Agriculture The bumper burn

Michael Stourton

This year's corn harvest has been an excep

Pnally good one. Weather conditions have Dieen so favourable that nothing short of amazing individual bad luck or incompetence Will have prevented British farmers from harvesting with unusual ease a crop that, by all accounts so far, will be a record in terms of

,Yield. Not only that. The prices of corn per ton are so high, even, compared with the Unprecedented levels of last year, that they are quite beyond the wildest dreams of the Most optimistic agriculturalist in the country. You can add to that a very similar story with regard to livestock prices. And remember

that the farmers' land has shot up in value by

anything from two to five times in less than three years. Land that was around £250 per

acre in early 1971 not infrequently fetches

b£ 1,000 per acre today. That is, of course, hasic agricultural value, but where a farmer

",as been able, as not a few have, to obtain

Planning consent for development, he has had Ae 013Portunity of topping up his takings .with ces of up to 00,000 per acre, sometimes more. Not a bad exchange for, say, an old orchard or village paddock of little significance to the farm as such. The selling off 2f surplus farm cottages to weekenders has ueen little short of a minor industry.

All these records in the farmer's favour are not to be grudged. Farming is an uncertain

pd hard profession that today calls not only Le'r agricultural skills but also for sound 14.tainess management. Farmers, like coal

Miners, suffered the terrifying depression of Ine 1930s and some of them still find it hard to .°elieve the truly fantastic turn in the tide of their fortunes. Less happily, the farmers have set up a new lecord this harvest. You do not have to have

!ccess to agricultural statistics to know what .1t is. You only have to drive into the coun'!Yside and have a look, and you will be sickened by what you will see. Tens of

thousands of square acres blackened and burnt by so-called straw and stubble burning. The farmers, some of them, have celebrated their new prosperity with an orgy of destruction by fire that would make one think that they have gone totally mad.

You ask a farmer why he does it and he will tell you, in effect, that it is to save money.

All right. About seven years ago the farmers decided that it was more economic to burn the straw than to bale it. Recognising this trend, and deploring the destruction of hedges, trees and all manner of other property, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Farmers's Union, both outstandingly responsible and effective institutions, issued to each and every farmer a straw-burning safety code. Furthermore, the code was widely publicised in the farmers' press.

This code explains why. It says, "Farmers have a special responsibility to preserve the countryside, its landscape and its wildlife. They must ensure that they do not cause nuisance from smoke or smuts to neighbouring properties, users of the highway and members of the public. Heavy claims have been made against farmers ...

It then gives some very clear precautions that need to be observed, before and during the burning. Paramount among these is the one that reads, "Before burning. Make a firebreak at least 30 feet wide by either: removing the straw from a 30 ft strip around the perimeter of the field and then cultivate this strip thoroughly or plough a minimum of nine furrows. Wider firebreaks may well be needed to protect trees and hedgerows from scorching, or when there is something particularly vulnerable on or close to the boundary of the field."

Wider indeed! Just see how many fields you can find where there has been any firebreak. In the Midlands especially, and ironically the very area in which one finds some of the

wealthiest farmers in the kingdom, less than half the blackened cornfields have been provided with a firebreak: 'much less one to the ministry or union specification.

A farming friend of mine told me that he saw two combine-harvester drivers stop work as it became dusk. They decided to knockoff. One of them drove his 'machine through the gate, on to the road and away home. The other drove his combine to the gate before dismounting. He then walked along the end of the field dropping a match on to each swath ' or row of straw. Without a care in the world, nor a thought about the direction of the wind, he jumped on to his machine and followed his friend. The safety code says, "When burning. Start early in the day. Put an experienced person in charge and never leave tht. fire unattended. The fire must be completely out before leaving."

The toll of destruction has included not only mile upon mile of hedgerows but also many thousands of trees. The ravages of elm disease are bad enough, surely? However, woods, telegraph poles, timber fencing, hay ahd straw stacks, farm buildings, standing corn, gardens, railway property, industrial premises and bird sanctuaries are among the properties damaged or destroyed in this greatest of all agricultural firestorms. And this list takes no account of the birds, animals, insects and plants that have perished in the flames.

There may be those who will argue that if a farmer chooses to burn his own hedges, fences and trees he should be free to do so. Equally, there may be those who would consider that, in our society, this is an abuse of freedom.

Let it be remembered, however, that about half the farms in this country are not owneroccupied. The hedges and trees therefore belong to the owner of the land. It is hard to imagine that any of these owners has agreed to the destruction at the drop of a match of assets which have taken decades, sometimes centuries, to establish. And more especially so in 1973 — Tree Planting Year.

There is not only the material damage to think of, appalling though it is. Is terror too strong a word for the feelings of people living in isolated houses, cottages and caravans where all around them farmers are indulging in night-time burning of straw? Burning which quite apparently is far too often not under control or supervision.

Straw burning and damage is not new this year. What is new is the sheer scale and abandonment of the 1973 burn. One would have thought that the right way to prevent this destruction, pending a new commercial outlet or a renewed agricultural use of straw, would be to appeal to the farmer and tell him how to burn safely. This having largely failed, one wonders if another form of persuasion should be introduced.

For example, one of the privileges that farmers are unique in enjoying is exemption from rates for their land and premises; under the Local Government Act of 1929. Perhaps a re-imposition of rates based on the full open market rental value of the land would be an effective lesson where ministry or union inspectors certified that negligent and irresponsible burning had taken place.

As I look at, and have to live with, the ravaged farmland of 1973 I can find, here and there, a grain of comfort. Some farmers, a

minority I fear, did faithfully observe the safety code. We can couple our gratitude to

them with the hope that their good example will help to cure the pyromania of their neighbours. If it does not, public opinion may well come to the conclusion that the only effective way to control the fires is to have stricter control over the farmers themselves.

Michael Stourton is a partner in a leading firm of land agents and, as a freelance journalist, specialises in rural subjects.