Andrew Arbuckle: Meeting dairy farmers who prefer life in the slow lane By ANDREW ARBUCKLE Published on Monday 5 March 2012 00:00 FIVE years ago, a small group from the local town made a trip over to Amsterdam. As one of the party had not travelled abroad before, she had a last-minute rush to get a passport. After surviving the scrum to get aboard, the dehumanising security process and the lengthy wait in the departure lounge, I sat down beside her in the budget line plane. She turned to me and asked: "Is this how the jet set live?" Last week, I was once again living the jet set life, courtesy of the European Commission, which flew me to the Jura area of France to see the farming there. The particular interest being that this was a designated Less Favoured Area and the assorted journalists gathered together from member states as far apart as Portugal, Slovakia and Finland would see the realities of farming in this disadvantaged part of eastern France. Between visits we talked of the Common Agricultural Policy proposals. It was interesting to pick up their differing priorities. The Slovakian lady was vehement that her country had to get equality from the deal. Along with other Eastern European countries they had not benefited from the current CAP, she said. The Danish chap was concerned that the "greening" proposal which will require all farms to have 7 per cent of land in "environmental focus areas" would further reduce the productive capacity of his country. The German representative stated that it all depended on the size of the CAP budget, and he said it in a tone suggesting that his country would play a big part in deciding that. I thought of all the countries that are currently being bailed out in large part by the German economy and decided he might be right. His view was that the German politicians would go for a budget reduction, but not on the scale preferred by the UK government. By now the bus was swinging round the horseshoe bends that cling to the hillsides and we rose above the snow line. All about were small-scale farms, mostly with their traditional all-in-one farmhouse and steading building where the warmth of the livestock, which are kept indoors, helps reduce the house heating bill. Farmer Pascal Nicod, and his wife milked 35 Montbéliard cows and raised their followers on his 75-hectare farm which was part-owned and part-rented from the local community. In this part of France there are no large-scale landlords and such is the link with the land that when someone retires from active farming, they or their family normally just rent it out. The area is so traditional that rents are still calculated in francs. The farm produced 220,000 litres of milk annually and he was paid the equivalent of 44p per litre, which is at least 50 per cent more than farmers in this country. To that could be added the equivalent of about £4,000 of subsidy for the LFA payment. On the outgoings, the big item is feed, as all the cattle are housed indoors for six months of the year. The secret to the high milk price lay in the destination of the milk, which was heading to a small farmer-owned fromagerie. There we watched cheese making, although it was difficult for me to concentrate as outside skiers kept whizzing past the building. Just as Scottish beef and lamb have Protected Geographical Indication status in Europe, so does the Comte cheese being made here, and this was where the added value part came in for Nicod. Even although he has to wait at least six months before he gets his milk cheque, he knows the price will hold. There are strict controls over the quantity of Comte cheese that is made in order to keep it as a high value product and this feeds right back to the farmers, who have quotas they dare not exceed. So far, so controlled - and that is how the farmers want it to be in the future. They need the support payments but the bulk of their income comes from selling milk for cheese. They are also cashing in on tourism, with many farms now providing facilities for those living in the city and welcoming a few days in the countryside. Their local farming organisation is also actively encouraging another generation to come into the industry and no longer is farming seen as a last resort for those looking for a career. Were there lessons to be learned from my jet set visit? A few would be a superior land ownership system, a commitment to co-operation, and a pride in the end product. Mostly, though, it was a desire to hold onto the lifestyle they currently enjoy - and it was not remotely like the lifestyle of the "jet set."