Team Farming

I've been off on my travels again this week, a non stop tour of Wales, Cheshire, Oxfordshire and Reading. It was a great opportunity to catch up with old and new friends who all showed me great hospitality.
First stop was near Whitchurch with Linda and Brian who in the dim and distant past shared damp and grotty lodgings with me when at college. Linda was an AMBA and Brian completed a HND agriculture. After spending 10 years tractor driving they set up their own business with a digger and a little tractor building patios, horse rings, fencng and maintaining suermarket grounds. When their 3 girls were young Linda started as a child minder and now has a constant stream of children clients. Brian has a simple business plan, not going over the VAT limit (making 20% cheaper the other contractors), doing most of the work himself, not employing anybody and working very hard. Since he started he has never been short of work and together they have renovated an old farmhouse and have a smallholding of 6 acres where the children have ponies, ducks and chickens, they fatten a few pigs, sell some silage and have an enviable veg garden.
After meeting with fellow Nuffield Scholar Michael and buying a map we travelled to Pwllheli to visit Rhys, a grazing evangalist who runs a herd of 1000 cows. It just so happens that Rhys is also writing a nuffield report on Equity partnerships. Rhys farms in a share farm arrangement that is popular in New Zealand where the land owner takes a share of the risk and the milker has access to capital and borrowing. The key to Rhys system seemed to be the trust between the partners in the share arrangement and he seems to have found the right opportunity to use his attention to detail to produce some pretty impressive results. Michael is writing a grazing blog all about grass so if you are really interested I am sure he will write at length about our visit.
Next stop was Snowdon where Arwyn is farm manager for the National Trust on a farm that has much history and has a wild untamed beauty. Here farming is not just about the results but also about the local community and the environment, relying on subsidy payment to stay in profit, but providing employment to a team of skilled shepherds and farm workers. Arwyn heads and guides this team maintaining a landscape that people care passionately about.
After a brief stop at Chestnut meats where Marnie the goat lady fed us goat sausages, I visited another old college friend Mr Nurse. David is a first generation farmer who always wanted to milk cows, when his precollege boss wanted to retire he was offered the opportunity to become the tenant of 125 acres of prime Cheshire farmland. Buying the landlords 100 cows and equipment and taking on huge borrowings David has worked hard to pay back much of what he owed and has made a profit even in years when the milk price has poor. Again the system is nothing complicated, but by sheer determination and commitment it has worked. David works on his own, with occasonal partime help and a relief milker once a month. If you have milked cows or worked on a farm you will understand the strength of character this requires and I admire all David has achieved. David's lucky break has been belonging to a local co-op of dairy farmers that his landlord had been a founder member. This co-op uses its buying power to negiotiate feed and fertilizer prices, has regular bench marking amongst the members, farm walks and visits and even gives access to small loans for capital improvements.
After a brief stop in Oxfordshire to cuddle my beautiful new Nephew, I meet with George Dunn of the Tenants Farmers Association (TFA). The TFA was formed in 1981 by a group of farmers who felt that their interests were not being forcefully represented by existing bodies. The TFA is the only organisation dedicated to the agricultural tenanted sector and is the authentic voice on behalf of tenant farmers. The TFA lobbies at all levels of Government and gives professional advice to its members.
So then back to Devon where Nevil and the children have been getting ready for Open Farm Sunday. This mainly envolves Nevil and Elsa tidying up and the rest getting very excited about the opportunity to show people 'Their Farm'.
So a tour of different farms with one thing in common team work. The husband wife team, the business partnership, the mentoring support of a co-op, the help of a support organisation or the crazy family team I love so much at home. Maybe this could be one of the keys to a successful farm and business. I have a feeling that at last I am finding something to put in my Nuffield report!

French Shopping

We have this myth amongst the farmers market traders that everyone in France buys at the market, French women all know how to cook and hygiene rules are non existent in France. I visited yet another market in Angers and saw piles of the local white asparagus that the market gardens around the city are famous for. Late wednesday morning there seemed to be plenty of people about and they seemed to be buying. Plenty of poultry and rabbit, vegetables, fish including live eels, local sables (biscuits) and fruit. Standards were a lot higher in this market with the square having electric sockets so the meat stalls all had impressive chillers. Didn't see any lamb or beef but there was plenty of pork and preserved pork products like rilletes and salamis. I even tried Kangaroo salami, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't local meat!

Having lunch with a group of lecturers from the college I quizzed them about where they shopped and as in the UK most bought from the supermarket, although they (like in the states) thought the idea of online shopping for fresh produce crazy. Some bought a weekly veg box and most were quite embarresed about their shopping habits. It seemed like it wasn't thought to be French not to buy at market, but their lifestyle (not the cost) were making it more convenient to do a one stop supermarket shop.Some of the markets had recognised this and there are now farmers markets on a sunday and more night markets that start as people are leaving work. On warm summer evenings I can see the appeal of the evening market and it might just be away of making them more accesiable, although a cold wet November night in Devon may not increase trade.
And the myth about Fench women cooking, why do you think they have Charcuterie shops and serve Confit and cassoulet.

