All Saints', Wrington 
Being a farmer today
Andrew Densham

ANDREW DENSHAM, CBE

A Wrington Resident for the last 35 yrs, Andrew has never farmed himself, but was awarded the CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2000 for his services as the country's leading agricultural Lawyer. In recognition of his commitment to the industry, he was appointed the National Chairman of "RABI" in June this year after serving for 5 years as a Trustee

Background The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution was founded in 1860 and received its Royal Charter in 1935. It exists to relieve need hardship and distress for farmers, farm workers and their dependents.

It is a substantial national charity throughout England and Wales (Scotland has its own charity). In an average year we spend about £3 million which we hope to have collected each year, but in the 2001 FMD year that rose to over £20m. We are forced to work with a budget deficit because our expenditure always exceeds our income.

How the RABI can help Retired farmers and those forced out of farming from injury, etc, with capital of less than £8,000 are eligible to become full beneficiaries. Tragically there are currently about 1,500 in that impoverished condition. We pay
them annuities and benefits in kind, like holidays, amounting to about £1,000 per annum each.

We operate two Care Homes for farmers and farm workers- one near here at Bumham on Sea and the other at Bury St. Edmunds. We have plans for a similar facility in Cumbria, and another in the East Midlands in conjunction with the Duke of Buccleuch, who died recently but who was very committed to supporting the agricultural industry.

For working farmers suffering from "death, disease or disaster" we pay grants and give financial support in a variety of ways. These amount to an average of £50,000 per month but since the latest out break of FMD we have paid over £200,000.

This winter we are facing massive levels of bankruptcy and severe financial hardship, with the increase in feed costs and the shortage of fodder after the wet summer, and the likelihood of movement restrictions remaining in place until after Christmas. In addition, we have just heard of an outbreak in Suffolk of the deadly disease of "blue tongue".

We can also provide relief workers when a farmer is injured. Farming is a hazardous business and we have had several occasions when farmers have lost an arm or leg in dangerous machinery. When the latest FMD had broken broken out, we heard from a distraught farmer's wife. Her husband had dropped dead that morning, leaving her with young children and a farm with a large flock to care for. The Government restrictions prevented her from moving the animals, and she had no workforce. We were able to pay for a relief Farm Manager for 6 months whilst she sorted out a long term solution.

We often do emergency work like paying an electricity bill or Council Tax bill for a farmer in extreme difficulties. This is like applying Elastoplast to a haemorrhage, but it buys time whilst longer term solutions are found. What we will not do is to pay business debts for a failing business. Too often paying an animal feed bill in the hope that the farmer can trade out of his difficulty makes matters worse. On the other hand, it is very moving to discover how often the help we can give is a life-saver to so many hard working and dedicated farmers who are in dire straights, often through no fault of their own.

Two shocking examples I think what has brought home the crisis confronting the farming fraternity to me most acutely were two cases we encountered this year. For the first time we have had to pay top-up fees for two farmers who had died where there were insufficient funds in the farm even to pay for their funerals.

Regional Welfare Officers Another aspect of our work is that we employ 12 Regional Welfare Officers who ensure that all available Government and Local Government monies and other charitable funds are collected for our beneficiaries who might otherwise miss out Last year that amounted to about £400,000 of public money which previously had gone unclaimed.

Helping our Farmers is a Christian Imperative Now what has all of this got to do with the Christian faith and with all of us here? To begin with, farming and the Christian Gospel are closely allied. There is the "Parable of the Sower", teachings about the cultivation of vineyards, fig production, weed control (or "tares" as some versions call them) and much more besides - these are liberally scattered through the Bible. Moreover, the Church's year follows the farming year very closely - e.g. Lent is set at the time when the seed-corn has to be preserved and not eaten.

But it is in the Lord's Prayer, the model form of prayer which Christ himself taught us, that we see our duty to support farming most closely.

How can we with integrity say "Give us this day our daily bread" -in other words, how can we ask God to supply us with our staple food — if we do not give practical support to the very people who are His instruments for supplying that daily bread, at a time when many of them are in deep trouble themselves?

Farmers do need help urgently. Nowadays many of us have become disconnected from the very basics of Hie and do not appreciate how desperate the circumstances of so many farmers really are. The press makes out that they are scroungers crying wolf. It is simply not true! Every day we at "RABI" are confronted by heart breaking and tragic cases which demonstrate just how wrong the press is. We really have got to help those in such dire need. There is insufficient money in farming itself. Farmers urgently need and deserve the help of the rest of us.

I realise we all have many calls upon us for support. I am not asking for support for the RABI to the exclusion of other worthy causes. I just ask that you factor us in with the others when you come to prioritising your planned giving.

So thank you for agreeing that this year's harvest festival collections should go to support our work at the "RABI". It is greatly appreciated.