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13 July 2020

2020 07 13 Rotary Business followed by Agricultural Speaker


Rotary Business & Speaker Meeting 13/7/20

President Rangesh opened the meeting and welcomed 25 Rotarians and our guest speaker, Mark Chandler.

Having run through the business items fairly quickly Rangesh handed over to Simon Flint who had organised this evening’s speaker. Simon had  once again put a great deal of thought in to this evening and  prepared a set of questions to put to Mark which enabled a steady flow of interest throughout the meeting.

 Mark and his family have been farming the Leconfield Estate farms for three generations and are now responsible for 4000 acres all of which are now arable The Agricultural and Horticultural Board monitor the farm. Mark has taken a role in the West Sussex National Farmers Union who are looking at changes to agricultural policies. Mark said every section of farming is under pressure – he has a particular interest in deals to be done within the area of food security. High standard food is of course very costly – the public have a choice between tastier or cheaper products. He mentioned New Zealand whose farmers now receive no subsidy   efficient farmers survived but a lot went under. He thought our farmers should prepare for a reduction in subsidy over the next seven years.

Mark went on to discuss the political situation and the changes being brought about by Brexit and also the Covid epidemic. Fresh milk has not been wanted in its normal quantity while others have been unscathed. With pubs and restaurants closed lower quantities of barley have been required for malted beer – the barley was downgraded to animal feed.

We must think about rules such as government restrictions on the use of chemicals on crops - there has been a lower production of oil seed rape because of the changes to use of insecticides but it has been brought in from countries who do not have such restrictions. Our high quality food is likely to go abroad while we eat cheaper foods brought in from elsewhere.

Asked about the serious problem of thefts Mark said he is very pleased that West Sussex now has a dedicated crime team in place to tackle this.

Mark gave us so much to think about – a very knowledgeable farmer with many ideas for looking after the welfare of our farms and the people they serve.


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2020-21 News from M&P

back Rangesh Nallan takes over Presidency from Peter Nightingale and Gill Nightingale takes over from Sian Mitchell