OF&G :: The Blog

A few weeks ago our Chief Executive, Richard Jacobs, was interviewed for an upcoming programme on the demise of the once great Royal Show.

We’d been approached because we publicly said in 2007 that we were opting out of attending the Royal for the forseeable future, simply because it had increasingly become less and less relevant to the farming community. Not a decision we took lightly, but as with all businesses, you have to put your resources where they will be best used. For us, that was at other agricultural shows which had kept farming at their hearts, like the excellent Royal Welsh Show, or the Royal Highland.

Now that RASE  has announced that the 2009 Royal Show will be the last, that programme, The Royal Show in Crisis, has been aired on Radio 4. Follow that link to hear it on the BBC iPlayer for the next six days.

The whole thing is well worth a listen because it sums up the ways in which the show lost its way, using the voices of those who cared about it. It’s also an insight into the dedicated team behind the show and the pain of such a tough decision as that taken to drop England’s premier show from the calendar.

Richard’s contribution is in there at about 13m 25s.

A funny (as in ‘ha ha’) thing happened this week. It followed the appearance on BBC Breakfast and Five Live on Saturday of our top dog, CEO Richard Jacobs.

Part of the package used by the telly folk included footage and an interview of OF&G farmer licensee, Noel Marsh. Mr Marsh came across really well, making sensible points and nicely illustrating the story. Which is probably why, in it’s daily Today’s News roundup, the Soil Association decided he must be one of theirs! Click on the thumbnail to read the piece.

Funnily enough, though SA’s own Peter Melchett is mentioned for his few seconds of interview, there’s no reference to Richard’s two lengthy live interviews in the studio… Surely just an oversight…

Anyway, fair play to the SA press machine, who corrected the matter with good grace in the next day’s edition:

CORRECTION
‘Rising organic feed costs’ story [Today's News - 2 Jan 2009]
Noel Marsh who was interviewed on BBC Breakfast News is registered with Organic Farmers & Growers, not the Soil Association.
Richard Jacobs, chief executive of OF&G, was also interviewed for the news feature.

On a more serious note, the piece was about the tricky issues of what measures might be possible or acceptable to alleviate serious cost pressure on organic livestock farmers. Everyone who contributed to the coverage on Breakfast did a superb job of explaining it, including Peter Melchett, Noel Marsh, Richard Jacobs and the brilliantly feisty Renee Elliot, founder of Planet Organic. Well done all!

We were delighted to contribute to this morning’s Farming Today programme, on BBC Radio 4. We always are. It’s just that, usually, they manage to get our name right!

Unfortunately, this morning we became ‘Organic Growers & Producers’ when our Chief Executive, Richard Jacobs, was introduced to talk about the challenges to the organic market of the current economic conditions.

That might have confused the many people in the organic sector who have known Richard very well for a long time.

I have mentioned this to the producer who set up the interview. She’s a very nice lady and needless to say she was very embarrassed and apologetic.

The good news is that the error should be corrected when the programme broadcasts its weekly roundup show on Saturday morning.

We will, of course, be listening…