Prince Charles – a long-time countryside and farming campaigner – said agriculture was facing ‘unprecedented challenges’ and that it was vital Jersey’s farming future was protected through ‘continued good custodianship’.
In the foreword to the autumn issue of Discover, the magazine for the National Trust for Jersey, the Prince said that he was ‘delighted’ that the organisation was highlighting some of the issues facing the agricultural industry today.
He said that it was the ‘careful custodianship and nurturing of rich soils by generations of Jersey families’ that had ‘delivered some wonderful, world-class products and an attractive, intimate rural landscape’.
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‘It has to be a major concern that our countryside is facing unprecedented challenges,’ he said.
‘Agricultural returns for our livestock farmers are falling – often below the cost of production, rural communities are being eroded, hastened by the loss of village pubs and post offices, and wildlife is in decline in many areas.’
Prince Charles added that it was important that Jersey continued to grow its own produce, which is unique to the Island, and that the National Trust continued its efforts to preserve the countryside.
‘Carrying out vital conservation and restoration work along your coastline, safeguarding important genetic pools such as Jersey cider apples, growing Jersey Royals with sustainable, locally harvested vraic, maintaining the last bastion of dairy farming in the parish of St Ouen and pioneering diversification with rare breeds such as the Manx Loaghtan sheep are all helping to sustain, maintain and revitalise the character of Jersey’s countryside.’
And he said that maintaining a ‘sense of place’ and a ‘rural character’ ‘requires constant vigilance against seemingly innocuous intrusions’ such as modern fencing and excessive lighting.
Prince Charles also noted that Jersey was not immune to any of the challenges that are faced in the UK.
‘And, indeed, such issues can be easily magnified within smaller areas, but you do have the advantage of being able to shape and develop the future of your countryside at a genuinely local level within your own community,’ he added.
‘I do hope you will be able to do that in ways that deliver sustainable food production whilst, at the same time maintaining the natural beauty and wildlife that have attracted visitors to your shores for hundreds of years.
‘The time and effort invested over many generations in carefully nurturing the land has not only secured good yields, but also delivered a valuable legacy which needs continued good custodianship if future generations are to have the opportunities we have been fortunate enough to enjoy.’
THE Prince of Wales is not afraid to speak his mind and his forthright views frequently draw criticism from politicians and the media, while also arousing fears that his outspoken opinions threaten the inpartiality of the monarchy.
However, as Patron of the National Trust for Jersey – a custodian of farmland as well as the Island’s heritage for almost 80 years – and a long-time countryside and farming campaigner, he is more than qualified, and entitled, to pass comment on Jersey’s agricultural industry.
Prince Charles’ forward to the autumn edition of the trust’s magazine, echoes the sentiments behind the JEP’s Keep Jersey Farming Campaign, that this once most powerful force in the Island’s economy, now overshadowed by the world of international finance, still has a great deal to be proud of.
He also heaped praise on the old Island families who created world-class products in the Jersey cow and the Jersey Royal potato, and produced the innovators who invented specialist equipment to farm the land that were taken up by farmers the world over.
In doing so they shaped Jersey into the place we enjoy today with a rural landscape, which in spite of the ever-creeping urban sprawl, inappropriate developments and proliferation of so-called road improvements schemes, still retains its natural beauty.
But, it must be asked, for how much longer? A growing and ageing population will place even more pressure on an already overstretched infrastructure and public service.
The Prince also referred to such challenges, which he pointed out are not exclusive to Jersey, but he hopes that Jersey will be able to shape and develop the future of its countryside at a ‘genuinely local’ level.
Sound advice indeed as we witness the transformation of truly Jersey locations into facsimiles of UK streetscapes.
His words will be welcome by the latest generation of young Jersey farmers, the largest number in 40 years, who are eschewing lucrative careers in finance to follow in their family footsteps.
All they ask is the support from the States to allow them to compete on a level playing field with their peers in the generously-subsidised EU member countries.
It is beholden on us all to heed the Prince’s words and there has never been a more important time to buy local.
You can support the JEP campaign by picking up a car sticker from the offices at Five Oaks or at farm shops.
