Its very much an event for agri- people plus a few politicians and planners to get together and pretend that Jersey has a "sustainable" agricultural economy. Its a bit of an exclusive affair because the general public is not generally invited and hardly attends. It seems that what goes on north of St Helier does not really concern them.
This year's theme was hopelessly optimistic since it was "Growing the Rural Economy".
What a dream!
Like the previous conference I only managed to stay for the morning session until the sarnies were served.
Twelve months ago there were enthusiastic speakers on robotic tractors and GM potatoes and a dose of tub-thumping for a bright future from a few in the audience. The tub-thumping is still here.
But the underlying message that agricultural activities are dying in Jersey does not seem to be one that this audience wants to accept - and there was some vigorous selling of optimism from Senator Farnham (Minister for Economic Development) and two salesmen from the now UK controlled Jersey Royal Potato Company...
Scott Meadows "Assistant Director of Rural Economy and Head of Plant Health" had more or less buried the Royal's future when he outlined that the fight to control its pests was all but lost and the ground could not take any more chemicals - even if the EU was prepared to allow it.
(This was of course already spelled out by the Jersey Water Company recently...)
Last year's message about GM spuds was also buried in answer to my questions (the audience is remarkably silent when it comes to asking questions) - GM Royals are dead so far as Jersey is concerned because of public perceptions. In spite of the fact that this would probably solve the pesticide problems...besides which they would lose the protected Royal name.
This loss of the name "Royal" might not be so bad because only a minority of UK customers actually recognise it and the competition from other early brands is beginning to bite...but this is an Island desperate to preserve agri-activity because it is a part of the mysterious "Jersey way" and "protects the countryside"...but why is this so important in an economy dominated by Finance and the pollution problems are just simply ignored year after year....
Cows didn't feature in the morning and it would have been good to hear what young Becky Houze had to say about this since she is from one of the 20 or so dairy farms left in Jersey....who will carry on?...where is the workforce with knowledge to keep this industry sustainable etc etc? Bearing in mind that spuds are worked by 2,000 or so mostly Polish men and women. Where is the "local" skills base there?
Jemma Batten from Wilshire gave an interesting talk on how farmers in that county are being encouraged to share their land ( or 25,000 acres of it) with twitchers and butterfly fans etc from outside - even townies - and I tried to raise some issues relevant to Jersey. Such as how will Jersey green fields aver be truly opened to those with no working role in the agri-industry unless they own a £3millions mansion.... she uniquely would not let me video record her presentation ( I know not why).
But really the much advertised initial guest speaker from the UK - Robin Page - should have been afforded the whole day exclusively. This angry old man despises the BBC (who sacked him from "Countryfile") with almost as much anger as he hates the RSPB and other Taliban "conservationist" bodies and he described many - such as politicians - as spivs and much worse...
Of course this audience loved him for his entertainment value but if they had had the time to consider and discuss the issues he was raising on an all day basis they might have been less enthusiastic to receive his sombre warnings...
I managed to record all of his presentation. The sound is ok but farmers obviously prefer to work in the dark so the image - like his message - is very gloomy and runs in total for about 25 minutes. It is presented here in 4 parts. They are of unequal lengths because the editing suite refused to help me at all...
Robin Page Part 1 follows below...
Robin Page Part 2 below
Robin Page Part 3 below
Robin Page Part 4 below
....Well, that's enough baloney about farming and protecting the "countryside" now lets discuss how and where we might build housing accommodation for ALL those in need but especially the 10,500 working adults in Jersey who do not even have the right to rent or buy proper living accommodation at all....
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