Earlier this week I was having 40 winks on the sofa after a particularly hectic morning vaccinating lambs, when I was rudely awoken from my slumber by the telephone. The lady announced that she was Tiffany from BBC Radio Cornwall, and would I like to comment on the “good” news today that DEFRA (the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) had declared its intention to pay 75% of farmers their 2008 Single Farm Payment by the end of January 2009. When she learnt that I was one of many still waiting for my 2007 payment she was keen for me to do a telephone interview ready for the main 5 o’clock news.

Farming subsidies are a complex and emotive issue and they have undergone radical changes in the last few years. Previous to 2005 we were paid a set amount per cow or ewe as part of the European Common Agricultural Policy. This was set up back in 1960 to ensure that the (mainly peasant) farmers of the EU could receive a reasonable standard of living while producing reasonably priced food.

Over the decades this has proved to be an unwieldy beast and led in the 1980’s to the infamous butter mountains and wine lakes. These surpluses were not only wasteful but highly damaging to developing third world countries who were struggling to maintain their own agricultural industries. Something had to give and as the EU expanded it was apparent that this level of protectionism couldn’t be sustained.

So in 2005 we had a massive shake up, and whereas previously we had to apply for a variety of subsidy schemes (Cow Premium, Ewe Premium, Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowance) each with their own rules and tradable quotas, we were presented with a brand new, one-stop scheme which paid out per acre rather than per animal.

This was radical because it meant that farmers would receive support for environmental benefits (clean air, water and soil protection) and were not required to grow any crops or keep livestock. For us hill farmers this would mean that each cow and sheep now had to pay its own way through life and gradually over the last few years farmers have reduced herds and flocks to more sustainable levels and the prices have responded to the diminishing supply. While this has contributed to the rising food inflation, it has meant that the amount of the EU budget spent on agriculture will drop from the over 60% of the total budget in 1992 to around 30% by 2013.

On a farm level the stark truth is that while a rise in the price of beef and lamb has been welcome it has been more than matched by a rise in diesel and grain and I would say that nearly every farmer is still ‘subsidising‘ his livestock enterprise with his Single Farm Payment so some degree or the other. I pride myself in being further ahead than most in running a low input, organic, sustainable farm with a handy extra income stream from the campers, but I am still no where near being able to survive without the ‘Brown Envelope’ – (farmers jargon for the subsidy cheque).

So I had a few choice words for Tiffany - she obviously wanted a whinging farmer for this item and I gave it to her in spades, and made the headlines of the bulletin at 5. I then immediately crossed my fingers and hoped that nobody from the Rural Payments Agency was listening, lest they might slip my application to the bottom of the pile! As it happens my brown envelope was delivered the very next morning – talk about the power of radio.

Last Sunday was Open Farm Sunday. This initiative has been going for three years now and farms across the country are encouraged to open their gates to the public on the first Sunday in June as a massive PR exercise. This is an excellent idea and has really gained momentum since the first open day in 2006.

I had thought about doing it last year – but only really heard of the scheme late in the day and was already behind getting the campsite ready for half-term. However this year, with plenty of time to plan, I signed us up to be one of the 400 odd farms who would participate.

As first timers I thought we would keep it simple and I listed on the Open Farm Sunday web site that the event would start at 2pm with a guided farm walk, followed by a trailer ride back to the farm yard and then I would do a small sheep shearing demonstration and it would all be over by about 4.30.

The good people at LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) who were doing all of the central planning and organisation had managed to attract an impressive array of sponsorship for the event and every farm that signed up received a box of goodies including posters, flyers, postcards, helpful books and a rather natty Open Farm polo shirt with all of the sponsors logos on the back. All of the usual suspects were there including the RSPB, the NFU and Natural England as well as a couple of unlikely ones including McDonalds.

Now, just because we live on an organic farm and grow our own veg in the garden doesn’t mean we don’t all enjoy the odd treat of pigging out on fast food once in a while. In years gone by I would always have favoured KFC over McDonalds – nibbling at bits of lip-smacking chicken and daintily wiping my fingers with the lemon-scented wipe supplied. McDonalds at that time was using Argentinean beef and had a lousy reputation.

However in recent times they have really cleaned up their act and now source only British beef (hurrah) and only use British Organic Milk (hurrah, hurrah). KFC on the other hand seem to have gone right downhill (if our experience in Plymouth last month was anything to go by) and their tasteless chicken (scoured from some broiler house god knows where in the world) was dripping with grease and to add insult to injury they have even discontinued the moist tissues!

Anyway, it was the source of much amusement with the kids to see their dad sponsored by the big M and raised quite a few comments from the 50 or so members of the public who thankfully turned up. All in all it was a successful event (despite the fact that if started to rain at exactly two o’clock!) and the kids tea and cakes raised £84 for Save The Children. The date for next year has already been set for Sunday June 7th – so if you are in the area please come along.