Agricultural Recovery and Compensation (ARAC) AGM, Another Cattle Sale and 98/99. My Worst Tobacco Season Ever.

Ghostly agapanthas welcoming the new moon

Wow, it's hot here; the Iberian Peninsula is currently experiencing an extended heatwave. Today, Sunday, 39°C at our house. Twelve days ago, when we attended a cattle sale, it was 41°C. The heat has not let up. Reminds me of those days in October on Kariba, when even at night, there was little respite. It has been hot every day, but later this coming week, temperatures are predicted to come down below 30°C. 

“So the ‘climate change activists’ are claiming record temperatures for Spain in June. They neglect to say that this was recorded on the last day of June despite over the years, in early July, these so-called record temperatures have been well surpassed.” - Peter McSporran

My goodness, the garden is suffering. We restrict our watering to once a week. When we first arrived, the water was cheap and tasted just like fresh water should, being from the mountain streams beyond Penela. That was when it was under the management of our local Penela council; now it is run by an entity known as APIN. Although not a quango, it is a service run by a cooperative group of councils, just as bad, I fear, as a quango. They seem to have an unlimited number of vehicles driving around the district, but neither the water taste nor the pressure improves. Only a government-run organisation could be worse. Luckily, the healthcare service in Portugal contradicts this statement; in Portugal, it is excellent.

‘APIN was created to achieve economies of scale and optimise resources in these services.’ - Reason for creating the water supply service APIN.

The water now tastes of chlorine, is cloudy, even with sediment in it at times, and importantly, it is very expensive, making it prohibitive for a pensioner without a pension to use in the garden other than very sparingly. I wonder why they thought economies of scale would improve service when it is now pumped many kilometres overland from the dirty Mondego River, as opposed to being gravity-fed from the fresh streams and springs rising in the local mountain range. They tell us it is safer, but it certainly does not taste so.

Mertolenga-type cows being sold at Montemor 0 Novo

As I was at the hospital for a review on Thursday last, I missed the ARAC AGM live feed, but Suzie Heyns shared the YouTube video recording with me at my request. Women are often found to be more efficient than men, I've seen. What an admission! They have other flaws, but I would not dare mention them if I wish to remain married. I found the reports of both the chairman of ARAC, Ian McKersie, and the President of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), Liam Philp, concise and straightforward, clearly indicating past events and conveying their plans for the way forward, which they say will be be done under the guidance of paid-up members. That will be a positive change from the previous office holders, who thought they knew best. Despite this, Ian gave credit to Pat Ashton for organising the payments for those in desperate need. He reiterated that it was the individual's choice in what form or how they sought compensation. 

“I agree with Ian McKersie’s statement that it is the individual's right to choose how he seeks and in what form it is. I would, however, suggest that in doing so, it is their moral duty not to impinge or mitigate in any way the Government’s legal obligation to pay fair compensation to all.” - Peter McSporran

I would consider it a more positive meeting than we have had in the recent past, certainly no false hopes or poison chalices on offer, with attendees participating and putting forward their views, especially on whether the CFU or another entity should represent us. Those who have been reading my blog will know that I have been advocating for a separation of our, the Title Deed Holders (TDH) representation, from that of the ‘new’ farmers, whose requirements differ substantially from ours, namely, compensation. It now appears this will happen. A small step but I hope bigger than it looks. 

The sale ring at Montemor O Novo

It should be noted that to date, ARAC has been very supportive of the CFU financially. With the separation, the ‘new’ farmers will now have to fund their own organisation. Maybe it will be the CFU, maybe not. The CFU was intrinsically linked to its membership at the time of the land invasions, not only in our eyes but in those of the world and, importantly, the Government. 

“By capturing the CFU, the Government made it a tool of divisiveness rather than one of unity.” - Peter McSporran

It was gratifying to see a couple of young people who are farming say they expected to do so. That is, they accepted they would have to pay in future for the service and the running of whatever entity that represents them. Will they all? After all, their business model is best described as cavalier rather than structured, so contributing to a legal organisation representing them may be outside their modus operandi. For many, the last thing they need is accountability and formality. I often wonder how they structure themselves to make voluntary payments to the illegal landholders, including rent or profit shares, annually. Is it a donation? If so do they pay tax before, or is it a cost in their tax returns? More likely than not, not declared by either party at the expense of the country's services.

Talking about informality, other than about four members of the previous ARAC committee, were eligible to stand, with the majority having not paid their subs for many years, at least three with Ian saying in many cases this should read five. Even their proposers in some instances were not paid-up members of ARAC, including some of my old friends. That makes those resolutions passed in 2023 illegal, but that is now history. It is up to us to pay more attention and prevent it from happening again.

