Agriculture has been core to our family for countless generations just as medicine, academia, high finance or public service has for others.

As a son of the soil his life has been shaped by the vagaries of the weather and politics of the day.

He has watched his children grow, celebrated births and weddings, mourned the passing of close friends and the tragic death of his first Grandson.

And like many of his generation, he has done so with a stoic good grace, and fortitude of spirit, that I and others of my time can only aspire to.

My overriding memory of my Father will always be of an unrelenting and hard working man whose kinship with the land, knowledge of livestock and the network of farmers across Scotland, is legend.

That was, and still is, the public face of my Father.

Privately he is someone who would pull his sleepy children out into the steel cold of a winters’ evening to awe in wonder at the splendour of the aurora borealis or suddenly pounce lion like into a summer meadow as he unfolded a delicate skylarks’ nest!

That I should even consider to write these words will be a source of deep embarrassment to him!

However today is his 80th birthday and this is my tribute to the person who created a fabric into which each of us has woven our own tapestry, and to which I now accord my thanks and gratitude.

Happy Birthday Father!

Song

They’re allegedly considered to be our opinion formers, and the backbone of society!

Yesterday – at the Balmoral Show in Belfast – I approached a former colleague, Martin Cassidy, who is lead Rural Affairs Correspondent with the BBC in Northern Ireland.

I explained that my client, David Laughlin, the first Organic Dairy farmer in Ireland, was going to present – in person – to HRH The Prince of Wales, a groundbreaking document on the future of organic food on the day of its public launch!

It’s a subject which is not only of massive global importance, it’s also very close to HRH Prince Charles own mantra, about local, and national food production.

Martin, who was at the Balmoral show with his film crew, said he’d inform his TV producer.

Inevitably, they did not appear for this significant, and topical story!

My client also contacted DARD (the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Development) co-supporters of the document, who said The Prince of Wales schedule was full and could not receive the report ……. which we chose to ignore!

Six years ago HRH The Prince of Wales was the guest of the Laughlin family at Culmore where he had lunch with David and national food and industry leaders!

It seems that many senior civil servants, and the BBC, have very short memories!

The old days of the fourth estate – the press and conventional media – is crumbling rapidly in advance of Web 2.0 and Social Networking yet why do they refuse to take notice?

Perhaps every picture tells a story, but not always, in its entirety!

FOOTNOTE:

Yesterday I was given direct information about a major £16 million contract in agriculture and the environment signed at the Balmoral Show …. was that broadcast on the BBC?

As they say in the States… go figure!

205 years ago a young widow by the name of Barbe Nicole Ponsardin inherited her husband’s champagne business after his premature death. She was only 27.

Her stoic determination to build a prestige Champagne House became assured in 1814.

Showing great foresight – just ahead of Napolean’s blockade – she shipped 10,000 bottles of her branded Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Champagne to Russia, ahead of the competition.

At some point in the process she had to decide whether to say no or yes!!

No one else could get their product into the country and overnight she became known as the ‘Grand Dame de la Champagne’! Veuve Clicquot

Now as my good friends will tell you, I, like many others. enjoy the occasional quaff of fizz and tonight I’m having a glass to celebrate my decision to say ‘No!’ to a prospective client.

It’s the first time I’ve decided that saying ‘No’ was far easier than saying ‘Yes’!

No one likes turning business away in these troubled economic times and because I always deliver beyond expectations I know new clients are a vital stimulus to help build a signature brand.

However in this instance my prospective client – an intelligent and ‘successful’ business – lacked genuine vision and the ability to discern between value and worth!

Quality – in an age of change – comes at a price, and so does self respect!

This might be the most expensive ‘No’ of my life but nevertheless it tastes very sweet indeed!

So to my non client this evening I say thank you, and “A la votre!”

The name of this beautiful young woman escapes me now, although I did receive her permission to take this photograph at La Feria de Abril in Seville!

It’s an amazing week long celebration of flamenco music and dance.

Over 1000 brightly coloured ‘casetas’ – small marquees – are erected by local businesses, aristocratic families, and trade unions a short walk across the river from the city centre.

The impromptu tented village acts as a base where friends, colleagues and clients are entertained and partake of the famous Andalusian hospitality.

Originally the site of a cattle fair in 1847 it has evolved to become the most stylish and stunning equine event in the world, with over a million visitors flocking to the week long festivities.

