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From the Wellies - February 07

Holyrood elections are fast approaching but, before they take place, there is the important matter of the National Farmer’s Union of Scotland Presidential Elections.  John Kinnaird is standing down after 4 years as president and there are two candidates for the office of President.

Bob Howatt has been NFUS Vice-president since 2003, and he will compete against Jim McLaren from Crieff who has been a Vice-president for 1 year.  If the top job goes to Bob Howatt, Jim McLaren has indicated that he will stand for one of the 2 Vice-presidential posts.  The three Vice-presidential candidates are Adam Fisken from the Forth and Clyde region, Nigel Miller from the Borders and Stewart Wood from Orkney. 

The elections will take place at the NFUS council meeting at the Dunblane Hydro Hotel on the 23 February 2007.  The hustings have already taken place and the five candidates have visited all parts of Scotland to get their message across to the members.  It is now up to local branches to meet and decide who they will vote for, and to give their instructions to their voting council members.

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One sector of agriculture which has seen tremendous growth in the last few years is the soft fruit industry.  Scottish climate can be very unpredictable with late frosts and dry or wet weather just at the wrong time, which can ruin a whole season’s production. 

The use of polytunnels has revolutionised the sector and helped to prolong the season making fruit available from early Spring right through to late Autumn.  Polytunnels are not fixed structures and do not require planning permission. 

A recent case in England has brought home the importance of avoiding conflicts with neighbours who object to what they see as the unsightly covering of the countryside with plastic.  The High Court upheld a recent local authority ruling requiring the removal of polytunnels and caravan accommodation on a Surrey farm.  This recent ruling does not affect Scotland as yet but it could cause problems in the future as local authorities start to look more closely at the growing number of polytunnels springing up. 

The ever-increasing demand for locally grown food, and the Government’s aim for us all to eat more fruit and veg, is sure to cause conflict between farmers wishing to expand their businesses and local people objecting to the spread of - what they regard as - a blot on the landscape, but what farmers see as a very important part of their un-subsidised business. 

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Anyone looking for a new job, or who fancies the outdoor life, might want to think about becoming a mole catcher.  The ban on the use of strychnine means that poisoned worms can no longer be used as a way of killing moles.

  Like many other jobs on the farm, mole catching with traps is a skilled, time-consuming job. The traps are set underground in the mole run and as the mole passes through, the spring-loaded trap catches and kills them.  The telltale molehills are already appearing in the fields and it won’t be long before small molehills turn into large breeding molehills. 

One of the methods advertised on the Internet in America for killing gophers is to inject propane gas into the burrows and set fire to it.  It doesn’t, however, say how effective this method is - but somehow I doubt the SPCA would be very happy with us resorting to it.