Farming Future

Bavarian Radio is doing a "theme" week highlighting the problems facing the farming community. Despite all the other high tech things going on in the state (Motto: Laptop & Lederhosen), agriculture remains a key economic and social part of the economic structure.

It's a very complicated issue, not one I can do justice to here. I do however feel we underestimate the influence the farmers have on our lives - not just that they produce the stuff that keeps us fed but they are guardians of our countryside and play a key role in making the rural areas attractive to live in and/or to recharge  the batteries when we city slickers spend a day out. At the same time farmers are sometimes their own best enemies with a somewhat arrogant "Keep Out" attitude.

The structure here is I think quite different to the UK. Generally farmers don't enjoy a high status in the total scheme of things, many of the expressions in normal life use words linking farmers to crude, violent and unpleasant methods. These no doubt go back to the days of "peasant farmers" and aren't applicable nowadays. Most farms are still in the middle of the villages, so you will still see muck heaps when driving down a villages main street.In modern days this means many of the traditional things we associate with the old fashioned farm with a few chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and goats running around the back of the yard in an apple orchard, are gone. We all know the stories of people buying a house next to the church and then complaining about the bells.

The Bliped farm is in the middle of Erkheim and actually has a fairly large piece of grass, perhaps the size of a small football pitch. It isn't fenced in, has no trees on it and I suspect it is simply mown and will one day be sold as a building plot. One can see how the farm has developed. From  the left,  the machine hall, the farm house, the farm buildings for storage including the ramp that allows tractors to drive up in to the first floor probably with hay and cereals and also the then modern concrete grass silage towers. Then comes the cow shed and finally the new silage bunkers on the far right. Somewhere there is a Fendt tractor to fulfil my "Tractor Tuesday" obligations.

One of the radio reports discussed the milk farmers. The standard dairy farm is getting around 29 cents/litre of milk, in the large farms in northern Germany around 23 cents but the small family size, organic, hay only (no silage), not dehorned animals, fams are constantly getting 40 cents. I am sure this is the way things will go but how does the farmer in the Blip adapt his yard?. He possibly could do quite a bit but it means tearing down many of the buildings, building a large new "free roaming" cow shed for which he can get subsidies but only if he builds big enough and thus increases milk quantities. And then within a few years, he will be requires to let the cows out on to meadows and that will never be possible. A look at the Map Function on the Blip shows where the farm is located.

Difficult.    Today was the last warm sunny dry day of a lovely spell with temperature over 20°C. We now head back to April weather with showers, hail, possibly snow and temperatures down to 5°C. Have to wait until Sunday before it gets better.

Finally, noted the duck pair that in most years is to be seen in the stream alongside our horse fields has been actively flying around near the site of the duck brood house MrB set up on our property. Keeping well clear of the area for the moment, so can't see if Mrs Duck is laying but am hopeful.