The Rural Affairs Committee encourages members interest by organising talks and visits on matters environmental and agricultural as well as highlighting topical websites, projects and news items.

MUMS MATTER

Mums Matter was the focus for Oxfordshire Federation's event for Women Reaching Women 2011 which was held as part of the Oxford International Women's Festival, in a well-equipped meeting room at the Town Hall. Sadly the event was not well attended - we had taken advice from the Festival organisers, who had suggested this early evening timing - not good for our own members. Around 30 WI members and the general public heard Naveed Chaudri from Oxfam introduce the evening with a summary of the progress of the MDGs, in particular those of Goals 5 & 6.

Charly Cox, daughter of our County Chairman, Sue Cox, gave a vivid account of her experiences as a photo journalist in Sierra Leone, where her work has involved publicity for the free maternity services which have recently been granted.

The final speaker of the evening was Lesley Page, a professor of midwifery who teaches at King's college London, as well as overseas, yet still works as a midwife in Chipping Norton. She gave a glimpse of the state of maternity care worldwide - horrifying to note that the USA is not one of the highest ranking countries for maternal deaths in childbirth (the highest are Western Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). Professor Page spoke of her concern at the high level of caesarean sections being carried out in England - one in four babies is born this way at present, and she gave a long list of factors to indicate that vaginal delivery is safer for both mother and baby, and that caesarean deliveries should only be carried out when medically necessary. Professor Page now carries out many home deliveries in the Chipping Norton area and is a firm believer in as 'natural' delivery as possible.

SHEEP DAY 2011

Well over a hundred members applied to spend a day on a sheep farm at the end of January. We decided to accommodate as many as possible, and the coldest day of the year so far found a hundred members packed into a barn at Barley Park Farm near Witney. James and Fiona Hook, assisted by their shepherd Rex Vincent, raise a variety of rare breed sheep, notably the Oxford Down. This visit really helped to highlight the problems facing livestock farmers today - we heard how five years ago James was producing Oxford Down lamb for Oxford butchers, but no longer does so because lamb prices generally have risen, and people are not prepared to pay the premium for this meat. He now raises sheep for breeding - to keep the breed alive, but at the same time taking steps to produce a marketable meat product with a careful breeding programme.


  

Rex and his partner, Debs Searle, escorted groups of members around the sheep sheds, where some newly born lambs were seen among the flocks. This couple have won national awards at ram and ewe shows, with some record breaking sale prices. A delicous hot lunch provided by the Rural Affairs Committee warmed us all through at lunchtime and we then enjoyed the afternoon session.

We were delighted to welcome Sophie Howes, a new arrival at NFWI who looks after the current 'COOL' campaign. She asked members to investigate labels in supermarkets, complete the COOL forms and return the forms to NFWI in order to help provide evidence of unclear labelling. Sophie was delighted to have been able to visit a Federation event, and to meet members.

EARTHWATCH

Fourteen members from all over the county signed up for the exciting new project between OFWI and Earthwatch UK Earthwatch Institute. Eleven of us eventually met for the first time on a day visit to the Hill End site at Wytham Woods in August, a wonderfully sunny day on which to enjoy the great outdoors. Having met up at Oxford Railway Station for a rather early 09.30 minibus transport to Hill End, we were welcomed with tea and coffee by the staff at the well equipped building which is home to the Europe Regional Climate Centre. After an introductory session, we were given a fact-packed learning session on the science of Climate Change, by Richard Sylvester, the Programme Director, and a presentation on the work being done at the Centre by the HSBC Climate Champions, data collection for use by scientists at Oxford University. We had a quick lunch - delicious soup - before being taken for a walk in the nearest area of woodland where a variety of scientific projects were set up. We hope that in future years we shall be able to take part in the data collection for such projects.

All too soon it was time to return to the Centre, where we spent the rest of the time considering local initiatives for raising awareness of climate change within our own WIs and communities. Jo Dixon from Climate X-change outlined recent projects from round the county, and Christine Elliot from Charlbury WI, who is an active member of the Community Action Group in that town, was able to give the rest of us plenty of ideas for activities we might attempt. A thought provoking and most enjoyable day! Thanks to Richard, Abi & Kate for looking after us so well. If you would like to receive information about future events, please contact Ann Sharman (01869 340626).

