Pump field with wall
alternative crop and grow it well, but finding profitable crops is something else.
economic growth, health and well-being and St Helier. At Environment, our work touches on the last three with some tough objectives to meet in order to add value in our traditional sectors. We need to continue to protect the green space and coastline that make our island a good place to live and enjoy and to develop a workable and shared vision for the future of St Helier which includes responding to the demands of changes to our climate.
Like all the other areas of government though, to invest and improve services in the priority areas, we’re making significant changes across the public sector. Reducing costs, finding better ways of doing things and moving services online. Every department has had to take a long hard look at what services they provide and where money is spent. There’s significant pressure to stop some of the services the Department of the Environment currently provides, and we will have less money and fewer people in the future, but I hope that the services we do provide in the future will be more targeted and provide the
“Jersey farmers can grow just about any ”
service and value for money people want.
All the areas we cover in Environment are
important, but one that’s close to my heart is
farming. The look and feel of Jersey and the sense of place that people love about the Island is down to the men and women who are the stewards of our land. There’s been a lot of concern about the future of farming. Making a living in the countryside gets more challenging every year and keeping the countryside viable gets more and more difficult. But I do think there’s room for cautious optimism and I think we’ve got some interesting and innovative ideas for the future of the industry that will (excuse the pun) bear fruit.
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I’ve asked officers at the Department of the Environment to give priority to two projects to help this sector. The first is to tackle eelworm, a persistent nematode worm that poses a significant threat to the potato industry and which is showing increasing resistance to any pesticide or other product to keep it under control.
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The second interesting project is research on alternative crops to the Jersey Royal. Jersey farmers can grow just about any alternative crop and grow it well, but finding profitable crops is something else. Scientists at the department are working on possible valuable non-food crops, and there’s some potential in this direction. Delegates to the recent sell-out Jersey farming conference heard the National Non- Food Crops Centre’s Lucy Hopwood discuss their recent review of viable and value added non-food crop options for Jersey and we’re considering this in more detail now.
Another challenge that Page 56 20/20 - The Environment
we’re really going to have to deliver on is reducing nitrates in the island’s water supplies. Over the years there’s been a lot of lip service paid to the issue. Time is now running out and farmers, contract gardeners and leisure amenity sectors such as golf clubs will now have to limit their use of fertiliser containing nitrates. A working group has proposed an action plan which has backing from growers, and which I’m confident they will progress. The challenge is getting the balance right and to reduce appropriately so as not to damage yields.
The upside is that excess fertiliser only goes to waste – it has no impact beyond a certain level, so reducing its use will save money. Technology will help. Next year, the move towards more automatic planting will help growers apply fertilisers far more accurately, and in doing so reduce use by up to 30 per cent – here again reducing costs. Jersey farmers have always been innovative and I'm confident that by working together with us, we can solve the nitrate issue without affecting agricultural viability.
Another area we’re looking at is support for farmers. In the drive to deliver the strategic priorities, I’m working very closely with the Minister for Economic Development to benefit the agricultural sector – it’s a priority for us both. Early on Senator Lyndon Farnham committed to maintain funding for farming in 2016. That’s happened and now we’re working on how best to support farmers who are competing with the rest of the world for business.
The current Rural Economy Strategy will run for a further 12 months and we’re now working with our officers at the Economic Development and Environment departments to consider how that will change after 2016, how government can provide support where it is most needed, and, as importantly, where investment and support will provide the most productive long term return.
Part of the solution is to preserve agricultural
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