This week saw the turn of farmers and food producers at Number 10 for the Farm to Fork summit. The Prime Minister addressed over 40 people from across the industry, with the cost of food production and the crippling labour shortage high on the agenda. Disappointingly I did not hear anything about sustainable food production or the environment.
Since Brexit, I feel there has been a lack of government planning and direction for the UK farming industry, with farmers making decisions based on guesswork and the promise of what might happen.
Putting the skeptic in me aside, I'm hopeful that this summit signals a real start to focused decision making by our government. Lets watch this space.
At home it's a busy time going through the lambs. Having been neglected for a few months the sheep sorting race is working hard again and the ewes and lambs familiar with the drill.
Every farmer knows their colour spray markers' meaning, like a unique Morse Code, apart from the one way ticket of a black X, this one is universal.
This year I'm applying Clik Extra Pour-on. Whilst costly, it worked well for me last year and the extra outlay has been a good investment.
I've had a large number of ewes with dirty behinds over laming so I've been dagging these too. I faecal sampled the ewes but the results showed nothing in terms of parasites, the vet thinks it was down to the spring flush of grass.
The single lambs have headed to the mountain where the grass looks to have grown well and the numbers of wild flowers look plentiful.
The National Trust are here this week to conduct their baseline monitoring of the grassland and heathland plots. These areas were identified almost seven years ago, when I took on the tenancy, with data collected annually.
To date, each year the management and monitoring of my sheep grazing is resulting in increased numbers of wild flowers, many of which are protected.
Demonstrating that it is possible to farm in a nature friendly way is really important for myself and for the future of the farming industry.
My current Farm Business Tenancy (FBT) runs out in three years. I have been in discussions with the National Trust for some months and we are close to agreeing another 10 years. It's really important to start discussions early as FBTs can take longer than expected.
Another incentive to agree terms early on is the phasing out of the current Basic Payment System. New schemes in Wales may require tenants/farmers to be in control of the land for a minimum of five years from the beginning of the scheme in order to qualify.
Looking back, farming the Orme has had its ups and downs over the first six years, but as I always say there are two ways to ride a roller coaster, you can either close your eyes, grip on tightly and hate every second, or throw your arms into the air and enjoy it.
I highly recommend the second one even if you do feel a bit sick at times. Here's looking forward to the next 10 years at Parc Farm.
