Global warming confuses me. This week, the UK Met Office informed us that Britain has had the coldest summer since 2015. Then, just this morning, Sunday the 8th of September, our fishing charter, Captain Jorg, telephoned us recommending we postpone our fishing trip, which we had planned for later in the week, as sea temperatures in the ocean south of the Algarve are two degrees below the normal range for this time of year. This has stopped the pelagic fish from arriving in our coastal waters. The reason I started writing this on Sunday was to cater for this planned fishing trip. Jorge informed us he had only landed one small marlin in the last few weeks, putting it down to low water temperatures caused by an unseasonal cold wind.
Hats off to him for being willing to take the financial hit by recommending we postpone. In most parts of the world, the money would have come first, with many charterers happy to spend a day at sea burning fuel at the client’s expense, knowing it would be a fruitless search for the targeted species—in this case, blue and white marlin. Maybe things will change in a few weeks. In stating that, I must admit, I have spent many hours with a rod in the water, knowing full well, for many reasons, it would be highly unlikely to catch fish in that particular spot on that day.
Scotland was half a degree lower than normal this year, while the sea in Southern Portugal is a whopping two to three degrees below normal. Every time I turn on the TV news or a nature program, every phenomenon, hot, cold, floods, dry, windy, is put down to global warming. Due to my age, having witnessed similar or even more extreme climatic events personally, I just put them to the peculiarity of nature. Yes, we have had some high temperatures recently, but with a tiny bit of research, I found Bulawayo's highest recorded temperature was in 1978, while Portugal's was in 2003. Today, both these events would be put down to global warming. Shit, I am a cynical old man?
“I believe the human race is destroying our planet. But in the meantime, I am unsure if the recent temperature rise is not just a natural cycle. I am, however, convinced the efforts of the politicians in restricting the use of fossil fuels and subsidising ‘Green Energy' will have little effect on global warming but will succeed in making the life of ordinary people much harder in the form of living costs and opportunity.” - Peter McSporran.
We live in a world of madness where farmers are being paid not to produce food while many in the world starve. Governments, while promoting green energy through subsidies and promising that it will be cheaper in the long term, are happy for consumers to pay more for using this energy and see industries close due to reducing the use of fossil fuels. Subsidising green energy is unsustainable and illogical. For me, while wind and sun have their limited uses, hydro is the only long-term sustainable green power despite the ‘greenies’ getting up in arms every time a dam for such is proposed.
The unsightly structures to harness green energy make me shiver. Here in our district in Portugal, every tall mountain range or ridge in sight has windmills that produce more than two hundred megawatts (Mw), and just recently, a twenty-two Mw solar farm has been built on the mountain known as Monte de Vez. All this power is muted to be enough electricity for two hundred and forty thousand happy families in their cities while our rural landscape is scarred. They say it is only some twenty-odd hectares, but I measured the area as seen in a screenshot from Google Maps, and it is some thirty-seven hectares. At least, unlike in Britain, they are being placed on unproductive land despite being eyesores.
"Those wealthy advocates of green energy flying around in their private jets are unlikely to be living amidst windmills or a solar farm. Leave that for the rural folk." - Peter McSporran
Who will pay for their replacement, and who will be responsible for their end-of-life removal? I am sure not the installers or manufacturers. All the solar panels are now manufactured in China, undoubtedly using fossil fuels and minerals exploited from the developing world. Our energy makes them too expensive to manufacture in Europe, I am reliably told. Another cost of promoting green energy at the expense of reducing fossil fuels is the loss of job opportunities as manufacturing moves to countries that use this form of cheaper dirty energy. How can transferring production reduce climate change if the form of energy used is not changed? So why is this myth in Europe about saving the planet by introducing green energy when countries such as China and India increased their fossil fuel emissions significantly last year?
I was flicking through my bound copies of The Farmer magazine issues of 1994 when I came across the announcement of Allan Rattray being awarded the 1994 Presidential Science Award. For those that do not know, Allan Rattray was a renowned plant breeder having been in charge of Salisbury Research Station for many years. By isolating germplasm from local open-pollinated varieties he bred the first world inbred seed maize variety known as SR52, named after the year it was released, which revolutionised maize production. Suddenly, maize yields rose from four tonnes to over ten tonnes per hectare. On retirement, he became an honourary seed breeder at Seed Co-Op and in 1992, released another game-changing variety SC701.
I got to know Allan reasonably well as my father-in-law, Derek Belinsky, was the director in charge of Seed Co Research and, along with Ian Ross and Owen Connor, were the promoters and instigators in Seed Co-op investment into the Rattray Arnold Research Farm in Enterprise. The diminutive figure of Allan was a regular visitor for meals at Isobel and Derek’s house at Bell-Inn and, despite his fame, remained a very quiet, almost reclusive gentleman who had a huge impact on world agriculture. He was a single man and after plant breeding, his biggest joy was attending Wimbledon, which he did annually throughout his life.
That got me thinking that many of the men, I am only talking about men here as many women also impacted my life as previously has been and will be recorded in the future. Just covering my arse here.
