LOCAL farmer Minette Batters gives us an insight into daily life on her farm near Downton with husband Malcolm and twins Holly and George in our new monthly column. Silage is now all made and stacked. One field of hay is baled and in the barn.

This leaves us with 30 acres of grass down the road to cut for hay.

Yields have been good which is a relief because many farmers think their grass yields are down and a shortage will mean buying in fodder, an expensive option, this winter.

Malcolm got back just in time for Holly and George’s birthday.

He was also able to see the guinea fowl eggs that he bought in the market hatch, having been sat by a bantam.

When he came back from market with the eggs he told us that someone there had told him to put a couple of bantam eggs in with them as well.

Why? I had quizzed - ‘because guinea fowl don’t speak chicken’, came the response.

Being well aware that it was not April 1, I didn’t give it another thought, until I checked the eggs and found two with crosses on them.

On hatching, our farmworker, Ken, saw the one hour old guinea fowl chicks attacking the bantam chicks.

These imposters were going to be dealt with, but luckily Ken was on hand to rescue the bantam chicks.

Needless to say the language barrier has not held the guinea fowl chicks up.

This column has provoked a few interesting comments from friends.

As adults though, who educates us about where our food comes from?

The media are probably the main source of information.

Broadsheet newspapers had their own agricultural journalists about 20 years ago, but this is no longer the case.

It is usually only bad news within the industry that makes a good story, foot and mouth being one example.

Supermarkets educate us and they have transformed our lives as far as shopping goes, providing good value for money products. The consumer is left to decide whether they wish to purchase value or organic produce.

For the farmer, though, supermarkets are a double edged sword.

They are the main buyer, so a lot of the time they can dictate the price, that said many farmers have very good contracts with supermarkets.

The past 15 years have seen so many dairy farmers leave the industry.

Last year alone 900 dairy farmers, almost three per day, left milk production.

Do people realise? I don’t think they do. Ultimately it will be the consumer who decides the fate of our farmers and with it our countryside as we know it.

However, one thing is for sure, if the consumer wants it the supermarket will stock it.