Pharaoh’s dream

We ARE told that this year’s harvest will be down a third due to weather. Once upon a time, in the 1980s under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), we had hangars full of grain, so in the event of a bad harvest there would be a back-up supply.

Obviously, there were snags – farmers were paid subsidised prices so they produced more, and in those balmy days harvests were continually good.

The system got a bad name –the “grain mountain” continued to grow and it was sold off on the world market at a loss.

The CAP was changed so that farmers were subsidised to grow wildlife rather than crops. Now with climate chaos we badly need the EU (or the government) to invest in reserve stocks just as they should be investing in gas storage, or old-fashioned famine will return.

Is this failure to think ahead due to a failure of religious education in schools?

The story of Joseph and the Pharaoh’s dream made a great impression on me. I used to think of it when I saw the grain-stuffed hangars!

Frank Donald

Tantallon Place

Edinburgh