*special point for a cheese maker from Devon, there was no parking charges so I had some money left to spend!

La Volaille preferee des Francais

It's always good to see men digging holes and this time it was young farmer Oliver and his cousin that was trying to find the leaking irrigation pipe. As in the UK, France is very dry and the Sarthe region was already irrigating. Oliver is 21 and after completeing an Agricultural diploma has just started to farm with his parents (Marie-Armelle et Pascal LELIÈVRE) and has a 10% share in the family farming company. When another cousin and uncle had land for sale he managed to buy 20ha and rent an additional 30ha and this he has bought into the busines which now totals 180ha of wheat, rape, maize and sunflowers as well as a small herd of Limousin cattle to graze the river pastures and two houses of free range chickens (4000 per house 3 batches per year). Oliver hadn't taken up the government young farmer assistance to buy the land and grant scheme as he is hoping in the future that more land and maybe a house would be available nearby. Land in this area, like a warm Cambridgeshire, is around 3000 - 4000 euros per ha, much is irrigated but the farm owned very little equipment, relying on the machinery ring for everything except the tractor. Grain was all marketed through the co-op. The farm also had a Gite and a small B&B business. The same as most businesses I have visited, Pascal plans to get larger and specialise, Oliver is earning equity in the farm business while doing other work for a neighbouring relative to have an income to live on.

The chickens really interested me and I was expecting something exceptional as they have a protected geographical indication (PGI) . This is a EU legal definition of where they are produced and how, similar to the status Cornish pasties has recently gained. Label Rouge was developed for poultry through a collective, regional approach involving a region’s entire production sector, from poultry farmers to processing plants. The production of Label Rouge traditional poultry is thus deeply rooted in the French regions.To emphasize the importance of regional farming traditions, most Label Rouge poultry is identified by a PGI (Protected Geographic Indication), protected by a European patent. Currently there are 31 PGIs for poultry. They provide the “local touch” with a reassurance of guaranteed origin for those who eat the products and the promise of a special flavor that is very typical of each terroir.
The producers of “Loué” began to rear poultry under “Label Rouge” conditions in 1958. Actually, about 1000 farmers produce 28 millions of poultry and 160 millions of eggs per year and there are 150 different references of products from the whole carcasses to process products. It's not just chickens, but eggs, turkeys, ducks, geese and Guinea fowl all produced in an area near Le mans, spending some time free range, slow grown and fed local feed that has 80% cereal in. All the poultry are tagged for traceability, with a small metal tag applied at 4 weeks on the top of the wing. The chicken breeds can be all types including the funny naked neck birds and a bird similar to a hubbard. At Le Fresne they were grown to 90 days and free range for 7 or 8 weeks. they were in groups of 4,000 in fixed housing and had extensive ranges with good pasture cover. So pretty much exactly the same as the free range birds in the UK.
Asking a few french folk I met about Loué chicken it seemed a recognised brand that stood for quality and taste. I tasted a few as well and for a free range chicken they were pretty good, not anything exceptional with pretty much uniform taste on breast and legs (we strive for a differance between the white and dark meat). But the power of marketing is impressive with the Loué sign on farm gates and a great pride amoung the farmers that the regional chicken was the best, even driving down the motorway a sign anounces that you are entering the land of chicken and egg farmers.
In the UK, especially in the South West there has been a great revival of food provenance and interest in all things local. If We farmers could capture some of that French pride in what we are producing and market together maybe in future travelling along the M5 near Cullompton you would be greeted by a giant chicken or signs announcing that Devonshire really does produce the best poultry in the world.

A grande Ecole

Back in the old days at Harper Adams we sometimes had French students join our course for a term or two to improve their English and learn how brillant our farming was. One of the first students to come was Maryse, a brave and intrepid adventurer at a time when relaionships between French and English farmers was not good. If I remember rightly she mostly felt cold, but her English improved and we had fun showing her England, despairing of proving English food was better when on a Harper canteen diet we had to go home to my Mum's cooking. A few years later Nevil and I attended her wedding, a traditional 3 day french celebration where the only other English was her former tutor, Richard Waldron. Fast forward to 1999 Richard found us out on our own farm and since then we have regularly had french students for their 'stage' or work experience. Richard is a bit of a legend at ESA Angers who sadly died a few years back, but has left his legacy at the college where all students are English word perfect to 'Puff the Magic Dragon'
It was great to finally visit the college and meet with Richard's replacement Claire and see where the students study. In true student fashion (!) I have cut and pasted all about the college in English. I'm actually feeling sightly guilty as our current student's exam this week wil be presenting 10 minutes in English about her farming experience in Devon...... now there's a Nuffield idea for the October conferance.



