Monday 11 October 2010

Not quite so free ranging any more

Yesterday evening was the harvest festival in the catheral and celebrated 150 years of RABI.

It was also my last "official" function as Agricultural Chaplain and now I'm not quite so free range any more. I'm roosting at Hanley Broadheath and am licensed next month as Priest in Charge.

Six and a half years as agricultural chaplain has been enormous fun, but parish minstry will also be great fun too.

After the service there were many kind words. I found myself not sure whether I recognised the person they were talking about! As a gift I was given a new camera. It takes high resolution digital photos, but is small enough to slip into a jacket pocket. It was charged up and ready to go and the photo is one of my first attempts with the camera. It's of Chris, the committee chairman and Phil, the vice chair. What's particlurly nice is to see Phil fit and well. He had a significant stroke just a few months ago.

Anyway, as I'm not a free range vicar  I'm not going to continue with this blog, but my Teme Valley Vicar blog will continue.

Monday 4 October 2010

COUNTY HARVEST FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS THE WORK OF FARMERS

This Sunday (10 October), the County Harvest Festival is being held in Worcester Cathedral at 6.30pm. The service will give thanks for the farmers who ensure we have food on our plates and also highlight the achievements of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) which is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
RABI helps farmers, their widows and children, who have suffered hardship through accident, disease and incapacity. For all its historic roots, RABI is a thoroughly modern organisation addressing the needs of agriculture today.Over the last couple of years they have initiated their “Gateway” project, providing training for farmers who need to diversify their business or find alternative ways of making a living. One of the beneficiaries of Gateway is involved in the service.The service is being organised by the Chaplaincy for Agriculture and Rural Life. It will be Chaplain Robert Barlow’s final event before moving to become Vicar of parishes in Teme Valley South. He said: “It’s easy in our country where food is abundant to overlook its importance. The harvest festival is a great opportunity to recognise the hard work that goes into getting food onto our plates and say thank you for farmers and other rural and agricultural organisations.”
The Worcestershire Young Farmers will play a key role in the service, bringing gifts to the altar to represent different areas of farming. The Rt Revd John Oliver, one of RABI’s trustees and chaplain to the charity, will be preaching about the work of RABI, highlighting the tough life faced by many farmers and the support RABI provides.
All are welcome to the service which starts at 6.30pm. Light refreshments will be available afterwards.

Thursday 9 September 2010

Harvest Festival is coming

At a time when churches are planning their harvest festivals services, this briefing is intended to give the information you need.In your services please remember that above all else they need to be services of thanksgiving.

We are fortunate to live in a country with good food security and it is easy to take food for granted. The map (Maplecroft Publications) ranks countries for food security (green low risk to red extreme risk –grey no data). From our position of security it is easy to become complacent.






Farmers who produce our food face challenges of weather and world markets. This paper helps us understand how this affects local agriculture.

a. UK Harvest(Wheat, Barley, Oats...)
The dry spring resulted in slightly early development of the crop and farmers who had sown seed last autumn (oilseed rape, oats, barley) were able to get that harvested slightly earlier than usual. Spring sown wheat was much as usual.  Quality was generally good as were yields except on lighter soils.  Wet weather in late July and into August brought combines to a standstill. The dry week at the end of August & into September was generally just about long enough for most famers to grab what harvest remained, though quality of grain had deteriorated. 
Cereal prices have been high. Extreme hot weather in Russia has devastated their harvest and their government has banned exports.  Canadian wheat harvest is predicted to be 22.7Mt compared to 26.5Mt in 09/10. The widespread flooding in Pakistan has devastated farm land.  This has led to increases in wheat prices and volatility in the futures markets as speculators get involved. One farmer said “There’s been more movement in the market in the last five weeks than in the last twenty five years.”   Prices now for November delivery of wheat are around £165/tonne, though not all farmers will get that. Probably around a third of the crop has been sold forward earlier in the year for around £100/tonne.

