A Small Matter

Small-scale and sustainable use of the land is vital, argues Alicia Miller

- Alicia Miller

On May 15 this year, my partner Nathan and I did what we always do on this day – filled out our Single Application Form (SAF) in order to get a small subsidy from the Welsh Assembly Government for our farming. We must detail exactly what we do in each field, which should be pretty easy as we’re small scale farmers and don’t have that much land. The problem is that we grow a wide diversity of crops and have complicated rotations. We have to assess (guess?) the amount of land that each crop occupies in the field, so we walk around having arguments about our estimates, because the way we work just doesn’t fit the form. It’s always an infuriating process.

My rant belies an important issue – I’m irritated by the SAF because I feel it dismisses the significance of scale, making us work harder because we’re small. For us, small is part of our belief system. Being small demands a different kind of relationship with the land and the animals that live on it, one which is more intimate and immediate.