With its 2,630 students, the Groupe ESA is the largest institute of higher education for life sciences in France. It offers a wide range of courses in 10 major sectors of activity : farming, food, landscape management, environment, horticulture, viticulture, retailing, trade, agribusiness management and town & country planning.

Within the Groupe ESA, there are four institutions and four research laboratories :

A ‘grande école’, ESA

which awards undergraduate and post graduate degrees (including PhDs) and the typically French diploma ‘ingenieur’, which is traditionally a five year sandwich course punctuated with five work placements in industry, including a MSc type thesis.

A school of executive management, called ’Agricadre’

which offers a 2 year course in management and trade to students who have already done a minimum of two years university education ; it also offers the European Engineer Degree course in collaboration with Christeljike Agrarische Hogesschool, Dronten in the Netherlands.

An adult education centre for professional training offering

apprenticeship training, adult continuing education , and even distance learning (or correspondence courses).

A century old school :

ESA was founded in 1898 by Jesuits and representatives of the agricultural world. The school has been instrumental in the development of agriculture in northern and western France, the first region in Europe in the farming and the food industry sectors. Since the Jesuits left in 1970, the school has become a non-profitmaking organization managed by alumni, but closely controlled by the state.

Chambres D'Hotes

I'm starting to like the French and France. It helps the weather is good, I'm staying in the Sarthe valley which is about 2 hours west of Rennes an hour north of Angers and fairly near Le Mans. Nobody else seem to be here on holiday and I have the pleasure of empty roads and cafes and although they don't like to admit it the tourism generally is quiet and like the UK a general slow down of the economy seems to having an effect. It is an area of 'cites de caracteres' (pretty villages), slow moving rivers and streams and huge abbeys.
I am starting to admire the French National pride in all things french and how they are convinced that their food is better. All the villages are clean and tidy with immaculate carparks (all free) with well signposted facilities, the southwest tourist industry could certainly learn a lot.

And french B&B I love it, remembering my brief career (5 years) running a B&B on the top of Exmoor how I love the idea of:

• nobody expects a cooked breakfast, bread and jam is easy and when it goes stale just toast it or dip in your coffee.
• nobody expects good coffee, cafe or lump it.
• evening meals can be 5 courses by serving everything seperately.
• saving on washing up, one knife and fork for every course is fine.
• plenty of wine with the said meal and nobody will remember what you served.
• Sunshine means happy guests after a week of wet cold days on Exmoor even the most hardy guest can feel disapointed.
• more sunshine especially for drying that washing, try keeping sheets on the line on Exmoor let alone getting them dry.

Farming in France, might be tempted!

45 minutes to boil an egg.....

It seemed like a good idea to agree to a 45 minutes talk about ducks and eggs to help make our stall at Exeter Food festival go well. After spending the week before making our new Duck confit and geting greatly stressed I find myself on Royal wedding day completely unprepared delivering a talk on keeping chickens when I had agreed to talk about eggs and duck eggs. Luckily it clashed with the balcony kiss and only the unromantic republicans of Exeter were there to hear me, not so on saturday when I had to abandon my stall with Elsa (age 12) in sole charge as Nevil got stuck in the Exeter football match traffic. This time the tent was full of eager chicken fanciers, but in true Nuffield fashion I managed to convince them that chicken keeping was easy and fun. I also managed a recipe as it was a food festival, effortlessly whipping up a lemon curd using duck eggs. It seemed to go down well and it was certainly memorable with first Dora turning up and then Elsa wandering through to tell me her Dad had finally arrived. Shouting to be heard over a circling helicopter (it was a Plymouth V Exeter match and bloodshed was expected ) I carefully answered questions and avoided anything too contraversial (like badgers and foxes).
So was the festival worth it? I hope so because it was a huge amount of work. The stand cost £325 and we most definately did not take enough to work on my 10% margin. But it was a great showcase for our New Confit product that had loads of postive response and a celebrity endorsement from Mark Hix. The Festival was fun, well managed and well advertised. It seemed to be more of a great day out with food than a food buying event. Being old and cynical should I expect anything better? Probably not, but I am still sure there should be a way to do both like I saw in the Hudson valley.
But is it farming? Probably not, but in a mad way I really enjoyed it, back meeting my foodie groupies and as well as the fellow stall holders that though they love to brag, do try and support each other with lots of bartering and good will.
And as for the Nuffield talk in October, it should be a piece a cake, 15 minutes and no recipe... easy!

Roll, Roll Up Part 2.