b. Livestock
The dry spring reduced the amount of grass growing and the amount of hay & silage produced was down by about 20% at a time when lack of grass meant farmers had to feed livestock.  That has pushed prices for hay & silage up by about 40% - good news for the few with a surplus, not so good for those who had to buy it. High cereal prices have a knock on effect with high cattle feed prices.
Prices for sheep have been (relatively) good, with the exchange rate between the pound and the euro favouring exports.  Cattle prices saw a downward blip in July, but now have steadied.
Milk prices continue to be poor with the National Farmers Union joining forces with the Women’s Institutes  to call for an end to “bully boy tactics” from the supermarkets.  Earlier lobbying had led to an increase in the price paid to farmers for milk sold in supermarkets, but prices for milk that goes to make butter, cheese, yoghurt.... remain disastrously low.
TB in cattle continues to be a major source of stress for farmers. One dairyman in Warwickshire hung himself days after his beloved herd was found to be infected. Farmers generally are hopeful that the new government will take the necessary steps to bring the disease under control but are frustrated by the delays there were when the Welsh Assembly tried to bring in a wildlife cull.       
c. Other farming issues
Costs – Fertiliser costs are dependent on oil prices and the NFU report they have  gone up by about £20/tonne (roughly 10%) in the last month
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – Across Europe about 40% of farm income comes from CAP. Without it farming would collapse in Europe. The current CAP runs till 2013. Negotiations are currently ongoing about what should replace it from 2014.  Farming is a long term industry. Not knowing what the CAP will require just a few years away is unhelpful.  

Harvest Resources

    Harvest Jokes
      An agricultural joke.  
      A beautiful princess is going out for a walk when she meets a talking frog.
      “I’m not really a frog”, says the frog. “I’ve been turned into a frog by the wicked witch. Really I’m the incredibly handsome son of the local farmer. All I need is a kiss from a beautiful young woman like you and I’ll turn back into the handsome farmer and we’ll get married and live happily ever after.”
      “Really”, says the young woman, picking up the frog and putting it in her pocket, “The way things are with farming, I’ll settle for a talking frog.”

      Another agricultural joke
      A farmer turns up to evensong and discovers that he and the vicar are the only people there.
       “What shall we do?”, asks the vicar.
      “Well”, replies the farmer, “If I goes to feed my sheep and only one turns up, I feeds her.”
      So after four hymns , two sung canticles, one sung psalm,  two lessons, prayers for everything under the sun  and a twenty minute sermon the service ends.
      “If I goes to feed my sheep and only one turns up, I feeds her”, says the farmer on the way out, “but I don’t give her the whole bag full!””

      And another.
      A city banker is stressed out by his life and decides to adopt a simpler life as a farmer. He sells his docklands flat, cashes in his share options and buys a farm. He decides that as people like chicken, he is going to produce chickens.
       He clears out a barn, orders a load of chicks, puts them in the barn, closes the door & goes to bed. In the morning he looks in on them and they’re all dead. He decides they must have been a defective load of chicks, so he orders in another load from a different supplier but exactly the same thing happens.
      He decides to consult an expert so he writes to DEFRA – the government department that oversees agriculture.   We writes;
      Dear Defra,
      I am a chicken farmer. I get a new load of chicks. I put them in the barn. In the morning they are all dead.  What am I doing wrong? Do you think I might be planting them too close together?
      Yours sincerely,
       A Farmer
      He gets a reply;
      Dear Farmer,
      We couldn’t possibly comment until we have taken soil samples.
      Yours sincerely
      DEFRA


      Sunday 29 August 2010

      Medium sized little church


      We might not have quite been big little church today, but we were certainly medium sized little church!
      Celebrating the joys of being small on a bank holiday weekend when people were likely to be away always had a paradoxical sort of logic about it, and so it turned out.
      But for those who were there, there was an experience of worship in something much larger than they usuall enjoy, an opportunity to discover something about what other small churches are doing, excellent music and a thought provoking sermon on the role of yeast - that small fungi (fun-guy) that transforms. The challenge is to be those fun guys and fun gals that transform the society around us.
      Posted by Picasa

      Thursday 15 July 2010

      Don't miss it!!!

