As any cereal farmer will tell you, the wheat harvest is underway �“ subject to the weather. The good news for Britain’s 30,000 or so grain producers is that the harvest is likely to be the most abundant since 2000. The Home Grown Cereals Authority, which monitors such matters, reports that the grain harvest should yield some 16.5 million tonnes. This compares with an average of around 14 million tonnes in recent years, and a low point last year when torrential rains cut the crop to 13.2 million tonnes.

This year, of course, the EU’s set-aside scheme ended, enabling farmers to plant tens of thousands of more acres across the country. That, together with a substantial increase in world grain prices should see British grain producers making a substantial profit this year �“ something that proves that there is a future in farming providing the circumstances are right. Now, no serious politician would claim to be able to control the weather, but the dropping of set-aside, something that can be controlled, has clearly been beneficial to the farmer in terms of increasing production. And before the misinformed begin whining on about how “farmers are coining it this year”, it should be remembered that most grain growers just about broke even last year and didn’t do too well the year before that either!

However, should this year’s grain harvest turn out to be as good as many are predicting, and that is subject to reasonable weather between now and the middle of the month, then the cereal yield across Britain could be up by an impressive 13% over last year �“ with wheat production up by 14% over the same period! Whereas two or three years ago wheat was selling at around £70 per tonne �“ it is currently selling at nearly double that. However, it must be remembered that prices are determined by the quality of the grain �“ an extended period of rain could even now reduce the quality and the price per tonne, rendering it only fit for sale as animal feed.

Many farmers plan to reinvest the profits from this year’s harvest into farm infrastructure and machinery �“ something many need to do as the cash has not been there for that purpose for some years now. As one farmer put it: “This is the year to bank profits against the future, restructure debt or reinvest in machinery and infrastructure.”

However there is one dark cloud looming on the horizon. Many grain producers will do well this year because they bought their inputs for the 2007 harvest, such as fertiliser and diesel for tractors, at last year’s prices �“ the cost of both having now rocketed skywards. They will go into next year without these advantages and be largely dependent on Mother Nature as to whether they will make a profit, break even or even suffer a loss!

But while many grain farmers are likely to be celebrating later this month when the harvest is safely in, the same cannot be said of Britain’s livestock farmers. This is largely because the sharp increase in the wheat price that has so benefited the growers, is now acting against the consumers in terms of animal feed prices. Although cereal farms are expected to see profits boosted by around 40% per cent, the average pig farmer, for instance, is expected to make a loss of more than £4,000, while poultry farmers are expected to see profits fall by a massive 90%.

The British National Party is the only political party in Britain that recognises the strategic importance of farming. It should never be forgotten that twice during the last century that this country was nearly brought to its knees by enemy blockade. The British farmer, together with the mariners of the Merchant Marine and Royal Navy saw us through. The role of the British farming industry is to feed the nation - it must be given every support in achieving and maintaining this responsibility. We alone, amongst the political parties, recognise the importance of the British farming industry to the nation and consequently we are not prepared to see it reduced or destroyed either by unfair foreign competition, unfettered free trade, Government intransigence or by any other factor; which is why the farming industry, particularly that part of it comprising the family-owned farm, will find no better friend in politics than this party.