After taking the budget option on our first night in India, the last 2 nights were wisely spent in the Diplomatic Enclave of New Delhi in a much grander hotel. Arriving at 1.00am after a long delayed flight from Raipur we were greeted by calm serenity, china teapots and flowers on our Pillows. Opting out of yet another long road trip to the Taj Mahal (i had enough of travel sickness) I at least had the chance to enjoy steak for breakfast. As Nevil was spending the morning back home at Hittisleigh market selling duck, Michael and I took a shopping trip round Delhi. Michael seemed to have an irrational fear of being kidnapped but feeling fairly confident it wouldn't be very lucrative we entrusted ourselves to a Kashmir taxi driver called Hans to give us a tour of Delhi. After a tour of mosques, forts and temples we took a bicycle rickshaw and bus ride to the spice market in Old Delhi. It didn't look much changed for a thousand years with sacks of spices being carried on shoulders and hand carts and deals being made around us in dingy narrow passages. Outside the wholesale area we started to barter, with Hans assistance, for some cardamons and other spices. I thought things were going well until a great shout and commotion started and stalls were quickly packed away off the pavement as the police were coming. After a lot more shouting from Hans we moved on to a happier stall holder to try again to buy what I am hoping is suitable for cooking some curries. The sheer number of people in Old Delhi packed in narrow streets and in complete chaos is hard to describe, suffice to say it was a long way from Hittisleigh market, population 118, as you could possibly be.
Hans seemed to know a lot of people who had things to sell and they all came from Kashmir. After escaping intact from Chandni Chowk we did a tour of these friends including Cheap John the carpet man and various bazaars. Luckily for me they all seemed more interested in selling Michael things, so I could sit back and be amazed at the technique. Everywhere we went we were treated with great hospitality, invited to sit and drink tea or water while goods were displayed with great dexterity. Michael got quite excited about Cheap John's carpets which were quite beautiful, especially the way they twirled them across floor, how I wish I could make duck buying so exciting. They all seemed quite puzzled why two people staying at such an expensive hotel should keep insisting we couldn't afford anything bar a t shirt, but we left promising to return when we had made our fortune.

So that is it, finally I have blogged about my trip, the longest time in 22 years I have spent away from Nevil and from any of my children. A trip of highs and lows but all amazing discoveries. I am still trying to work out what I have seen and how it relates to farming in the UK. I have finally understood the problems with water usage and the dependence on an unreliable climate. I have been disturbed by the reckless attitude to hygiene and the impact that has especially on the children. I have thought deeply about poverty and equality and I'm still trying to make sense of it. But most of all I have a sense of wanting to know more, to make a difference however small and a gratitude that I live in a country where my children, especially my daughters have a choice.

Raipur and some chickens at last.

Raipur,capital of the state of Chattisgarh somewhere in the middle of India, nowhere in my guide book, but from the adverts at the airport a very important place for concrete and steel. India seems to be built of concrete, all successful businesses seem to have a cement division (along with power station and hotels) and much of India seems to be in the process of being built or falling down. We were here to travel about one and half hours north (how far I don't know, could have been 20 miles with the hair raising traffic) to visit Mr Bahadur Ali and his impressive ABIS group. This business started with a broiler unit of 10,000 birds in 1985 and now rears 2.5 million broilers per cycle with 7 cycles a year, 0.1 million layers and a 250,000 breeder flock. A fully integrated business ABIS includes a large feed mill producing feeds for poultry, cattle, pet food and fish feed as well as soya oil extraction plant.
We looked around the mill which surprisingly meets ISO 9000 standards and then looked at yet another large intensive dairy. This one was a remarkable in the fact the cows were the cleanest we saw with teams of people cleaning up constantly with a broom and shovel and very little mechanisation. It also boasted one of only three rotary palours in India.
95% of the chickens produced by ABIS are sold in the wet market, that is they are transported live to the shop and then killed as the customer buys them. Apparently the costs would be 4 rupees to process in a abattoir and just 1 rupee to kill in the shop (with an exchange rate of around 70 rupees:£). This processing also gets round the unreliable electricity supply and the lack of investment in any sort of refrigerated distribution chain. ABIS group has 160 retail units selling just chicken and eggs and also distributes milk and ghee to small shops.
We had tea with Mr Ali and heard nuggets like 'luck, it is all' and about 'sustaining power' as well as hearing how they plan to keep expanding as the market for both poultry meat and milk increases. He is very aware of new market opportunities and is looking at building an abattoir in 2015/2016 to be able to supply the likes of KFC and Freshgo supermarket.
An impressive business, but one i found quite scary for the disregard of safety and hygiene. With the cheap labour availability, cheap building materials and the Indian 'anything is possible attitude,' a large abattoir would have processing costs way below the biggest UK plants. Inexpensive protein from an unsubsidised poultry industry helped transform the post war diet in the UK, this is happening in India and the appetite in a previously vegetarian society is huge. I came away thinking about when they had fed the 1.2 billion Indians would they turn to exports, maybe another reason not to eat at fast food chicken outlets.
So that's Raipur, cement, steel and chickens....

