Arable Farming

Smith Says...

Farming Opinion From Essex-Based Guy Smith

The manner is which the GMO debate has unraveled over the last 12 months has left me gobsmacked Yet again as farmers we have failed to have any input into a debate that affects our livelihood. Unbelievably, it would seem that as a nation genetically-modified-food can be sold to British consumers but cannot be produced by British farmers.

British producers have been placed in the intolerable position of being deprived of a cost-reducing technology that is handed to our competitors along with access to our home markets. At Wimbledon this year are they proposing to make Tim Henman play with a wooden, cat-gut racket while Pete Sampras is smashing the ball with his state-of-the-art, graphite head?

Media monopoly

I cannot believe so few have made the point that if the safety of GM foods is unproven how can it be acceptable to sell the stuff in the supermarket. Not for the first time our detractors have been allowed to have it both ways. It is incredible that while the debate around GMs has raged on, the only farmers to have had any real input into the debate are organic producers. The media seems to have forgotten that organic farmers are a 5% minority producing for a niche market. The rest of us have been daft enough to remain silent on the issue.

Wanted: GM crops

I make no bones about it, I want GM technology on my farm. I have acres of wheat that look purple from a distance because of the amount of black grass in them. This is inspite of the fact that I have spent over £20 an acre on black-grass herbicides.

Glyphosate-resistant wheat would be a major step forward for this farm. It would significantly reduce my costs of production. It would also reduce the number of times I spray and allow me to use more benign chemicals.

As for the argument that glyphosate-resistant crops would reduce the biodiversity and weed species on my farm - I do not believe black-grass is of any benefit to the wildlife on my farm.

As for the rest of the weekend -- I kill them anyway with existing technology. If environmentalists want me to apologise for not having crops full of weed they are sadly mistaken.

If the average green activist did not smoke so much weed they might grasp reality long enough to realise why framers cannot tolerate crops full of weeds.

Even organic farmers do not tolerate weedy crops-hence the amount of weed harrows, flame throwers and hand-rogueing that they deploy.

Amazingly enough, I have not heard organic farmers and gardeners being criticised for having the temerity to weed their crops. Why is it that it is just normal farmers like me get these ill thought out arguments in the neck?

When it comes to discussing important issues such as the environment and food safety, conventional farmers have lost the moral high ground through our own negligence. We have allowed the anti-technologists and organic movement to dominate the media with their won propaganda without bothering to challenge them.

For consumers to buy and eat food they must confident that it's safe. You cannot enjoy eating something along with the suggestion it might be doing you harm. No matter how wholesome and tasty the food you are eating, if you are not confident as to its purity it will inevitably leave a nasty taste in your mouth. Consequently we must not leave unchallenged the insinuation that because we use fertilisers and agrochemicals that is something toxic in the food we produce.

If organic farmers want to produce for their own organic market that is fine by me. But this is not just simple matter of supplying a demand. By undermining confidence in conventionally farmed produce, the organic farmed produce, the organic movement is creating a demand for their produce and reducing demand for mine. What I take very personally is the organic movements' suggestion that if I use fertilisers and agrochemicals then I am some sort of insidious poisoner -- both and the environment. It is an unwarranted slur on me and most of my fellow farmers.

Time to hit back

The organic movement is running a dirty smear campaign on the majority of British farmers. How much longer are we going to sit back and let the organic movement insinuate that the food we produce is unsafe and our farms have no wildlife? It is a damn lie and I am afraid I take it very badly.

It is about time we hit back. It is about time the consumer was told what dirty, mucky, rat-infested, bug-ridden havens for mould these organic farms are. With their unsavoury insistence on using faeces as fertiliser and their luddite obsession with the technology of famine these organic farmers have got away with their half-baked arguments for too long.

Give my children organic food? I would rather seek medical advice from Mystic Meg.