      It was three years ago when church congregations from the Diocese of Worcester descended on the Three Counties Showground one summer Sunday for an event we called "BigLittle Church". Well, now we're going to do it again. On Sunday 29th August, the weekend of the August Bank Holiday, we're inviting you to cancel your normal Sunday morning worship and to come and join us at the showground and be part of something big.
      Anyone can come; you can come as individuals, as families or as entire congregations. We'll get together a choir to lead our worship and there will be a range of activities through the morning. You can bring a picnic and make it a day out. As the name indicates, the aim of BigLittle Church is to let those of us who often worship in small congregations be part of something much larger, something that reminds us that the church to which we belong is a great multitude. And we can do it at the showground, not as guests at some bigger church than our own but as joint hosts along with everyone else.
      We've chosen quite deliberately a Sunday when congregations often struggle with numbers and when many clergy may be taking a well-earned break. We hope for some parishes it will help ease the complexity of summer holiday worship arrangements. We know that many United Benefices already use the fifth Sunday of the month as a day to do something together. We invite you on this occasion to think even wider and join with others from across the diocese.
      I don't want to suggest that "big is beautiful". It's really quite special that all across the diocese we sustain regular worshipping congregations in small communities, often reaching a level of Sunday attendance that is a much greater proportion of the local population than big churches achieve. We are able, if not always every Sunday or at the same time, to offer services in the places where people feel they belong, rather than requiring everyone to congregate in larger worship centres. I'm not suggesting that we abandon that aspiration - not least because I don't think that would work. But it is good to be reminded once in a while that the church of God is much larger than the visible congregation who gather week by week in any one place; and to be built up by our time together, so that we can better retain our confidence and our sense of belonging when we meet in our separate places.
      Some come along!
      Download publicity flyer

      Tuesday 13 July 2010

      Pea Pickers

      The pea pickers in this photo are from Bulgaria, Rumania and other central European countries.
      They are housed in accomodation near Stratford and bussed to the site to pick peas. Paid on a piece work basis they are garuanteed at least the minimum wage. With practice the better pickers earn well above that and earn around £80 a day. Many of the pickers return year after year often bringing friends or relatives with them.

      The jobs are available through the jobcentre in Evesham but locals don't apply.

       

      Sunday 11 July 2010

      Archdeacon's Announcment

      Fred Trethewey, Archdeacon of Dudley is making the following announcemnt.
      "I am delighted to be able to announce that the Bishop of Worcester has offered the appointment of Priest in Charge of the benefice of Teme Valley South to the Revd Robert Barlow, and the offer has formally been accepted. 
      Robert is well known in the farming community in Worcestershire having been the diocesan officer for Agriculture and Rural Life since 2004. In addition to this role he has been exercising a pastoral ministry as an associate priest in the West Worcestershire Team Ministry which includes Martley and Clifton. 
      Before coming to Worcester Robert was Rural Officer and Rector of several rural parishes in Peterborough diocese. 
      Robert has three adult children who have all established their own homes. He and Helen are looking forward to moving into the benefice in due course. A date for the licensing has yet to be considered."

       I am delighted with the move. I've met a number of the people from Teme Valley South and I'm looking forward to working with them. I've set up a blog and as I move from being free range to roosting at Hanley Broadheath I'll keep it updated.

      Here are a few photos to whet your appetite.

      Sunday 4 July 2010

      Why so unappealing?

      On Saturday I went to a performance of Guys & Dolls @ the out door theatre @ Kilworth Hall Hotel. An excellent performance with a very good cast. It was a musical that I didn't know & I enjoyed it immensely.

      It raised questions.The story is set in 1950s New York with a Mission going round the streets full of sinners - mostly gamblers- singing hymns and banging drums.The Mission was very earnest, condemnatory, unattractive & dull. The drinkers and the gamblers they were set among had much more fun!

      By the end of the story the "sinners" - the gamblers- had changed. But so had the Mission - and a good thing too.

      How is it that Mission & Church have managed to become so unappealing ?
      Posted by Picasa

      Friday 25 June 2010

      A star - well done

      I am the proud father of a star. Alistair has won  the  Craft Guild of Chefs  Award for best Pub Chef 2010. - That's like the Oscars of catering.  Click here for the ceremony. He's about 2.30 in 

      Thursday 17 June 2010

      Sea weed in the midlands


      This field of cereal has had remarkably little conventional fertiliser, but it still looks healthy.  The soil and crop have been managed with an application derived from sea weed - and sustainable resource- which works with the soil fungi to improve the crop's root system and therefor health and yield. It makes economic and envirnonmental sense

      Wednesday 9 June 2010

      An opportunity not to be missed

      "Food and Farning - An Urban Perspective" is a photographic display by fashion photographer Kevin Foord and we have been fortunate enough to secure it for display at the Three Counties Show(18-20 June) in the Church Tent (near the South Gate).

      The display has its origins in a friendship between Foord and author Richard Benson who lives in London but grew up on a family farm in Yorkshire. As they travelled the country together Benson became interested in the way Foord saw things and the photographer's interest in the objects and locations that the writer took for granted.

      From this grew a unique perception of UK agriculture portrayed in the stunning photopgraphs that make up the display. 

      Wednesday 19 May 2010

      Ethically questionable?