Camel Poo Paper, Wool and Ice Cream

The trips to see sheep and camels were hosted by Ilse Koehler-Rollefson, and Hanwant Singh Rathore of the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Developement

The LPP'S (for short) believes in helping from within the community and much work is done to improve the welfare and health of the livestock as well as helping the communities fight for their rights to maintain their traditional ways of life. In a country that has huge potential and ability for intensive production and with a government that sees food production as a priority the traditional livestock farmers are struggling to survive. LPP's is working on developing new markets for novel products such as camel milk ice cream, camel wool and camel poo paper. These added value products also creates jobs for the local women, especially widows in isolated villages.

Ilsa and Hanwant not only gave up their time to show us around but also cooked us a wonderful meal. I felt honoured to meet two people that cared for the pastoral people enough to try and improve their lives.
The following video, more professionally done than my efforts, gives a really good overview of what their project is achieving.

Breakfast with Camel Herders

For me this was a really special part of our trip. After an early start and a bumpy ride across the hills we collected a vet from an isolated village and met up with some more Raika herders. This group herded camels, traditionally much valued in this area for their ability to survive the harsh desert conditions. Camel herding has been in sharp decline lately with 50% of the national herd disappearing in the last few years. Pressure from an increase in irrigated agriculture (which is government supported), development and creation of wildlife reserves has meant that traditional grazing land is being lost. The herders are away from their villages for months at a time and move from farm to farm, grazing the sparse vegetation and the trees. The farmers give them food and water and in return they get their field fertilized. The camel milk is good stuff, slightly salty tasting and it's meant to be healthy as well as TB free. Each year there are great camel fairs where surplus stock are sold. A hard life and one that the young Raiki boys do not want to follow, but to me a travel dream of sipping hot sweet tea and camel milk, as the sun rose in a setting that felt it hadn't changed in a thousand years.

Here's another wonky video to give you an idea how noisy those camels were, apparently they were hungry and ready to move on. Each one was hobbled in a different way to stop them wandering off and had a brand mark on their faces or neck to identify them.

New friends in Rajasthan.

This is Selina, my new friend, with her sister. Selina I guess is around the same age as Elsa and is great at carrying water on her head. She is part of the Raika people near Ranakapur in the Aravalli hills in central Rajasthan, one of a Hindu caste that are livestock grazers. We were lucky to be invited along to their sheep shearing party when everyone gets together to shear, chat and make the work go quicker. Sheep grazing here is very extensive and the men herd the sheep on 'the forest' during the day bringing them back to stone and brushwood yards during the evenings. There doesn't seem to be any grass at this time of the year but they cut branches which the sheep seem happy with. Flock size is small, lambing is about 80% and the native breed is Boti. This traditional way of life is under threat from development on the land and locally the creation of a wildlife reserve, but sheep prices are good ( the lambs are sold onto Muslim traders). Housing is basic and the water is fetched from the village pump, although most villagers seemed to have electricity. The sari's were colourful and the women although shy seemed happy. Local projects encouraging the women out of their homes to meet and play games has helped to educate and empower the women who traditionally have led secluded lifes in isolated villages. These changes has meant that more young girls are educated and the future looks to have more opportunity for my new friend, but it is still a slow change and when I think of the aspirations of my girls at home and that of a Raika girl I realise how important equality is.

Here is a special video taken of the sheep shearing by one of my many new friends, anywhere I go the children love to take the pictures and then look at them.

Retreating to the Punjab

After a day of traveling we arrive in India. India being such a vast country means to see as much as possible we need to take lots of internal flights which have required a great deal of organising (not mine but thanks to Michael and Tony). First stop is the Punjab, staying in the garden city of Chandigarh, which was designed in kilometre blocks with green spaces and trees, but now was very overcrowded. Leaving the city we travelled to Deep Roots Rural Retreat, another type of B&B with the enterprising owner. The history of Punjab region is troubled, the partioning of India and the land capping policies in 1947 means that farms are small. With a growing population the pressure on land for development and agriculture means the land price is huge. Small blocks of land to remain viable are often farmed in family groups. Punjab has an enviable climate with a hot wet summer and a warm dry winter, with irrigation the main crops are rice in the wet season followed by wheat in the dry. The state produces over 50% of India's cereal crops on only just 2% of the agricultural land. Many Innovative farmers are recognising that irrigation is going to become difficult with wells needing to dug deeper. Mr Harinder Signh is such a farmer and is investing in expanding his dairy cows to 400 cows. He is part of a group called Progressive Dairy Farmers Association that have the aim of 5 dairy farms per village. The Cows are kept in open yards and fed fresh fodder that comes from his surronding fields, this included 3 crops of maize a year, but no grass.

