Farming: Rural community is so easily forgotten

IT LOOKED a little like some small village in the depths of Siberia with people walking down the middle of the almost traffic-free road past heaps of snow under which immobile cars were hidden.

After several days of being isolated with blocked roads, I was in the local town to collect a few essentials. Some of the residents were clearing their drives while others were patently not.

The chatter of those on the road centred on what the council was, or more correctly was not, doing to remove the snow.

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The main grocery store in town looked as if it had been hit by a bomb with empty shelves and people complaining "You have no carrots" or any other item that was on their wanted list but was not available.

I thought about that as I trudged back home because, while there does seem to have been a few local examples of co-operation in the past week, the severe weather has thrown up a number of gaps.

There is a dislocation between the local authorities and the farming community. This is not universal, as some councils have recognised that down many farm roads there is equipment lying idle that could help them in their snow shifting efforts.

Borders Machinery Ring is supplying some snowploughs and four-wheel-drive forklifts to help clear the roads and pavements in the Border Council area. Perth and Kinross Council has an agreement that it will provide snowploughs in return for farmers clearing a section of roadway. I am sure that there are other examples of councils outsourcing their winter maintenance work but for many others it seems to be the case that the work has "aye been done by the council".

Last week, I received a copy of an e-mail from TayForth Machinery Ring, who operate in Central Scotland, to one of their local authorities offering with immediate effect some 25 snow clearing machines of various types - ploughs, buckets and trailers - to help clear roads and pavements. The response has been as quiet as a snowfall.

In the North-east of Scotland machinery and labour sharing co-operative, Ringlink is similarly placed with men and machines ready to go but getting no positive response from their local councils.

On Friday past, George Milne, the development officer for the National Sheep Association, confirmed one of his big worries in the coming weeks was getting sufficient feed supplies along minor routes.So while the Scottish Government and local authorities may pat themselves on their backs for keeping the primary routes clear, the question remains as to whether they could, indeed, still can harness the hundreds and hundreds of horsepower that is right on their doorsteps in order to help clear all the roads.

Meanwhile, on looking at the temporarily empty shop shelves, I wonder how many of the shoppers gave a thought to the efforts of the primary producers, the pre packers and processors, into beating last week's snow-induced problems.

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Livestock is tricky to move at any time but give them deep snow with slippy patches and the problem magnifies, so even the first step towards the abattoirs has been difficult.

Livestock hauliers are now few and far between but their efforts and those of livestock farmers with the trailers in getting stock to market has been recognised by Quality Meat Scotland who have also confirmed that there will be adequate stocks of meat on the shop and supermarket shelves for Christmas.

One area where there might be less produce for sale is in the vegetable sector as growers are really struggling with the conditions. Crops of Brussels sprouts ready for the Christmas market are either under snow or are frosted. Those that are available are being hand picked in what must rate as one of the most unpleasant jobs in the current cold snap.

But it is not only the sprout growers who face problems. One carrot producer in the normally easier Morayshire coastal land was harvesting last week. Upwards of 1,000 horsepower was in the field to ensure lifting success. As an example of the efforts needed to get the carrots into the trailer, there was a digger removing the snow from the top of the strawed crop prior to the harvester getting moving.

So the next time I am in my local shop and the carrot basket is empty, I might be tempted to leave a little notice in it, "do you know how ****** difficult it is to lift carrots in this weather?"

And if there are gaps in the meat counter another notice might be placed pointing out the sheer effort required to get the end product on to the shelf.