The fact that Theo de Jager was part of the delegation invited to Washington, I believe this event, with the present administration in place in the USA, is a giant positive step. Furthermore, the fact that Liam Philp, Deon Theron, and others finally had an audience with the Minister of Finance was another significant step. I believe, contrary to what the press reports, many countries in the region and those that advocate for democracy were far from satisfied with the issuance of bonds as compensation and with the manner in which it was done. As I have said many times, this was never going to reduce the debt owed to displaced farmers; it was just kicking it down the road. Unfortunately, in accepting it, those in their desperation will soon see the value rapidly depreciate. Yes, this is very much to the Government's advantage, far from fair to the TDHs. The previous chairman, Pat Ashton, to his credit, attended, asking what the new committee had to offer in the way of progress. The answer I thought was understated, there has been positive progress. I have more hope now than in the previous twenty-five years that those representing us are genuine and are willing to look at even retaining professionals to further our cause. 

“The CFU itself was our biggest problem as it tried to represent both the haves and have-nots, something impossible to do. Being captured was easy when this confusion existed.” - Peter McSporran

Funding will be an issue, of course, it always is. I am fortunate that I can survive without the compensation, although it would be nice to have it. More importantly, it is my legal right, or that of my heirs, to receive fair and complete compensation for my land and its improvements, hopefully not in the form of a nearly worthless piece of paper. Before the meeting, due to the obvious efforts of the new committee over the past year, I decided to pay my ARAC subs so I now have a vote, even if only through proxy. At least it appears there are a number of honourable people whom I will be happy to give my proxy to. It was nice to see many of my old friends in the audience. Thank you for making the effort to attend; these meetings are essential.

“The latest news of the blatant illegal misuse of bonds as financial instruments in Zimbabwe is sadly bad news to the expectant bondholders.” - Peter McSporran

Rozanne and Beth in one of the holding sheds

While Beth Bedford was here, we decided to take her to a cattle sale that we had previously consulted with her about. It was in light of being impressed when we attended the sale in Portalegre. This one was in Montemor-o-Novo, some three hours' drive from our home. It would give Beth a chance to see some of rural Portugal, rather than the usual compulsory, crowded tourist destinations. We do not have air conditioning in our house, so the car was probably the most comfortable place to be that day, with temperatures, as I mentioned above 40°C. Of interest once again, most of the cattle were crossbred Limousin or Charolais, in turn from cross-bred local breed cows, and noticeably receiving a premium over the local breeds. With more time on our hands, we were able to walk around the holding pens, which consisted of five sheds with twenty pens each, capable of holding ten or fifteen adult head, as well as many more young stock, depending on the age and size of the animals. That was a minimum of 200 head in each shed. The sheds formed a semicircle around the auction ring, with two extended chutes leading to and from the ring to each shed, allowing the cattle to be returned to their original pens after the sale. No need to go sorting out like we had at the sales back at home in Zimbabwe. All very, very slick, reducing a lot of stress in the animals, although some of the local breeds, especially cull cows from fighting bull herds, were happy to demonstrate their aggression in the ring. I would not want to tag their calves.The ring was more like an undercover amphitheatre with reasonably comfortable chairs all in a semicircle, looking down on the cattle. That day, the air conditioning in the building really struggled, but it was cooler than outside. We were keen to attend a bull sale this week, but we think it has been cancelled because of the hot weather. Next week, tuna fishing, I cannot wait. Actually, I can. Time seems to go by so fast in my old age, and in my circumstances, I prefer a slow pace.

Layout of cattle sales pens at Montemor O Novo

“I wake up in the morning each day, wondering how I will fill my day, but by the evening it has already gone with me hardly noticing.” - Peter McSporran

In 1998, when I returned from Mickey Tanner’s eventful fishing trip, I found it had not stopped raining the whole week we were in Kariba. As I was still paying off a heavy tax burden following my divorce I had stupidly decided to grow a lot of rain fed tobacco on Mede Farm and had even leased more land for that purpose on Rainton, a farm next door to Mede, owned by the Smit family of knife-making reknown. Well the rain did not stop. It rained continuously from December 1998 to January 1999. To my horror, the tobacco that survived barely grew, despite the copious amounts of nitrogen we applied. In the best of years late planting did not do well in our cool growing area; it did abysmally in a wet year. It was also Choppy Steyn’s first year managing a tobacco section after moving from his post in charge of workshops and maintenance. A very tough start for him and an expensive one for me. We even had small bream swimming in the tobacco furrows some two kilometres from the nearest river. Shit was it wet!  Ah, well, you have good years and bad. Most of my bad years were wet years; drought and tobacco can be very profitable if you have irrigation. You can obtain exceptional yields. Too much rain is almost impossible to mitigate against. There I was, after thirty years of farming, still learning lessons.

“In farming, nature reminds you who is in charge; this often happens when you least need it. A vida.” - Peter McSporran

Disclaimer: Copyright Peter McSporran. The content in this blog represents my personal views and does not reflect corporate entities.