It was great to see so many of you at the Bedfordshire YFC rally in May and also a good opportunity to catch up with local MPs, councillors and the RCAT team.
We are now gearing up for the Pre Harvest Health & Safety events. Agriculture continues to have far more than it’s fair share of injuries and deaths so please take advantage of this opportunity for you and your team to consider some of the risks before the busy harvest season gets underway.
The county management team also met in May and discussed issues across all sectors as well as stakeholder engagement and upcoming events. The next County Update meeting will be held on Tuesday 23 June 6:30pm with a slightly different format of a summer farm walk by kind permission of JJ & Laura Ibbett at Wild Berry Farm in Felmersham, followed by a meal at their pub, The Sun Inn. JJ & Laura rear Boer goats, Oxford Sandy & Black Pigs and Hereford cattle on the farm which provide the pub with a genuinely local menu. They also have a host of diversified income streams from weddings to car storage.
RCAT Reminder - Beds Connected
RCAT are asking farmers to sign up to Beds Connected which will allow the rural team to communicate more effectively with you about the matters that are of interest to you. You will be able to securely message them when necessary and even include photos, CCTV footage etc. This is not designed to replace the WhatsApp groups but will help make more effective use of police time. The team currently spend a great deal of time when they come onto shift going back through all the WhatsApp messages to make sure everything reported on them is recorded on their systems.