Rural Review - August 2008

As I put pen to paper to write my monthly Agricultural judgment, I can't figure out what's annoying me more; my sunburn or the heavy rain beating down outside!! I don't know about you but, the typical Norn Iron summer is playing havoc with my wardrobe never mind the farm. Not knowing whether call for my hotpants or the silage mower is a serious issue, thank goodness I'm not a Bee as I'd never stick the pressure!

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the great Sunshine we've been experiencing, but the summer downpours never let us down either! I suppose you've heard the recent snippets in the media about the plight of our native Honeybee, but I bet you didn't realise that they play a vital role within our planet's eco-system, pollinating 70% of the food that we eat. Yet the future of the honeybee is under threat, and the rate at which their numbers continue to diminish, has led to fears that we are dangerously out of sync with nature.

I read with great interest last week, that according to author Alison Benjamin, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." A drastic thought forcing us to face the potential consequences of the honeybees' fragile existence, and to look into the personal actions we can take to ensure their future survival.

But, despite the importance of bees to the nation's economy, the British Government has said it has no cash left for agricultural research projects. So maybe that's a job for me come September when I return to my seat again in Stormont.

To something much bigger than a Bee… May I also add my support to UUP colleague Jim Nicholson MEP's critical comments from Brussels on the collapse of the World Trade Talks.

Last week saw the Doha WTO Talks having to go back to the drawing board after the debacle in Geneva. There will not be too many voices of surprise that the talks have ended in acrimony and fiasco in front of the world's media. After the US was playing hardball for the duration of the talks and other emerging nations sought to protect and expand their existing trade, it is little wonder that compromise was not possible.

As a local farmer, I will especially be relieved. I believe that there was nothing in this emerging WTO deal for local agriculture and it would have been damaging to our economy. This would expose us to much greater volumes of cheap imports of key commodities such as beef, pig meat and dairy products. I have no problem with encouraging trade, but it must be fair trade. This WTO deal would have put Ulster farmers in the impossible position of trying to compete with cheap food imports produced in conditions which would not be tolerated on local farms.