      This slightly fuzzy photo is of a farm next door to one I visited recently.
      Owned by a fashion designer & committed veggie it produces no food. In a world with 25k people dieing daily through malnutrition is this ethically acceptable?

      Saturday 1 May 2010

      Thought provoking and fun

      That was the comment about last year's Rogation Service and this year's will be just as thought provoking and even more fun!
      It's on Tuesday 11 May at  7.00 at Haylers Farm, Hanley Castle. It's an opportunity to discover something about the dairy industry, to reflect on the challenges theyt face, to pray, to sing and to enjoy a pig roast.
      More details here

      Thursday 29 April 2010

      More in hope than

      So far today I've sent 35 emails. When I receive that many I moan, so I hope I'm not the source of upset, that people read them and respond.

      Tuesday 20 April 2010

      More from Countrytastic

      This clip shows just how busy it was

      Saturday 10 April 2010

      Countrytastic

      It's the third year that the Three Counties Agricultural Society have held "Countrytastic" - it's designed to reconnect children to farming and food production.
      The Agricultural Chaplaincy was there. Children decorated eggs & hot cross buns. They milled grain into flour and cooked pancakes. They made easter gardens and played with compost. 
      The calm and order before the gates opened to the public quickly changed into a buzz of activity. We were "full on" from 10.00a.m. till it finished at 4.00p.m.
      Children decorated close on 500 eggs, the same number of buns, made countlessgardens and ground large quantities of flour.

      It was an exhausting but rewarding day.




      Thursday 1 April 2010

      New programme

      Googel have launched today this amazing programe spo we can communicate with animals! Take a look.

      Saturday 20 March 2010

      Europe briefing March 2010 - Common Agricultural Policy Reform

      When Bishop John asked me to take on the role of European Adviser it was not to involve myself with twinning (e.g. Magdeburg etc.) which happens perfectly well without any interference from me. It was to see where things coming from the EU would impact on life in the diocese and this fits with my main role – agricultural & rural chaplain – as agriculture is significantly affected by the EU. This is the first in what I intend will be a series of occasional briefings on how the EU is affecting us and the issues it is addressing. My hope is that better understanding EU will enable prayerful engagement.

      1)  History and current situation. The CAP is a major part of the EU’s budget. It originated with the memory of post-war food shortages and starvation in Europe and was designed to ensure a reliable food supply. It was too successful with infamous wine lakes and butter mountains of previous decades, so it was revised so that instead of guaranteeing prices to farmers the policy gives payment to farmers for providing environmental benefits.  The current system runs till 2013. The debate is now on as to what policy should start on 1st January 2014.
      The CAP at €53bn amounts for 40% of European Union expenditure but is only 1% of the total public expenditure by European governments and 0.4% of EU GDP.  It covers 80% of the total area of the EU in which 40% of EU residents live. Without the CAP EU agriculture would struggle and in many areas stop. In 2008 roughly 40% of Agriculture’s income in Europe came from the CAP. Decline in prices mean that it will have been a higher figure in 2009. Without the CAP much of Europe’s agriculture would not be viable.

      2)The issues being discussed include,
      • With a world population predicted to rise significantly between now and 2050 should the focus revert from environmental benefits to ensuring a food supply for all? Based on best estimates for world population growth, agriculture will need to increase output by 70%. European agriculture has increased output by more than that over the last 50 years but at a cost to the environment that wasn’t anticipated.
      • There is now greater awareness of environmental damage, degradation of soils, loss of biodiversity etc. In any future CAP should there be a greater link between payments and environmental benefits? Should the CAP be requiring greater environmental benefits?
      • Can the free market deliver a safe food supply using acceptable animal welfare and plant standards as well as environmental protection?
      • Farmers provide significant public goods - landscape management, carbon sequestration, water filtration, flood meadows, grazed moorland, amenity - for which the free market gives no financial reward.   Should the CAP be rewarding this?
      • How much (if any) “wriggle room” should there be in the CAP so different member states implement the CAP to suit their own circumstances rather than being the same across the whole of Europe   
      • If farming is not viable, what will be the knock on effects on 
        • tourism?
        • communities – especially in remote areas?
        • If not farmers, who will manage the land and what will their priorities be?
       3) The UK position. The British Government’s position is that the CAP should be scrapped.  The argument is that food security is best delivered by having lots of trading relationships and buying food from wherever in the world it can be produced most cheaply. This argument takes the view that it doesn’t matter if our beef comes from Argentina, our chicken from Thailand and that it’s all been fed on GM soya from Brazil with different animal welfare standards and working conditions.
      The Conservative party’s position is that they will press for a shift of existing resources (i.e. money currently going to farmers) to the rural development programme. More details here 