I have been thinking about this event recently as I’ve been richly entertained and informed by a friend’s compulsive blog from a cooler part of Europe some 2700 road miles to the north of Seville!

Returning Scots blog is a fascinating insight into Norse culture and captures the essence of what we humans are at root all about.

Adapting, living and celebrating!

So many of us get caught up simply trying to survive our daily routine we forget what it’s all about!

Whatever you do, however you do it, don’t forget to celebrate a little every day!

Now, wouldn’t that make this world a happier place?

I do not remember exactly when we turned off Donald’s life support.

In the days, weeks and months that followed his death, time took on a different dimension. It seemed to matter little then, although I suspect it was nearing midnight, on Sunday 27th February 2000.

That ten years have passed seems unbelievable, that the pain has never truly diminished, does not.

Donald was our 21 year old son with the world at his feet! He had just passed his international ski instructor’s exams and decided to celebrate, by kayaking a Grade 5 Scottish river in full winter spate. How he capsized remains a mystery, but when he was swept into a massive whirlpool, a safety rope thrown by his friend, failed to come close to his grasp across the ferocious, thunderous cavern.

Many hours later in intensive care, with no brain activity present, the awful decision to remove Donald from all clinical support was made.

My Father always told me that being pre-deceased by a child was akin to a living death. That was his way of telling us country children, to take care around farm machinery, or up in the mountains, or fishing alone at night on the river.

Yet what he could not know – how could anyone – was the total heartbreak and utter emotional devastation which would be experienced with such loss.

It was only then, that I began to truly understand how anyone could die of a broken heart! The grief and pain were as physically palpable as was the sense of total abject hopelessness.

Then three years ago, like a bolt out of the blue, I received a call from friends in Midhurst, East Sussex, informing me of the tragic news, that Clare Milford Haven’s 21 year old son James, had committed suicide.

I knew Clare through the Cowdray polo circles and was absolutely shocked. It was not until a year later when I read Clare’s courageous article in the Times could I gain any understanding of what had happened.

Suddenly I realized that I’d embraced Donald’s death over the years in a manner in which I’d granted myself special permission to suggest my grief was more valid, or deeper than others.

It’s not that it was intended. It’s what unconsciously evolved. At it’s most basic I suppose it is what is referred to rather glibly these days as a coping mechanism. For me, it was simply survival.

So, when I read Clare’s harrowing account of the events surrounding James’s suicide, it lent some acute perspective to my situation.

Months after Donald’s death, his ashes were scattered on Schiehallionin, in northern Perthshire, without my knowledge. That it was the wrong mountain, made it somehow even more tragic. But, that’s another story!

That Donald died undertaking what he so enjoyed, does not lessen the pain, not at all.

If however it serves to underline how precious, and tenuous life truly is, then these words will have not been written in vain!

Song

This is Paul Lupari and he is one of those unusual individuals who welcomes change!

In fact, you could say, he has made a career out of it, and often puts himself in the spotlight to explain to his customers, how they can benefit from it too!

Recently he decided it was time to invigorate his market place and came up with the idea of creating an unusual campaign to help circulate more product amongst his clients.

He knew many of his consumers had been going through a lean time so he decided to put on a show, which is where we came in! Paul wanted actors to illustrate and underline his views with a sprinkling of thespian drama and humor to create emotional impact!

We were commissioned to write the screen plays and produce a film of the entire event.

You can see an uncut and unmixed clip ( no sound EQ ) below.

It was a fun, and oversubscribed show with a serious message though!

Paul’s business is selling high quality NEFF Kitchen appliances. They’re at the upper end of the market and in these uncertain economic times not the easiest article to sell. What they do represent though is high value as well as great design and style. They are, some would argue, the iPhone of the kitchen world, and that’s the way to present them!

So, these days if you see an unusual business opportunity – like Paul – you need seize the moment and embrace it with all the passion and zeal of a cheetah lining up it’s next gazelle on the plains of the Serengeti!

And don’t let go!

But these days it’s all about calculated risk, and this is one of them!

Now, you might be forgiven for wondering what the iPhone and Mac giant is about to next launch on an unsuspecting world? After all, we’ve only recently been informed about iPad, which, I hasten to add, I’ve already ordered!!

Well the answer is nothing! At least not immediately, not that I’m aware of……….

