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THE BridgeNews FORUM: On farming, farm policy
and related agricultural issues.
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* Tony Blair's Announcement That He Would Spend Some Of His Holiday In
The Countryside Was Not Greeted With Much Enthusiasm In Rural Areas
By David Walker, agricultural economist
NORWICH, England--July signaled the start of the silly
season in Europe, and the mass exodus from the urban centers of
northern Europe for the rural vacation environment of southern
France and beyond leaves government and business in something
of a limbo in northwestern Europe.
Exactly what stimulates this lemming-like migration is
difficult to divine, but the fact that it is de rigueur for
those involved suggests the participants come home consistently
satisfied despite the horrendous traffic congestion experienced
on all roads south almost every weekend in July and August.
All this might seem something of an irrelevance to most
British farmers who are notoriously poor clients for travel
agents. But the habits of urban dwellers increasingly impinge
on the future of farming and there are lessons to be learnt
from this mass migration.
Any British farmer who had the time and inclination to
join the throng would find plenty of interest in Northern
France. There is a familiarity to the countryside, but enough
of a difference to his home to challenge his thoughts as he
crawls south.
But as he approached holiday destinations in the south,
the country becomes more broken, farming peters out into little
more than sporadic vineyards and tourist attractions mushroom.
These facilities appear well-kept, seem to be well enough
patronized and provide a superficial gloss to the countryside.
Some investment in housing by those who are able to afford a
holiday home is also evident. But beyond this visual varnish,
the wider country side would appear to a farmer run down and in
need of much more than a lick of paint.
The British farmer might, therefore, return home feeling
less dissatisfied with his lot than when he left. He might,
however, be missing a point that is likely to haunt him in the
future. To the urban dweller the run-down state of the countryside
is seen as charm. And those from Britain may see it as something
of a model for the uncertain future of Britain's countryside.
Prime Minister Tony Blair reportedly favors vacationing in
Tuscany in northern Italy, even if he is spending some of his
vacation this year in Britain.
Is mass migration from British and even European urban
centers to the British countryside a viable alternative to
Britain's farm-based rural economy?
Rural Britain is not new to tourism, of course. The list of
destinations is long--the Lake District, the Cotswolds, Shakespeare
country and the Scottish Highlands, to mention just a few with
international reputation. But these are by and large character
destinations and would likely have difficulty in accommodating
the kind of onslaught southern France absorbs.
Unlike southern France, most of Britain has a serious
commercial agricultural base. But of course, it is not beyond
the wit of Westminster to solve that. Indeed a good start has
been made, with farm incomes already one-tenth of what they were
five years ago. Farmers are increasingly being encouraged to put
visual environmental considerations above sustainable agriculture
and even diversify into tourism.
There is certainly no shortage of people with money enough
to spend on vacation to swamp rural Britain. In contrast to
continental Europe, destinations are relatively close to the urban
centers. Continental-style summer weekend road congestion could
never be matched in Britain, simply because roads are not long
enough to accommodate the length of European holiday traffic jams.
Further from the murmurings of the tourist industry, vacant
accommodation is not an immediate barrier to growth either. The
real question is whether the average British holiday-maker can be
weaned of his preference for heading off to foreign parts.
The government is certainly capable of creating the ambience
of southern France by relegating the role of agriculture. What it
is almost certainly not capable of engineering is Mediterranean
weather.
The most serious challenge, however, is that those who live
and work in the countryside do not seem to share the urban vision.
Surely they may have it forced upon them, but while this is happening
the British countryside will hardly be a happy place to holiday.
The announcement by Blair that he would spend some of his
family holidays in the British countryside was not greeted with
much enthusiasm in rural areas. As Blair is reputedly a master
of spin, and if one assumes his doctors got this one right, the
message must have been intended for city folk.
While few of them are likely to follow the prime minister's
example, he might just learn on holiday that the idea tourism
replacing farming as the mainstay of rural Britain won't work.
DAVID WALKER, an agricultural economist, lives on his family's farm
outside Norwich, England. He recently served as senior economist in London
for the Home-Grown Cereals Authority and previously was executive director
of the Alberta Grain Commission in Canada. He also maintains a Web site
at http://www.openi.co.uk/. His views are not necessarily those of BridgeNews,
whose ventures include the Internet site http://www.bridge.com/.
OPINION ARTICLES and letters to the editor are welcome. Send
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EDITORS: A color photo of the author is available from KRT Photo
Service.
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