The first edition of a rural affairs programmes produced by Tyne Tees Television that looks at the future of agricultural and the countryside as it heads towards the new millennium. In this episode presenter Eric Robson asks the question is modern farming in step with contemporary ideas of agriculture and food production and should public money be spent to subsidise the likes of hill farmers who are perceived by some to be uneconomic? Standing beside a fence looking over a farmers field...

The first edition of a rural affairs programmes produced by Tyne Tees Television that looks at the future of agricultural and the countryside as it heads towards the new millennium. In this episode presenter Eric Robson asks the question is modern farming in step with contemporary ideas of agriculture and food production and should public money be spent to subsidise the likes of hill farmers who are perceived by some to be uneconomic? Standing beside a fence looking over a farmers field presenter Eric Robson introduces this first episode ‘from the frontline of Britain’s new ideological battleground’. The countryside is misunderstood, but it contains ‘real people, real problems, and real political considerations’ where the current and previous governments have failed to address the ‘central question that lies at the heart of Britain’s rural dilemma’. Title: Farming 2000 At Ponteland Mart on a wet Wednesday morning farmers from across Northumberland bring their cattle and sheep to sell or to buy. In the auction ring the auctioneer calls out the prices. Eric Robson asks the question, what is a farmer, is he the ‘right-wing guardian of the rural idyll or feather-bedded subsidy junkie’? Interview with two Northumberland farmers John Percy and Isaac Renton who both talk about the misunderstandings the average town’s person have of farming today and how the interference from politicians has and will make things worse. Isaac Renton is asked why farmers should be treated any differently than the steel, coal or ship-workers which the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher ‘sorted out’. He explains why farming is different, without farmers the countryside would become a wilderness. John Percy is concerned for hill farmers as they are in a desperate situation as they can’t move as there isn’t anywhere to move to. On a hill farm on the edge Swaledale Eric Robson speaks with hill farmer Alastair Davy about his average working day. He states it is often 12-14 hours and he and wife Felicity must be on call 24hrs a day seven days a week. They’ve not taken a break since before their nine-year-old son was born as they can’t find anyone who could do all the work. In a nearby field Felicity rides over on a quadbike to feed a herd of sheep, back on the farm cattle in pens. Alastair explains that if he sold all his stock, it wouldn’t be enough to clear his overdraft. However, he is working to add more value to the stock he has. He believes if production subsides are phased out it would be the end of hill farming which in turn would push food prices up with him having to double his prices just to survive. Derelict buildings on the farm changes to Alastair working to repair a dry-stone wall. He is asked if it is possible for him to survive. If costs continue to rise, market prices continue to fall and subsidies are reduced then he doesn’t see a future for him. He explains why hill farming should be subsidised as they produce extensively and naturally in a manner the public want, good farm management also leads to tourism which will bring in revenue for the country. For every £2 spend on farming £10 is got back through tourism. General views of the surround Swaledale with cattle wondering across a field. Beside a field of cattle an interview with Professor Gordon Dixon from Newcastle University. He wants to see an economic environment in Britain, as well as in Europe, for agriculture that will allow and enable farmers to be effective producers and to expand to develop their business. He sees a small splinter group of farms, or what he describes as ‘peasant type agriculture’ as is perceived by the general public, being separate from modern farming and supported separately in places like the Lake District or the Dales. He doesn’t see a reason to support uneconomic hill farmers such as Alastair Davy as they can’t meet the needs of market liberalisation and growth in world trade. He wants to see the main source of food production be high-tech, well organised, and skilfully managed. He is asked about economic and philosophical pressure on farming from those, for example, who want to see the end of meat production. He seeing these pressures having an impact and that we need to move away from our ‘addiction to the rural idyllic scene’ with trends such as conservation, sustainability, organic farming, and open access. He wants to see agriculture becoming ‘unshackled’ from these pressures as there is no future for total preservation, he wants to see constructive conservation allow farmers to develop new landscapes. On his arable farm near Alnwick in Northumberland Ian Brown sits in his office writing a letter. Outside fields of grain and oilseed rape. Ian is asked if agri-businesses such as his is out of kilter with people’s idea of the countryside and why should they subside him through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Ian explains that reforms to the CAP means more money is now going directly ‘on farm’. The CAP is a good in that he knows how much money he will be getting, but it does open him up to criticism especially from those who see other traditionally subsidised industries in the north fall into decline. Ian reminds Eric that the CAP is a European policy that is as much social as it is economic. Back at Ponteland Mart farmers look over livestock in pen or listen to the auctioneer in the auction circle. Ian Brown is asked in the CAP has been of detriment for farming and the farming economy, that social policies have been mixed up in Europe but not in Britain. He partially agrees, he says many farmers receive these subsidies aren’t thinking long-term and don’t really know what the money they are receiving is for. Back on the hill farm of Alastair Davy wife Felicity continues to feed their sheep. As she does so Ian Brown states that the money from CAP that farmers such as the Davy’s receive is to keep them there as part of a social engineered payment. He explains that to many bureaucrats the sheep produced by small upland farmers is irrelevant and the money provided by them is about maintaining the landscape. On his farm near Alnwick a worker on Alan Brown’s farm drives a John Deere tractor into a yard where he begins to pressure-spray it clean. On the upland farm of Alastair Davy derelict buildings, broken down equipment and chickens wonder around the yard feeding. Eric asks Ian if there is a ‘strategic divide’ between him as a cereal farmer and Alastair Davy as a hill farmer that is splitting agriculture. Ian sees this as an oversimplification, the issue of an aging farming population is across the board, but hill farming is more affective. Ian is asked if the industry should be more ‘hardnosed’ and allow unviable farms to fail. He doesn’t see the United Kingdom being overburdened with numbers of farms as is the case in Europe. It would be a disservice to remove subsidies over-night and allow large numbers of farms to go bankrupt. He is asked at what point he would consider giving up farming, when he sees no long-term future. However, he believes that farmers are ‘eternal optimists’. In his office Ian continues to write his letter. He is asked by Eric about those farmers who are ‘locked-in’ such as those who have inherited the farm from previous generations or are tenant farmers with nowhere else to go. There is a stigma attached to those who give up farming after many generation, it is a reason for the high suicide rate amongst farmers. Many older farmers haven’t made proper pension provisions for when they get old, or their children decide not to go into the industry so are forced to keep working. Back on his Swaledale hill farm Alastair Davy works to feeds his cattle. He talks with Eric about fighting back and challenging both government and rural pressure groups by making his farm a testbed for a new hill farm initiative. Alastair explains that hill farming is in a full financial crisis and while this is a risky endeavour, he hopes it will get people to work together. In a field Eric Robson ends the programme by providing details of next weeks edition on access to the countryside. Over the closing credits footage from that edition. Credit: Camera Simon Elphinstone Sound Ken Davison Electrician Alan Robinson Production Assistants Eileen Young, Pauline Grant Researchers Liz Woodward, Kevin Rountree Editor Charles Slater Producer/Director Bob Farnworth End credit: © Tyne Tees Television MCMXCV