You see, this particular Apple initiative, is an Irish organic food venture, centered in the picturesque hilltop village of Kilrea. It’s the brainchild of restaurant owner Barry Dallat who has just issued a national challenge to get everyone thinking about where their food comes from, and the real cost to the environment.

Perched above the River Bann, where 1200 years earlier marauding Norse Vikings once sailed upstream, his award winning restaurant Arbutus sits just off the square.

Over the last year Barry’s struck up a trading relationship with Culmore Organic farm, less than a mile across the river,
As a result Barry believes he has the lowest carbon footprint of any epicurean establishment in the country, and is offering a personally supervised, weekend cookery course with lunch, to anyone who can better his claim.

Organic beef, milk, cream, potatoes, eggs, honey and of course apples, are all sourced from the farm, and used in his extensive and succulent dishes.

Given the old adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, Barry’s hoping he can be disproved.

It’s a very Irish approach to doing business and raising your profile!

Yet, at it’s heart is a genuine conviction to open dialogue across the country with fellow restaurateurs and clients to discover what others are doing and how he can improve his approach.

So, perhaps ultimately, the challenge is to all of us, to engage with the spirit of Barry’s initiative, wherever we live!

What do you think?

This guy is called Balmachie Black Bear and he’s just become the hottest piece of bovine real estate in the world!

He’s a two year old Angus bull who was sold this week for a UK record price of 75,000 guineas.

That’s more that $130,000 and you’re going to be hearing a lot more about him, wherever you live and whatever you do. That’s because, he’s a bull in a million who has stats and facts that make him not just a winner, but a superstar!

Cattle growers around the globe want his progeny!

We filmed him at the end of last summer for the renowned Angus breeders John Lascelles & his father John Snr. at their beautiful farm near Carnoustie, in Scotland.

The link to the fim was emailed to the USA where it was watched by husband and wife team Jackie and Kelly Grissom of 8G Angus near Dallas, Texas, who have leading herds of both Angus and Brangus (Brahman x Angus) and export bull genetics to Brazil and Venezuela.

After watching the film they decided he was the bull of their dreams.

He will be flown to his new home in America, after he visits the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh this summer.

What made this assignment special was not only the amazing civility and kindness extended to me and my film crew by John and his lovely wife Vivienne, it was also a return to my roots, as my late Great Uncle, Dave Bryce, of Formal (Farm) in Glen Isla was a near neighbour and close friend of Mr Lascelles Snr, in the early fifties and sixties.

Just before Christmas, I visited Balmachie to catch up on Bear’s progress.

Vivienne directed me over to the bull shed where I also met John Jnr, who had just returned from school at the end of term, and was helping his father and Grandfather with the livestock.

Three generations of Lascelles, working together under one roof, in the great continuum of farming, cattle breeding, and life!

It made me smile! Hope you enjoy the film!

Many years ago, on a particularly cold and barren day, as I sheltered behind a stone dyke, overlooking a Scottish field, an old man by the name of “Moley” MacDonald said to me ; “Aye lad, there’s little or nae worms left in the land any mair, and if there’s nae worms, it will be the end of us all!”

“Moley” – a traditional Scottish mole trapper and beekeeper of the old school – read the seasons through his nostrils, and had a keen sense of the real cost of changes taking place on the land!

Our conversation that day – almost 30 years ago – led me to the belief that organic production was the only logical approach to delivering a sustainable food source.

My views led to conflict with my Father and I subsequently left our farms to join the BBC and ultimately become a Series Producer in BBC TV with a broad portfolio in environmental features.

My team of investigative journalists broke news stories in animal cloning, gm food production and other issues including organics and animal welfare.

We weren’t always popular with those in power, yet our factual accuracy remained scrupulous, fair and balanced, taking us around the globe to win respect and plaudits for our topical coverage.

Today the Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the UK Government presented a paper at the prestigious Oxford Farming Conference launchinghis food strategy – Food 2030.

I have read his speech – all 2,663 words of it -yet it seems to me he has either chosen to be assiduously politic, or has been advised to ignore the real issue, which is actually very simple.

Coventional food production uses thousands of fungicides, aphicides pesticides foliage desiccants, growth manipulators and artificial fertilzers – the list of chemical cocktails is as endless as it’s insidious – to produce economically viable primary produce, for processors to add value to.