Down on the Farm

Fifteen WI members spent a day at the end of April 2010 visiting farms in the Cotswolds. At Tagmoor Farm we met James McCurrach and his father who farm 500 acres just outside Bourton-on-the-Water. They grow arable crops; wheat - which is sold to Rank Hovis (who now use 100% British wheat in their bread), malting barley for beer and animal feed, and oats which go directly to Quaker for cereal bars and porridge oats. The areas of grass on the farm are used for pasture and for silage and hay for the cattle. Fifty suckler cows produce calves in the spring. which suckle from their mothers until 8 months, when they are weaned and go on to winter rations. They then spend the following summer on grass, and are slaughtered at around 26-30 months at the abattoir at nearby Long Compton. James sells his beef from the farm - see www.lovemycow.com for details- and some to Waitrose. We can vouch for delicious burgers which we were unexpectedly fed at lunch time!

James's agronomist was on hand to help answer our questions - and we are now all much better informed about the cyclical nature of farming - the necessity of constantly improving the soil to maximise output for instance, and as well as cow manure, the farm uses residue from the sewerage system - the ultimate in recycling! The MacCurrachs are very environmentally conscious - there are grass strips around water courses, and grassland habitats for wildlife. They have planted many trees over the years, managing them mainly for habitat regeneration and firewood.

In the afternoon we called in at the Cotswold Dairy Ice Cream company down the road - run by Danni Slatter, a delightful young woman who makes wonderful ice cream from the organic milk produced by the family's dairy herd. With Fairtrade certification, the ice cream comes in several delicious flavours and small and large tubs. See www.cotswoldicecream.net for more details. The ice-cream uses a fraction of the farm's milk - the rest is sold out, at a time when the price of milk is dropping once again - but at least a premium is paid for organic milk.

At the end of the day we were left with the impression that our farmers are working flat out to provide us with food that we take very much for granted. The McCurrachs have no other labour on the farm - they do the lot themselves, as well as running occasional visits such as ours, and a small touring caravan site in the summer, looked after by McCurrach Senior. It was a privilege to have spent time with them all in such a beautiful part of the country, and hopefully, we shall visit again.

PIG BUSINESS

Members from all points of the county (and two Trustees from the West Midlands) met at Kirtlington Village Hall on a very chilly January day for a 'Pig Day' run by the Rural Affairs Committee. Much needed Fairtrade tea and coffee was available on arrival, and a chance to chat to fellow members and a few husbands. After an introduction from Ann Sharman, Chairman of Rural Affairs, to remind the audience of the place of the pig in the history of man and in the hearts of Britons, Tracy, Marchioness of Worcester took the floor with her colleague, Alistair Kenneil, to show clips from her film 'Pig Business' and to explain the reasons for her campaign against Pig Farming at an industrial level which has been introduced to Europe via giant US corporations, using EU taxpayers' money.

She also explained the complexities of the labelling of pig meat, and how it is very difficult to determine where meat processed in UK actually comes from. She recommended looking for stickers such as Freedom Foods www.rspca.org.uk/freedomfood, on products, and the Quality Pork standard with the Union Jack www.lovepork.co.uk. This last site has plenty of information including recipes for using pork.

The United Kingdom has the strictest standards for pig farming in the world, which makes it more expensive for farmers to produce than anywhere else in the world. Tracy showed harrowing scenes from her film, including footage of the disposal of waste from Polish pig factories on to open fields, and also the destruction of the Amazon rainforest where hundreds of acres were cleared to make room for soya growing for pig fodder. Although the burning has been halted, production of soya is still allowed by these giant corporations. Tracy ended her presentation by urging everyone in this election year to contact their MPs about the problem of food labelling, and in particular to ask them to sign Early Day Motion 562,* For lots more information and photos see the site www.pigbusiness.co.uk David Cameron appears in Tracy's film, saying to camera that we would not let cars into the country which did not meet our standards for emissions - why then do we allow pork to be imported when standards of production do not meet ours? We were most grateful that Tracy was able to take time out to come and talk to us after a schedule which included a presentation at the House of Commons two days earlier.

After a delicious lunch provided by members of the Rural Affairs Committee, (Local ham of course, and the fruit crumbles now standard at our January events) we were entertained with a superb demonstration by Denman tutor Carrie O'Regan of dishes made with pork - again, sourced locally, and including kidneys and belly pork. Lucky raffle winners took home the completed dishes.

