Farmer Robert believes education is key in uncertain times

When you are coming up to your 50th harvest and you have made a significant contribution to the farming world, you are inclined to have strong views on its future and especially in the current climate of uncertainty brought about through Brexit, and indeed the newly announced general election.
Robert Campbell, of Oneholmes Farm, Seamer, Stokesley. Pictures by James Hardisty.Robert Campbell, of Oneholmes Farm, Seamer, Stokesley. Pictures by James Hardisty.
Robert Campbell, of Oneholmes Farm, Seamer, Stokesley. Pictures by James Hardisty.

North Yorkshire farmer Robert Campbell is one of very few in the county who have received an MBE for services to agriculture, but his roll call of chairmanships of the national organisation LEAF (Linking Environment & Farming); of the NFU North Riding and County Durham area; and a 15-year tenure with agricultural co-operative Farmway are just three of the many positions he has held not for personal ambition, but like many others, to help steer the UK farming ship.

“In the early 70s I was of the opinion we should go into the EU because at the time we were being seriously disadvantaged by the way Europe was running the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) but they’ve kept on running it the same way.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I voted to come out of Europe because when Cameron went around negotiating in advance of the referendum he was not taken the least bit seriously. That demonstrated for me that Europe wasn’t for changing and if it’s not then it’s eventually going to collapse.

Robert Campbell pictured among a flock of sheep at his farm near Stokesley.Robert Campbell pictured among a flock of sheep at his farm near Stokesley.
Robert Campbell pictured among a flock of sheep at his farm near Stokesley.

“Many years ago a very senior French banker told me that the Euro would disappear and Europe would fall apart. I’m not convinced it’s going to carry on. I’m still pro-European and would have loved those involved to grip the situation and to have sorted it because we could have stayed but to me the whole European train is driving off the end of the bridge.”

Robert came to Oneholmes Farm in Seamer near Stokesley with wife Jane in the 1960s. It runs to around 800 acres and is a mixed farm growing winter wheat, winter barley, a little spring barley, oilseed rape and grass. It has 300 breeding ewes, around 50 suckler cows, and calves that come down from a grassland farm owned by Robert in Scotland which runs to 2,000 acres, and which has its own herd of 160 cows and flock of 2,000 breeding ewes. Robert’s son James runs the farming operation today.

Getting UK farming in order when the European divorce papers are finally agreed is what many farmers are concerned about at present. No one has the details to grasp just what difference it will make to trade, but with 50 per cent of our lambs presently bound for the European mainland, and grain traded overseas, there is natural concern. Robert’s belief is better education about agriculture and why it should be supported is important, as is a strong politician at the helm as minister for agriculture.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I’ve lived all my life with agricultural subsidies in some form or other and although talk is not as much about feather-bedded farmers as it once was that feeling is still there. It seems the critical thing about agricultural policy is to inform the population and go through what would happen if it was unsupported. What would happen to food, the environment and all sorts of other issues? Allegedly the population loves the landscape, wildlife, the countryside views. I’m afraid maintenance of that in the way it is now would all have to go. We’d have to let the place go wild, because that’s what has happened before when subsidies have been reduced. I personally believe the population doesn’t want the countryside to look much different to the way it does now.

"We harvest sunshine", said Robert Campbell."We harvest sunshine", said Robert Campbell.
"We harvest sunshine", said Robert Campbell.

“The money received by UK farmers will differ from what we receive from Europe to what we might receive from the UK government because I think it will give different support. It may be that most of the money we get comes from providing public service through what is termed eco system management – looking after hedges, moorland, the landscape, stopping flooding. I have no personal preference over how support is given.

“We harvest sunshine. That’s what all farmers do and at the end of the day we convert that into what somebody wants whether that’s fibres, fuel, food or fun in the countryside. As an industry, farming will change because we will be trading on the world market without tariff protection. Individual farmers will go bust. Individual farmers will do very well. It could get very nasty.

“What you want as a minister of agriculture is a very good politician first and foremost. If you look back in history at those who have held the position you’ll find that those who actually knew something about farming did not do very well. I listened to Eustice the other day and he’s very good.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Robert adds: “One of the problems with our view of politicians is we generally make a second hand judgement because of what appears in the media and all the twaddle that goes on in the House of Commons. Once you get close to them you discover that for the most part they are very clever, extremely well briefed and well informed by the senior end of the civil service and generally speaking they impress me.”