My father, Archie McSporran, of Killiechronan, was a quiet man; be it child or an employee he was obeyed without raising his voice. I cannot remember him hitting (spanking) me, although I had raised his ire on many occasions. The worst time was when Jock Stewart from Drumlang found Lachie McPhail, the only other boy at that time attending Gruline School, and myself at an old sawmill on his land trying to fire 303 rifle rounds. We had found them and decided to fire them by holding them in a vice and using a hammer to strike the cap. Luckily, he stopped us before we succeeded. Nevertheless, I think that was the angriest I had ever seen my father. Mind you, he used to get pretty angry when the weather was good for hay making and the ‘Wee Free’ church members of staff would refuse to come out to work on the Sabbath.
The next one was ‘We Eye’, our technical drawing and deputy headmaster at Keil School. He was short in stature, his nickname coming from his full name Ian McDonald, hence ‘We I’ becoming ‘We Eye’ as he had eyes everywhere. No questions asked, just a hand signal to accompany him to his room for the strap for any misdemeanour that warranted, no angry words just summary punishment. But in saying that, he was a wise and fair man, just not tolerant of premeditated misdeeds. He is the one who told me not to heed our school motto in life, “Persevere in Hope,” but rather be diligent and hard-working in life to succeed. Although a very quiet man he had the whole school's respect.
The late Bruce Snelgar, our course officer at the School of Infantry in Rhodesia, was a quiet man who set a very high standard both in the field and barracks. By the time he became our training officer, he already had a medal for bravery, and he would add to that in the future. Many of us benefited from his advice and instruction, not just in the army but in life. Unfortunately, he died in a helicopter crash just before the end of the war.
The next quiet man who gained my respect was Hamish Smith, my first boss and tutor in farming in Rhodesia. He put up with my misbehaviour, although often becoming very annoyed yet never raised his voice. Throughout my time in knowing him he continued to offer me advice in cattle husbandry and judging. He was a world-class cattleman with a worldwide reputation.
“More often than not, the quiet spoken word has much more impact than the shout.” - Peter McSporran
The final man I would mention, although there are many others not quite so quiet who had a huge influence, was my late father-in-law, Derek Belinsky. I have no idea why he was so tolerant of his errant son-in-law but his intelligence and knowledge were the mainstay of my farming success. Further, he assisted me in becoming a farm owner in my own right. Derek was on many boards and chairman of a number of institutions, from schools and colleges, such Bishopslea to Gwebi College, the then premier agricultural college in producing future farmers in Southern Africa prior to Zimbabwean Independence. Funnily enough, Roger Manley wrote to me last month inviting me to his course ‘25’ fiftieth anniversary. I was a common face at Gwebi functions during that course’s time as I worked close by on the Smith's farm, Umzururu, in Nyabira. Further, the recently appointed Deputy Principal was Peter Chard, my livestock lecturer from the West of Scotland Agricultural College, who by chance had two daughters. Roger in his invitation reminded me that my father-in-law, Derek, had been chairman of the board of Gwebi during his time there. What a coincidence that some twenty years later, I would become the chairman of Blackfordby College, the college that took Gwebi’s place in producing young farmers of the future for Zimbabwe.
“I often wondered in me benefiting from and respecting so many quiet men why I was not quieter myself. My father used to lecture me for being too shy and speak up when spoken to when I was young. I cannot recollect when I lost my shyness.” - Peter McSporran
At the CFU in 1994, there were a number of critical quiet staff that ensured the union maintained its credibility during my time there. Most notably Neil Wright, someone most Zimbabwean farmers would only read about in ‘The Farmer’ let alone have known his role. A shy, very unassuming man, he was a real stalwart in ensuring the CFU’s credibility not only within its membership but also within the business community and Government. He was an ex-government economist who was head of our economic department at the CFU. Neil was one of those guys always in the background at any meeting he attended, and he even spoke in such a soft, muffled voice that he was hard to hear even in the smallest of forums. But from my experience, his knowledge of finance, taxes and the impact of Government policy on farmers was second to none. He obviously still had strong connections within Government and was respected in the Government's finance departments who often sought his advice. He could tell us almost instantly what the impact an imposed wage increase would have on our industry or the effect of the introduction of a new tax on a commodity or electricity tariff. A brilliant, diligent, humble person who preferred to work in his dingy office rather than the limelight. His office had a permanent haze of smoke from his ever lit cigarette.
The second who was much more gregarious in nature was Ewan Rodgers, who headed up our labour office under the chairmanship Piet de Klerk. Peit was ideal for the job due to the fact that as owner of Kondozi, a huge horticultural exporter, he was one of the largest if not largest employer of labour in agriculture at the time. It is said some ten thousand families relied on Kondozi for their livelihoods, all lost when the Government, under the land reform program, confiscated their land in the early 2000s with little thought in what confiscating one family’s enterprise would have on the welfare of the many.
Ewan, unlike Neil, in not being shy, was outgoing, an excellent negotiator and happy to take on the challenges of labour disputes. As by far the largest employer in Zimbabwe, the well-being of agriculture relied on good labour relations. In later years, in confiscating four thousand white owned farms the Government took away the employment of some three hundred thousand farm workers and the livelihood of their one and a half million dependents. Like Neil, Ewan was respected both by those he represented and those he negotiated for or against. Ewan was a lawyer by training, a human resource expert, and a vital cog in ensuring the survival of the farmers and, for that matter, the CFU.
Disclaimer: Copyright Peter McSporran. The content in this blog represents my personal views and does not reflect corporate entities.
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