CLIMATE CHANGE

A conference held at Denman in November for Federation Science Coordinators was run by the newly-formed Federation Support committee, and concluded with a day on Climate Change which was open to all, attended by Oxfordshire members, as well as representatives of other Federations.

The first speaker, Dr Denise Smythe-Wright was an Oceanographer from Southampton University (and a long-standing WI member) who has been predicting climate change for the last 20 years. She presented the scientific facts of climate change as they stand at present, followed by the potential impacts upon the world if nothing is done to halt global warming. It is predicted that future wars will be fought over water - by 2020 the Himalayas are likely to be snow-free, and 70% of the world's population relies on water that comes from that mountain.

Rosie Boycott, doyenne of Fleet Street, and Boris Johnson's 'Food Czar' followed. We were reminded of the role of food in our society, where culture, food and social life are inextricably linked. Riveted by her gravelly tones, we heard her views on the Food Crisis in Britain, where obesity rather than starvation is a problem in some areas, and where supermarkets hold sway over farmers. We heard horrifying statistics - that the UK sells 49% of all the ready-meals sold in Europe, and that the production of manufactured food is in the hands of four giant companies which operate almost outside political controls. Members joined in with personal tales of woe from the farming community, complaints about cookery no longer being taught in schools. The prospects for the future are not good - as countries move into prosperity the demand for meat in the diet grows - and it takes 20 kilos of grain to raise 1 kilo of beef! Fifty per cent of our own grain crop goes to animal feed. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, one child dies of starvation every 6 seconds. And of course, we bin 33% of the food we purchase.

Our final speaker was Danny Chivers, a young man who had stepped in at the last minute when Mark Lynas had been taken ill. Working in East Oxford, the charming young man had his audience absorbed from the first moments of his presentation. He had spent his entire working life with climate change, so was well placed to give us an excellent visual example of the way in which we would have control over our own emissions if we are to meet the targets for carbon reduction by 2050. Some members were dismayed to find that the little things they have been encouraged to do have little impact - such as not keeping the TV on standby, or their mobiles on charge - both of these actually consume very little. Using our cars and taking long flights are the most damaging things we do - and Danny was not an enthusiast for carbon off-setting. Planting trees might sound like a good idea, as they absorb Carbon Dioxide while they are growing, but this is then stored, and released when the wood burns - there are all sorts of difficulties with this, he felt. This is one of the reasons why the burning of forests round the world is so damaging - between a quarter and a fifth of global warming due to this one factor.

We were left with the chilling fact that 300,000 people a year are already dying because of climate change. In UK our so-called National Emissions only count the events inside the country - they don't include shipping, or the manufacture of goods outside. Finally we were urged to become citizens, rather than consumers, to take part in movements and groups within our own communities, to push for changes to actually give us and our successors more of a chance for survival!

SOS FOR HONEY BEES

The resolution about honey bees was passed at the AGM in early June, and although this is to pressure the government to give more help for research, there is a lot that we can do ourselves to help honey bees, as well as bumble bees and other pollinators, which are also in decline. There are full details of the problem on the NFWI website, as well as plenty of ideas for action - including an invitation to become a Bee Champion!

  The best thing you can do is not to have too tidy a garden! The bees need a diverse diet of nectar, and many weeds, such as daisies, provide a good source. Cottage garden plants, especially British native plants are ideal; modern hybridised flowers do not provide easy access to nectar.

The NFWI website has a list of links to sites with lists of bee-friendly plants you can access - in addition, you may like to try the RHS website for a comprehensive list 'Plants for Bees'.

Do you know what to do if you have a swarm of honey bees nearby? These are of great value to beekeepers, as it is almost the only way they can start new hives these days. Call the police or the town hall; they will give you the name of the nearest beekeeper who will come and collect the swarm. You could look at the website of the Bee keepers Association - they have a list of registered swarm collectors http://www.britishbee.org.uk/swarm_collection.php - and there are local collectors you might like to know about who are happy to have their details published:

  

Oxford Area: Paul Whitaker 01608 811120, Mobile 07970 145136 Little Lees, Charlbury, Oxon, OX7 3HB. 'I am prepared to collect swarms in the Oxford, North Oxford & West Oxfordshire areas.' E-mail: paulwhitaker71@msn.com.

South of the county, Ron Crocker, 01189 722315, 'will arrange collection of swarms in the south of the county'.