On the second day we drove north to Ludhiana to meet Dr Sidhu who Manages Macro Dairy Ventures Private Ltd who produce and market Tru Milk a premium milk poduct that selling point is that it is only milked by machine. Here they had HAACP's and were making a big effort to ensure a safe product. The Company is owned by a local legislator and has iniated a project to empower local women to earn money. Around 1000 ladies purchase 5 cows each, these are kept in the companies herd and milk in the companies palour. 5 ladies are in each self help group and work a 4 hour shift a day looking after 100 cows and 1 day off per week. They are then paid the raw milk price with deductions for feed, insurance and pay back the loans for the cows. The minimum payment they will earn is a guaranteed 2400 rupees, the average lactations should be 4 with 4000l per lactation. They also have the profit from the sale of cull cow and the calf. These ladies would not have the opportunity of a job, certainly would not be able to access a loan or banking facilities and definitely have no land.

After a hair raising ride back to Deep Roots we looked round their potential solution to water shortage. This was growing vegtables, but not just on a small scale but looking to use a cooperative of small growers and put in a pack house that washes with chlorinated water. Building a modern refrigerated supply chain and selling into small shops they look set for a great business. India has no dominant supermarket and the supply chain for veg still uses ox cart and like the dairy industry there seems to be an exciting opportunity to modernise food production and to help smaller farmers to move their businesses forward.

Deep Roots was perfect hospitality with fantastic food as well as fascinating farming information.

Night In Bangkok

Another bus trip, this time a bit more civilised from the border upto Bangkok a city of 10 millon people. Having our view of Thailand coloured by Lane the taxi driver saying that they call the Cambodians dogs, we drove through large sugar cane fields, rice fields and Rubber plantations. Field size was much larger, there was mechanisation, cars and lorries. Farming seemed modern and there has been a 22% increase in the export value of agricultural products in the last year.
Could this be the future for Cambodia? Similar land, weather and positioning, if the infrastructure was mended, when large farms are created by the Chinese it may be create a wealthy farming economy. Is that a bad thing industralising those subsistance farms? It would create cheap food, jobs and allow the country to grow. The sad reality seems to be that it will happen, although the Cambodians seem to have a strong sense of identity that they are trying to preserve. Idealistically I would like to see the country be allowed to grow and mend itself, but too much interest is being shown from the developed world and although Cambodia has very little in the way of minerals it has a rich source of timber and soils.
We learnt of the great poverty of the countryside that is being ignored, the need for education in a country where a school teacher earns less than a factory worker ($60/month for the teacher $80 for the factory) and the ability of a people to survive the most horrific things and be grateful that they have a second life. Most of all I left remembering the smiles and happines of the children that have so little but are the future of this fantastic country.

Crab Shack

This post is solely to make you all jealous that I am working so hard. Especially you Henry when I tell you about the prawns and squid on the beach BBQ and the warm sea. No surf but great swimming, just my type of day out.

Up the Jungle

Lonely Planet describes Krong Koh Kong as a wild west frontier town, full of smugglers and dodgy hotels. Fortunately with Malcolm, the Welsh owner of 'Fat Sams bar' to guide us,we found a charming town full of entrepreneurs. As with everywhere else there was moto and tuk tuk chaos, a strip of tarmac for road and dubious drainage. Not being able to avoid farm visits any longer, we took a boat and had a trip up river into the mangrove forest on the southern edge of the Cardamon mountains. Taking a random selection of Malcolm's friends and guided by Noy we followed the jungle paths and saw small farms producing fruit, sugar cane, lemon grass (50 cents/kg) and Sandlewood. One progressive farmer was growing 4 ha of water melons, all without irrigation just relying on the heavy forest dews. We saw a lot of hammocks and mosquitoes but not much bird life, rumour has it that all the birds have been eaten and after trying the local spider delicacies at Skoun i can quite believe it.

The forest seemed a good place to farm, far from the noise of tuk tuks and moto's and with plenty of fruit and nuts to harvest. In the Pol Pot era the jungle was a place that Khmer Rouge didn't go and many Cambodian's fled to the jungle to hide. Taking produce to market was a slow boat trip, Noy told us how the village we visited was innovative and good at their marketing.

Noy farms 5 ha's and told us how

he made sure he had 'hard papers' to prove ownership, he was proud to tell us that since buying the land 4 years ago he had improved the land and his yields of rice had increased. He was positive that farming had a future in Cambodia, but was worried about the misuse of sprays and fertilizers in a ecosystem that he was passionate about. When pressed why he farmed he eloquently explained the need to belong after spending his first 12 years in a refugee camp eating rice and dried fish. Owning and farming a piece of his homeland gave respect, security and freedom. Innovative, young and positive but realistic that he was only just starting to make a success of the farm. Facing the familiar problems of lack of capital, he seemed to have the resilience that we saw in the Cambodian people to survive and enjoy live as it happens.

After such thirsty farm visits the rest of the day revolved round paddy's bar where the toilets are unmentionable but the food is excellent (try the noodles they are amazing), I began to think that Cambodian farming may be more fun than we first thought.

