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It is a great honour for me to stand before you today as National Chairman of the Tenant Farmers Association. I am not afraid to admit to a certain amount of nervousness as I take over this important role, not least due to the legacy of your immediate past chairman, Reg Haydon.

Reg took over as National Chairman at a time of great organisational difficulty for the Association. It was, it is fair to say, beginning to lose its focus and influence. However, through Reg’s strong chairmanship, with the help of a committed team on the Executive Committee, he immediately stabilised the Association’s position and built a solid platform upon which its future success would be built. Without Reg’s strong hand on the tiller, I am sure that the history books would have recorded a very different and less active role for the Association over the past 13 years.

Back in those very early days of Reg’s chairmanship, he was regularly to be found at the Head office of the Association in Reading, particularly through the second half of 1996 when it was without a Chief Executive. Reg’s “hands-on” approach has been a feature of his chairmanship since day one. Happily, George Dunn joined the Association as Chief Executive in January 1997 which once again was largely as a result of Reg’s efforts. Together, over the past 11 years, they have built an extremely strong Association of which we can be immensely proud.

It has been said of Reg that if you could break him in half you would see the letters TFA imprinted like a stick of rock all the way through his body. He has travelled the length and breadth of the country on behalf of the Association and has dropped many an important private function in order to represent the interests of the Association to the highest level of Government.

Reg has also been keen to ensure that he is kept up-to-date and up to speed with all that the TFA is involved in. This involves regular telephone conversations with Head Office and briefing by fax. It is fair to say that Reg is very much of the old school when it comes to technology. Whilst he has just about got to grips with the mobile phone, he made it very clear that the fax was the limit beyond which he would not go with regard to information technology.

Since the early days of the Association and the work of Dick Whittle, Henry Fell, Stuart Kirkwood, Stephen Hart and Poul Christenson, no-one has done more for the TFA or the tenanted sector in agriculture than Reg Haydon. I have no doubt that if Dick Whittle, the Association’s founding father, were alive today, he would be the first to be leading the applause for all that Reg has done for the TFA and the tenanted sector.

The Association already recognises meritorious service to the Association through its appointment of Trustees – currently Henry Fell, Stuart Kirkwood and Derek Jenkinson, are the Association’s Trustees. The rules of the Association permit there to be only three Trustees at any one time and Henry Fell has indicted that he wishes to stand down as a Trustee at this time. However, the Executive Committee has felt that simply appointing Reg to the role of Trustee would not do justice to his significant contribution. I am therefore pleased to say that at its meeting in May 2007 (at which incidentally Reg was not present due to ill health) the Executive Committee decided to create a new position of Honorary Life President bestowed by the Executive Committee to recognise extraordinary and meritorious services by past National Chairmen who have made an outstanding contribution to the Association. It also resolved that there can only be a maximum of one Honorary Life President at any one time who would also serve as a Trustee. At this current time I cannot foresee that anyone in the future would have done enough to deserve this award as much as Reg Haydon, upon whom ladies and gentlemen, I now pleased to bestow the honour of being the Tenant Farmers Association’s Honorary Life President.

There is no doubt that I step into the chairmanship of a strong, vibrant Association. Over the 13 years of Reg’s chairmanship he has taken the Association from strength to strength so that it is now well placed to advise its growing membership and to be an influence for good in Whitehall, Westminster and Europe. I will seek to build on those strengths to ensure that the Association is meeting the demands that its discerning members place upon it. The one thing I can promise you is that I will not be serving 13 years as National Chairman since the Executive Committee of the TFA has now set a maximum limit for the National Chairman’s role of three years. Reg can truly say that we broke the mould after his chairmanship.

As far as I am concerned that will remain our focus under my chairmanship. Our mission then is to provide a complete service to all farmers who rent land through advice, information, on-going support and to act as an effective advocate on their behalf with all public and private bodies with an interest or influence over tenant farmers and the tenanted sector in agriculture. The TFA should be the first port of call for tenant farmers seeking help, information or advice.