It’s the dirty, messy, nasty ground of agriculture – generating billions of pounds to a lucrative agri¬chemical industry and providing big tax revenue to the Chancellor of the exchequer.

It also happens however to be an unsustainable anachronism from the last century which is killing our worms – as “Moley” MacDonald observed – and undermining the entire integrity of our soils, our flora and fauna, and which was not referred to directly, in Hilary Benn’s speech.

By a strange quirk of coincidence I was asked to produce a shot profile film of one of the speakers at the Oxford conference which will also be shown today. I hope the Secretary of State watches it!

During my interview with Adrian Ivory – Farmers Weekly 2008 farmer of the year – I went off script and asked his views on the GM question at which point he nearly exploded!

He stated emphatically if Government was serious about our food security it was time to untie the hands of farmers and allow them to adopt a GM crop policy for the benefit of society and the environment at large.

I have to say I agree with Adrian – which might sound hypocritical – however I truly believe we cannot hold back scientific progress.

It’s not inconceivable that we could create a parallel railroad track approach to food production with GM on one line and organic ( or natural ) on the other.

Although this will sound like complete heresy to the organic movement, something has to be done, and fast, if we are to rid society and the environment of the detritus of conventional agriculture.

If “Moley” MacDonald were alive today I believe he would receive a rapturous applause from the audience at The Oxford Conference for his wisdom and foresight of life on the land.

All these years ago he told me what was going wrong and he and I both knew it.

So, in the unlikely event of our Secretary of State reading this blog I would urge him not to watch Rome burn, while the Emperors fiddle.

Sometimes, even Secretary’s of State have to be brave, and say it like it really is!

Today, You Tube has announced that a fellow Scot – Susan Boyle – became it’s biggest global hit of 2009 with over 150 million views.

Yet, some remain convinced social media will never work!

In the midst of the global financial chaos of 2009 – when I was told my business would be lucky to survive – has come many joys, as well as sadnesses.

The reason I decided write about this, on the last day of this decade, has been in no small measure due to the premature death of my sister in law, Dr Lorna Bryce, earlier this year.

To suggest that Lorna – who single handedly built her own private dental practice – was a feisty character, is not intended to diminish her in any way at all.

That she was passionate about life, her children, her horses, and her business was not in question, yet to many, her apparent single mindedness, focus and drive, could be socially quite intimidating and isolating.

It’s fair to say we had our own share of verbal spats over the years, however, because she fought her personal battle against cancer for over 5 years with such fortitude, I never thought I’d be pre-deceased by her, and certainly not before she reached her 40th year.

And so, on a beautiful azure blue skied March morning, as I stood at Lorna’s grave, beside my brother and his children – my little niece and twin nephews – and watched them say their prayers as her coffin was lowered into the Scottish earth, everything changed.

Shaken by Lorna’s death I decided from that juncture to engage fully with Social media as a positive way of communicating with the world, and business community, about my life and work.

At the age of 53 I made a strategic decision to merge my company with my own name, through the medium of Web 2.0, which some said was tantamount to creating fiscal suicide.

Instead, we experienced unprecedented growth, and a more publicly accountable, and ultimately responsible approach to building genuine business relationships, than I could ever have imagined possible a year ago.

Of course it could be argued we have always been connected to each other in one way or another, however I believe facebook, twitter, and a myriad of other social networks are now creating global accountability to other nations, cultures, beliefs and values, which in the long term could prove to be the saviour of our society, and businesses at large.

Well today, it’s likely that Susan Boyle’s version of “I dreamed a dream“ has now upstaged “Auld lang syne” as the most instantly recognizable song around the world, which was of course was written by yet another fellow Scot, Robert Burns, many many years ago.

For me the most beautiful adaption of “Auld Lang Syne” was arranged and sung by my friend Mairi Campbell and accompanied by her talented husband Dave Francis.

It was used in the movie Sex in the City, and tugs at the heart strings as well it might.

Watch the clip here

This evening, if you’re singing “Auld lang syne” with your family and friends – as you see the old year out – don’t forget to extend the hand of friendship, love and goodwill to those in your global network in 2010, and go for your dreams!

We can all play a part in making the world a better place in which to live and work.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o’ auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,

We twa hae run about the braes
And pu’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary foot
Sin auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,

We twa hae paidl’d i’ the burn,
Frae mornin’ sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,

And there’s a hand, my trusty frien!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right guid willy waught,
For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,