Livestock took centre stage on day two. Niall Armstrong explained the four key concepts of livestock production- grass utilisation, stock efficiencies, reducing fixed costs and maintaining attention to detail. Wil Armitage built on these concepts with a powerful presentation on soil quality and its impact on sustainable milk production. The word sustainable became increasingly contentious as the conference progressed, but there was nothing contentious about Wil's headline- we understand around 1% of our soil's biology. His conclusion, that biological (but not necessarily organic) farming is the future, has seriously got me thinking.


Keith Williams was another of my favourites (it's my blog, I can have as many favourites as I like. I'm turning into the Bruce Forsyth of Nuffield conferencing. They're all my favourites). He spoke about meat grading, which on a scale of things I know about sits somewhere near quantum physics, but that's why I liked it so much. By the end of 12 minutes I had a fair understanding of how we grade meat in Europe, why it doesn't work for the farmer or the consumer and what would be better. Classic Nuffield.

Michelle Sprent delivered another deeply polished performance, as did Sara Gibbins, two real pros in the pig and egg production industries respectively. Sara highlighted some genuinely extraordinary uses of eggs she had found on her journey, some with equally extraordinary prices! The diversity of  products suggested an exceptionally bright future for egg producers and processors prepared to innovate. Michelle investigated and confirmed the dominance of soya as a global protein, something I've often worried about as it forms a key part of game feeds, a picture that became more worrying as Michelle explained the wastage she had seen in the supply chain on her travels. Claire Bragg also had some very interesting things to say on protein, explaining the role the broiler industry had to play in the feeding of a growing population. In the Q+A Claire looked at how chickens can thrive on a wide range of animal proteins, and urged the industry and the legislative framework to look beyond soya.

Robert Thornhill gave one of the most entertaining presentations (although I think Charlie Russell's farmers in the desert got the biggest laugh of the conference!). Listening quickly and getting good at being lazy are skills I'll certainly be working on. It was also exceptionally thoughtful. Robert had met extraordinary farmers who saw themselves as production ecologists and suggested we farm for ecology. The idea of cows self-medicating when allowed access to varied grazing and browsing has certainly stayed with me. As well as his excellent joke (my wife's conference highlight), Charlie Russell delivered a powerful six-step route to livestock business success borne out of a truly remarkable journey across ten countries. Interestingly Charlie's lessons had come from failed businesses as often as successful ones, a totally new perspective delivered with real authority.

Tom Sewell had the daunting task of closing proceedings, a challenge he rose to with aplomb with a rousing call to convert to no-till, a call made doubly credible through a combination of global evidence and Tom's own conviction, a conviction that has led him to convert his own farms to 100% no-till. Tom also managed to close not only the conference but the "sustainability" debate, building a consensus around his concept of regenerative agriculture. To meet the challenges of  tomorrow, sustaining what we have simply is not good enough.



And that was that. Except it wasn't. There was so much more, far too much to document here. Above all were the friends who came to support and challenge us to excel. Caroline Drummond, Amy Jackson, Caroline Millar, David Northcroft, Natasha King and Ed Green, last seen (by me)  in Canada 18 months and a lifetime of travelling ago, were all a huge part of the #Nuffield14 experience and it was a genuine joy to see them again. I'll be sure not to leave it so long next time.

I was blown away by the response to my own presentation, which was of course about the value of land based education, how we can make it better and use it to make people's lives better. I have been deeply moved by the kind words I've received. It is really quite something to win the approval of such an esteemed collection of professionals. But I'm not very good at enjoying the moment. I feel the challenge has been laid down and expectations have been raised, and now I have to meet them. I'm already looking for what's next, how I'm going to take this fight forward. I suspect I'm not alone in feeling like this, in fact I know I'm not. Plans are already afoot among this extraordinary group of scholars to keep the energy flowing and build on this outstanding conference. Maybe that's what sets a Nuffield Scholar apart- we're always looking to the horizon, seeking out the next challenge.

End of an era indeed

Will Hetherington is leaving the Shooting Gazette. He will be missed by every reader. Under his leadership the Gazette has been inter...