      4) The possible outcomes. The reality is that neither of these positions is likely to achieve agreement with the rest of Europe, and a cynical view would be that both parties only made those arguments knowing that the rest of Europe won’t allow anything so nonsensical to happen! Even in an enlarged Europe the French and German farming lobby have sufficient “clout” to prevent it.   However there is likely to be pressure for a redistribution of money in the CAP which currently seems to depend more on the accidents of history than anything else. Thus Greece gets more per hectare than anyone else because in the past they grew a lot of tobacco and Latvia, Lithuania and Romania are getting least per hectare.



      5) Faith Issues. CAP reform raises faith issues. It raises questions about ;
      • our role as stewards of God’s creation especially as weather patterns change. 
      • food – bread and wine are at the heart of our worship and Jesus taught us to pray “give us this day…”
      • community  
      • world poverty
      • justice
      6) Actions. Christians will come to different views about the future of the CAP.  I would hope that Christians & churches will;
      • Pray for farmers particularly in the UK & the rest of Europe but also throughout the world as they face political uncertainty that will shape their futures (or lack of them!)
      • Shop fairly buying food & products (whether local produce or not) that have a just reward going to all stages of the supply chain.
      • Pray for MEPs, MPs & Dacian Ciolos (EU Agricultural Commissioner) as they consider these issues.
      • Pray for the media as it reports (or doesn’t report) the debate.
      If you have views on the CAP or other European matters and want to express them to MEPs the details of MEPs can be found here

      7) And finally. If there are European matters you feel I have neglected then let me know.
      Thank you for reading this. I hope it helps,
        Agricultural & Rural Chaplain and European Adviser

      Thursday 11 March 2010

      What's a church council for?

      I've been surprised to meet a number of people who serve on Parochial Church Councils who don't know what they're for!

      The Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 says
      "The functions of parochial church councils shall include—
      (a) co-operation with the minister in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical"

      Now wouldn't that be nice.

      Saturday 20 February 2010

      Events this year and Farmers Markets

      The chaplaincy committee have a meeting this week when we run thriough plans for events this year, including

      Countrytastic 8th April  - A fabulous event designed for children and the church will be there with all sorts of activities

      Rogation 11th May at  7.00 Harcombe's Farm Hanley Swann Walk, sing, pray & pig roast

      Three Counties Show 18-20 June  The Church will be there offering hospitality, chaplaincy and training

      Biglittle Church 29th August Churches are invited to celebrate in a big way the joys of being small

      County Harvest Service  Early October, date to be confirmed, celebrating 150 years of RABI

      And we have Henry Wormington from Worcestershire Farmers Markets telling us about them and how the church can work with them.

      Tuesday 2 February 2010

      God of suprises

      One of my interests is Formula 1 racing and on a discussion site about McLaren’s chances next season there was a thread about climate change. That debate led into a discussion about god and his existence or otherwise. Over the last few weeks it’s been an interesting debate with a couple of militant atheists. It’s sharpened up my debating skills and apologetics (to use a technical term).

      To my surprise the following has just been posted;

      Still a slow day....

      I would like to thank all of the posters who have been so unpleasant towards RuralVic
      (That's me in case you wondered)(in particular, but also others who have supported a religious point of view). I was so appalled at what you were saying that for the last two weeks I have been attending church - something that I have not done for a very very long time. In addition, over the same period I have been attending a course called "Christianity Explored", so that at a minimum I will come to know what I have been rejecting, in order to be able to make an informed decision whether to continue rejecting or to change.

      So thanks once again, I hope you continue to find pleasure in the "hateorade".

      Another of God's surprises!!

      Wednesday 13 January 2010

      Food

      There is a conference on food at Redcliffe College on 6 March. I can't get to it, but previous conferences they've done have all been excellent

      Thursday 7 January 2010

      Mixed blessings


      So far this glorious weather has, for me, resulted in three cancelled meetings and an in tray that is nearly empty! It seems that many people have been enjoying an enforced break from work and a chance to catch up.
      Spare a thought for farmers with this weather. Animals still need to be fed and watered. Drinking troughs freeze. Transport is difficult or impossible and if the milk tanker can't get to the farm then milk will be lost. You can't turn cows off!