As we look back at 2007, it will be one of those years which will go down as one of the most difficult for some and yet more promising for others. The last issue of TFA News for 2007 summed it up by quoting from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Charles Dickens “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. Summer floods, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease emanating from a government-controlled laboratory, avian flu and bluetongue made life a misery for many within our industry. However, the improvement in cereal prices, the suspension of set-aside and some recovery in milk prices did create a better framework for others.

The double blow of FMD occurring first in August and then re-occurring in September was all the harder to swallow for the fact that it was caused by the leak of a virus from the Institute of Animal Health and Merial site in Pirbright. However, the government at least seemed to have learned the lessons of 2001 so that the disease did not spread throughout the country. Despite the fact that it was contained to a small area of the South East of England the associated movement and trade restrictions caused devastation in the red and white meat sectors up and down the country. The TFA was inundated with telephone calls from worried members and those calls became increasingly desperate as reserves of cash ran out. One member sadly told staff at Head Office that they had even taken the pennies out of their children’s piggy banks after which there was literally nothing left. The government’s continual refusal to provide an appropriate level of compensation for this disaster is morally repugnant. The government is hiding behind legal technicalities to avoid having to pay compensation knowing that in a court of law we would be unlikely to succeed. When compared with the support given to one financial institution which was the cause of its own demise, Northern Rock, no wonder farmers believe that the government has turned its back upon them.

For bluetongue to arrive in the midst of our FMD crisis was indeed a cruel blow. Whilst we appreciate the difficulties which exist in trying to control the spread of the disease it is deeply concerning that the government are not prepared to give compensation for animals which are slaughtered having contracted the disease.

It is no surprise that with an uplift in cereal prices and an improvement in milk prices that many landlords have taken the opportunity to serve Notices for rent review. The period of current activity has followed a period over which very few rent reviews have taken place. The last period of activity occurred towards the end of the 1990’s and the beginning of this century when many farms were able to see one, two or even three reductions in their rent levels over that period. The TFA has been active in ensuring that members are up to speed with the procedures involved in rent reviews and you will be aware that we geared our spring meetings road show towards rental issues. I am pleased to say that they were all extremely well attended and the presentations by TFA Recommended chartered surveyors were excellent.

We have been helping members in other ways too. Our long-running rent databank is now available to members to search themselves on the TFA’s website. Clearly over recent years the amount of information available on rents has been slim but we are now beginning to build up quite a database of rents as agreements are made and they are reported to the Association. As we head towards this years Michaelmas rents I believe the rent databank will be a very important tool for TFA members and their agents to use.

The TFA’s ground-breaking and market-leading Farm Business Protector Insurance is also available to TFA members and again we hear reports from our Recommended Professionals that the major benefit from having the insurance is the degree to which it assists in negotiations. I would advise all members who have not yet received a rent review notice to consider taking this out as it will be of great benefit to them in the negotiation process as well potentially covering the cost of a rent review arbitration should they end up at that point. I should say at this point, beware of cheap imitations which do not provide the same quality of cover!

The TFA has been supporting the Year of Food and Farming chaired by Sir Don Curry as an attempt to assist with the process of reconnection as set out in Don Curry’s Policy Commission Report of 2002. For the second year running the Association has been a supporter of British Food Fortnight and we will continue to support that in 2008. Reconnection with the public is vital if farmers are going to gain a fairer share of the market price of the food that is sold in our shops and supermarkets. However, there is still much to be done to curb the extraordinary market power held by supermarkets which does so much damage in the supply chain and causes farmers to get a raw deal in terms of their share of the added value.

The TFA was delighted to hear that plans are now in place for a food industry regulator to be appointed to oversee a statutory code of practice. This is something which the Association has been campaigning for for the last decade. When other farming organisations were arguing that a voluntary approach would work, supported by things like the red tractor, the TFA stuck to its guns in asking for a statutory code backed by an ombudsman. Of course the devil will be in the detail and the Association will make sure that whatever is put in place will have a meaningful impact.