Cambodian B&B

This is Kheang who, with her young family and American husband Don, runs Rama Home stay, a bit like a Farm house B&B but with a special Cambodian twist. After spending the day on the bus, I missed the 3 hour walk around the local farms and villages, but after an excellent meal of tomato salad, steamed rice and a Cambodian curry We spent some time talking with her mother who grows rice and lotus. The life of a rice farmer on 4 ha is incredibly hard, with back breaking work and long hours for only a subsistance living. If she was lucky, when yield and price was on her side, she could pay back the loan taken out at the beginning of the season, feed herself and have enough to save a little. This scenario was similar to our own small family farms in the UK, but we don't starve if our crops fail, subsidies and tax credits mean that nobody needs to go hungary. So similar to farmers everywhere but so different as conversation turned to the Pol Pot era. I found it quite overwhelming to talk to a lovely educated women that was the same age to myself but at the age of 9 had been taken from her family to work on dam building by the Khmer Rouge and grew up in the years of war and famine. She believes that the only hope for Cambodia is education, but in the countryside where most still have no electricity, education and healthcare is poor. Hygiene practices are non existent and excess to good healthcare is unaffordable. A traditional midwife can be paid in rice, but until recently there was no transport to get to the NGO funded medical centres that allows a women a clean and safe childbirth. The women want to improve their lives but until they have the right facilitators on the ground not much changes, with the provision of money to pay to get to and from the hospital complications at childbirth have improved, while still allowing the women to return home and carry out the traditional customs.

Talk also centred on the worry about the land Concessions, excitement about affording a hand tractor to make live easier and the price of chickens (it's 1500 riel per kg and that was because it was just before chinese new year but the chicken are only around 1kg). Much interest was shown in how you could keep sheep with fences and not needing to herd them daily and amazement over the green fields in my pictures of Devon.

After a night in a shed on stilts and a wash with a bucket, we breakfasted on traditional rice porridge and cambodian pastries before a long taxi drive to Koh Kong. A great stay with a lovely family and if anyone is passing I left my phone there and with no reliable postal service it may need to wait until some one returns.

On the Buses.

On my list of things to do to be a traveller is a train ride across India, but as my travelling companions are not so keen and time is short it looks like I won't tick the box this time. To make up for this, although the taxi's are very cheap I opted to take the bus from Siem Reape to our next desination near Kampong Cham. Asking around came up with a time of everything from 3 hours to 6 hours and a lot of shaking heads about where it was and if it was worth going to. Always keen to please the bus was defiantely booked, you can have a 7.30am, 8.30am or 9.30am. Being on holiday it seemed a good idea to book the 9.30 and after a bit of confusion as the hotel had run out of tickets the bus arrived at 9.30. After a trip round Siem Reape we then arrived at the bus station where the 9.30 bus became the 10.30 bus that left at 11.10, loaded with sacks of fertilizer (I think), furniture and many children. After a stop for diesal we were off and I was congratulating myself on taking the scenic route, after many stops for water for the engine, the driver to buy sunglasses and dropping of sacks of various produce we stopped for lunch. This was possibly the dirtiest lunch stop with plastic everywhere. In the 'scare the tourist silly so they think it's a lonely planet' guide book it suggests that if you get took short don't leave the grass verge in case there are landmines and the cambodians certainly take this seriously. Even I declined to try any lunch. We finally banged and bumped into Kampong Cham around 4pm and gratefully relaxed in the comfort of a tuk tuk, that if driven flat out is better than any air conditioning. Too late to have the farm visit planned but having seen a snapshot of rural cambodia with a karyoke soundtrack all for $8. (To find out about cambodian rice farming see the Farming Ladder blog).

So what about the rubbish, it was everywhere. Plastic and glass bottles have a value to collect, they use very little tins, paper can be used for compost but plastic bags seem to be the favourite way of wrapping anything from cooked rice porridge (breakfast) to juices drunk with a straw. It would certainly improve the enviroment if a value could be found for carrier bags or if the plastic would compost.

For a second time I was amazed by the patience of the people that sat without complaining on the bus and still managed to keep smiling, i'm not sure that I was.

The orphan band

Angkor and Siem Reape are full of children, they are filthy dirty ( so is everything with a layer of red dust) but generally a happy bunch. In a country where 50% of the population is under 25 the mothers are only children to an old lady like me. Visiting a traditional Cambodian silk weaving workshop the children were with the mothers as they worked the little ones asleep in hammocks, the older ones playing on the floor, perfect childcare. There are many orphans and street children and these sell postcards, books, scarves and water around the entrance to the temples. This could be quite unnerving but they are so happy and love to practice their English that you can't help buying everything. When a 9 year old can tell you the population of London and the last 6 Prime ministers you just have to admire their sales technique. Since then we have found that the children just love to talk even if they have nothing to sell and today i have realised that if you keep saying hello enough you just can't help smiling. Maybe that is why Cambodia has survived such terrible atrocities without.
The Orphans and land mine victims also have some great bands around the Temples and here due to the wonders of technology is a brief sample.

