One of the most notable events in January was the loss of access to about 9 hectares of the farmland we have been running to date. This has meant reorganizing management of the dairy herd and our remaining pastureland for harvesting hay and silage, plus checking to see if, with- out this land, we still comply by the EU rules for organic livestock farming, (particularly, in this case, the rule that at least 75% of the dairy herd’s forage be provided by land we manage and that cattle density on each hectare is no greater than two cows per hectare). Loss of access to land on farms is devastatingly widespread throughout the world, whether due to forced eviction, changes in the land planning status of farmland for urban use, an end to leasing rights or a long list of other reasons. In our case the problem has arisen because of the way in which parish coun- cil land is managed in the Valley of Karrantza and, despite the content of the Parish Land Reglament, no parish council has actually managed to guarantee working farmer access to such land. The result is a growing insecurity amongst farmers regards their access to farmland, which is particularly worrying for those farmers trying to move towards more environmentally land-based production models, as is the case of our farm. |