Following the major problems in 2006 with regard to the Single Payment Scheme, we have continued to work closely with government and the RPA in an attempt to help them do better in 2007 and 2008. At this point I would like to pay tribute to Rebecca Marshall who has been of tremendous help to may TFA members who have been struggling with issues on Single Payment Scheme with the RPA. As I travel the country, members tell me how grateful they have been for Rebecca’s expertise and advice. The truth is the RPA is improving its position and whilst it is not yet as good as it could be we are in a much better position now than we were in 2006. We will continue to work hard to ensure that the RPA performance improves through this year and next.

On bovine TB we might just be on the brink of a significant change in government policy. Following the disappointing report of the government’s Independent Scientific Group which down played the impact that a badger cull would have on controlling bovine TB, we were pleased to see that the government’s Chief Scientist, Professor David King, thought differently. We have now just had the final report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee which has indicated for the first time that it would support a badger cull within strict parameters. The TFA has said for many years that we will not be able to control the spread of bovine TB without controlling both cattle and the wildlife vector that spreads it – mainly badgers. We very much hope now that the government will do the right thing and set out a clear path for a badger control strategy.

A major concern for arable and livestock farmers is the government’s plan to ramp up the restrictions on land management for farms within Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. The closed period for spreading manures, nitrogen loading limits and slurry storage capacity aspects are very worrying for the livestock sectors whilst the limitations of the application of inorganic fertiliser will present difficulties for the arable sector. I am pleased to say that the TFA is working closely with the NFU and CLA on these issues and we hope that common sense will prevail as we continue our negotiations with Defra throughout this year.

Another major consultation exercise recently launched by the government focused on its desire to see a greater degree of cost and responsibility sharing in the area of animal disease. The consultation has been carried out with the perception that the industry does not contribute anything to animal disease costs. However, it is clear from data contained in the Farm Business Survey that farmers spend an enormous amount of money on vet and med and when animal disease strikes they are also happy to shoulder all the consequential losses of losing animals and in some cases some or all of the value of the animal. The TFA is fundamentally opposed to any further shifting of these costs across to the industry.

I have referred to some of the issues with which the Association has been involved over the past year and will be involved in the coming year. Of course there are a host of others not least the CAP Health Check, climate change adaptation and mitigation, issues of food security, agri-environment policy, taxation, planning, retirement, affordable housing and the future of County Council smallholdings, to name but a few. These are all areas where the TFA continues to play a major role on behalf of its members and the landlord/tenant sector in general.

As well as our role as an advocate on behalf of farm tenants and the tenanted sector, we also have a major role in terms of advice, information and support. There is a growing demand from our members for advice with the Association now being involved in over 300 advisory contacts with members each month. These are made in a variety of sources but the majority (nearly 80%) is by telephone. The TFA’s website is an incredibly useful resource for spreading information quickly and I would encourage all members to use the website and its associated e-mail alerts to be kept up-to-date with what is happening on the agricultural policy front.

As I begin to draw my comments to a conclusion, I would like to thank the Association’s Executive Committee for entrusting me with this important role. I know that I have a hard act to follow but I will endeavour to work hard on behalf of all Association members over my time as National Chairman.

I would also like to thank our panel of Recommended Professionals upon whom we rely for objective advice and also for ensuring that our members have the best available agents, solicitors and accountants to act on their behalf. I was pleased to address the special meeting of all panel members which took place in London last month. This was an excellent opportunity to pool the collective wisdom of panel members in preparation for this year’s rent reviews.

Recently there have been a number of changes to our staff at Head Office we wish Clare Cox and her husband James all the very best for the forthcoming arrival of their first child and also to Rowan Hill who has gone on to other things. We have welcomed Jenna Stroud and Hannah Houstin-Lacey to replace them. The work load on Head Office seems to increase at a relentless pace but I am pleased to say that we have a dedicated and loyal team of staff at Head Office and I pay tribute to each one of them for all they do. I have had opportunity to visit Head Office on a number of occasions now and I can tell you that it is a truly a team effort.

TENANT FARMERS ASSOCIATION TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING THURSDAY 13 MARCH 2008 NATIONAL CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

TENANT FARMERS ASSOCIATION

TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THURSDAY 13 MARCH 2008

NATIONAL CHAIRMAN’S REPORT