WELL, the Queen's Jubilee has been and gone, it would seem that a great deal of fun was had by all.

The NFU and Farmers Guardian joined forces to promote the lighting of beacons across the country to raise money for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institute, well done to all who took part.

I was wondering at the changes there would have been in the agricultural industry over the last 50 years. From sitting with a sack on your shoulders on an open topped Fordson major pulling a two furrow plough, we have moved to 230hp shed on wheels sized tractors with air con cabs and electronic hydraulics pulling six or seven furrows.

From taking two hours to milk cows, tied by the neck in a cowshed for 24 cows and the milk being carried by bucket to the cooler in the dairy and into churns, now we can milk 300 cows in the same time in a 22 unit/44 cow parlour, the milk going direct to a bulk tank via a large bore pipe through ice bank heat exchangers.

Big, big changes in how we do things. Fifty years ago everything produced on a farm had a value and a market. People of this country had a war and rationing of food still fairly vivid in their minds, people working the land were valued by the nation. The Govern-ment encouraged production and modernisation of British farms, and farmers rose to the challenge.

Fifty years ago the value of a fat lamb paid a man's wages for the week, today it takes ten. Twenty five tons of wheat would buy a middle of the range tractor, now at today's price we would need to sell 450 tons to do the same. The political will to encourage people to work the land is no longer there, in fact there seems to be a 'not so hidden agenda' to legislate and regulate farming businesses out of existence today. Before anyone accuses me of being a whinging farmer, let's look at how the other production industries have fared in the last 50 years.

Ship building and the steel industry, oh dear! Mining, textile and the car industry, oops! The financial services industry seems to be the only one with full Government backing and good luck to them, let's hope they avoid too many black Wednesdays and Mondays.

Fifty years have seen us move from total self-reliance in Britain to almost complete dependence on other nations to supply our needs, don't you think it a bit too dangerous to rely on others to feed us all? Because without a thriving agriculture that looks to be a prospect.

I saw an old friend the other day who claims to read this article every month, he accused me of having lost my sense of humour of late, he probably has a point the way things are going in my industry, so this is for David R.

I dropped our student off at the pub to watch the football with the Young Farmers and said I'd pick him up later on for milking.

I was a bit late fetching him back and he had started to walk. As I went down the road he was walking towards me with one foot in the road and one in the ditch. As I got level with him and stopped he looked at me really worried and said "Hello, whatever is the matter with me?" "You're drunk lad," I replied, "That's what's the matter with you."

"Oh, thank God for that," he said, "I thought I was lame".

By Paul Thomas

vice-chairman

NFU Herefordshire