Angkor Temples

Angkor is the earthly representation of Mt Meru, the mt Olympus of the Hindu faith and home of ancient gods. The Cambodian God kings for 600 years between AD802 to 1432, each tried to better there ancestors in the size, scale and symmetry of their temples, culminating in Angkor Wat the biggest religous building in the world. When London boasted 30,000 people Angkor had population of 1 millon. A civilization that traded rice and built huge irrigation systems that created wealth. It is an amazing sight, not just the number and size of temples but all the walls have intricate carvings recording the legends of first the Hindu then later the Buddist faiths. Carvings of the struggles of the Khmer people against their neighbours give a idea of the history, but Angkor still holds its secrets as their are no written records as it was thought palm leaf would have been used and this disintigrates with age.
Angkor is a great inspiration and pride for the people of Cambodia a nation that was once so great, has suffered so much and now has so little.
Not much farming but certainly a sight worth seeing.

Crocs and tuk tuk's

Cambodia is amazing place and keeping in theme with the laidback nature here is just a post of pictures from my first day visiting Siem Reap, a day of tuk tuk rides, crocodile farm and amazing markets.

Roll Up, Roll Up!

I have to admit it, I quite like farmers market. Not that I don't moan each week when I load up the car and leave kids still in their pyjamas. I like meeting customers, I like it when we sell lots and bring home piles of cash and I love being able to buy lots of fantastic food produced in Devon. I am not so keen when it's freezing cold and customers stay away, but you can't have it all.
Back before Elsa was born, we were working for an organic vegetable farm in Somerset and we were involved with the first English farmers market in Bath. Growing organic vegetables for the supermarket is a very tricky business, especially in a time when the big stores were just feeling their way with organic fresh produce. Week after week the reject rate varied widely and much produce was not acceptable for their standards. The first market, it was set up by an American lady with help from Bath council, we took £600 in a morning, paying a stall fee of £20 and selling mainly 50p cabbages that were out grades from those supermarkets. I think that must have been the high point of my market trading career!
Fast forward a few years and now Farmers markets are across the country, run very professionally and mainly a lot more than £20 to attend. But I can't help feeling that excitement has gone and it's not just because I'm getting old and cynical. Nowadays, if you pay £30 for a stall I would hope that the stall charge would be 10% of your takings, unfortunately food markets are suffering in the recession and often the cost of the stall will work out more than 10% and that is before you taking in the farmers labour standing all day trying to sell.
During my fab USA trip in September I had the chance to help Heidi at a local farmers market and at the Hudson valley Garlic Festival. The farmers market was organised by local farmers and was every Wednesday from June through to October. The pitch was $125 for the season, which works out around $6.25 a week (about £4). So although the labour cost was the same the pitch price is considerable less. I also visited an exciting busy market in New York with a wide range of exotic produce of great quality, even here the pitches were paid per season and were only equivalent to around £20 per week. During September and October there are a number of garlic festivals around the states. At Hudson Valley there 47,000 visitors in two days and a large 3m by 3m pitch cost just $125, selling Garlic Vinegar From The Josie Porter Farm I estimate the stall price was around 2.5% of the takings.
At the moment we are looking at events we are planning to attend in 2011, Exeter food Festival is a great fun event, with a footfall of 15,000 the a stand of 3m by 2.5m is £380. So to match Heidi's day out I need to sell £15000. Well it may be good fun, but on past experience I will struggle to sell that much and it's not just me. Asking around there is quite a bit of disappointment in the direct selling market, customers feel that the products should be cheaper but sellers costs are escalating. So how do they keep those costs down in the states? Well mainly by keeping the event companies out. Garlic festivals are run by groups of farmers that manage to make a small profit for efforts. In the UK there seems to be an industry running food festivals and markets then suddenly it is hardly better than selling to the supermarkets as yet another middleman makes a profit out the producer.
So hurrah the worm seems to be turning, (i hope) there are a number of festivals being organised by producers for producers, one being Eat The Devon Way at Dingle Steam Village, at only £60 for two days a successful event seems more achievable, I hope that customers will show their support.
So where else are we selling? Our local community produce markets really are the most fun. Just 2 hours from 10am to 12, all within 5 miles of home and at £4 per table which goes towards local funds it is a pleasant morning out that also generates great local sales. On a good day the stall costs are around 3.5% to 4% of the takings but as the money is going back into my community I am more than happy to pay. Mind you most of the profit is spent on Teign valley Bread,delicious local cheese, Farmer Luxton bacon, Jill's chocolate tiffin and of course bacon sandwiches. What better way to find out the local gossip, teach the kids how to count the change and get feedback when people tell you how much they have enjoyed their meat the previous month.
So for 2011 I'm booking up the festivals and markets, forgetting the supermarkets and not so ethical organic box schemes and going back to re find that excitement of selling good produce to an appreciative customer, Roll up Roll up.