46 C O N T E X T 1 0 5 : J U LY 2 0 0 8 www.theyworkforyou. com/whall/?id=200805-07a.264.0 for details of the thatching debate inWestminster Hall on 7 May 2008 http://arts.guardian. co.uk/art/architecture/ story/0,,2265770,00.html for the Observer article published in March 2008 Note The Conservation of Historic Thatch Committee has recently published a guide to Growing Straw for Thatching. It is available by sending a cheque for £6.50 (made payable to the COHT Committee) to The Granary, Home Farm Court, Kingsbury Episcopi, Martock, Somerset TA12 6AT. Alison Henry is historic buildings advisor at South Somerset District Council. She is a member of the IHBC technical panel and represents the IHBC on the Conservation of Historic Thatch Committee. radius of his farm, but that now the number had dropped to about eight. Although combed wheat reed can be profitable in a good year (significantly more so than growing grain wheat), it is more risky, and imports of foreign water reed have driven down the price of thatching straw in recent years. There are also problems in getting the workforce needed at harvesttime. One thatcher uses an agency to supply eastern European labour, but there are fears that this source of labour may dry up as the economies of those countries improve. It is likely that the price of combed wheat reed will rise significantly in future years, as cheap labour becomes a thing of the past. It would appear that one of the biggest hurdles in preventing farmers diversifying into combed wheat reed production is legislation administered by DEFRA. DEFRA maintains a national list of wheat varieties and it is illegal to sell, trade or even give away the seed of any wheat varieties that do not appear on this list. Most of the wheats on the national list are modern varieties bred to have short stems and high grain yields, which is just what you want if you are growing wheat for grain. The types of wheat suitable for thatching are old varieties with long stems and low grain yields. The national list contains only two wheat varieties that are remotely suitable for thatching, and even these are nowhere near as good as some of the old types such as Squareheads Master and Little Joss. It is not illegal to grow the unlisted varieties, so anyone who has been growing them for some time can save their seed each year and continue production, which is what many straw growers do. Nor, ironically, is it illegal to sell grain from unlisted varieties if the grain is to be ground for flour or used for animal feed. The purpose of the legislation is to protect the rights of plant breeders (such as Monsanto), so it is sale of grain for use as seed which is prohibited under the legislation and which prevents new growers legally obtaining seed of the best thatching wheat varieties. Anyone wanting to start growing straw for thatching can only legally obtain seed of inferior varieties. Not much of an incentive. Several thatchers at the Somerset meeting confirmed that the old varieties were slowly coming in via ‘the backdoor’. That is good news in some respects, but it does seem ludicrous that farmers should risk prosecution for flouting what would appear to be unreasonable legislation. The quantities of wheat grown for thatching are minute compared with grain wheat, so the effect on the plant breeders’ incomes would be insignificant if the legislation were changed. Curiously, no one in the media seems to be calling for changes to the seed certification legislation. Instead, attention is focused on the planning legislation and English Heritage’s guidance on thatching materials, seen by many listed building owners and some thatchers as unfair, restrictive and inflexible. The National Society of Master Thatchers has recognised that the future production of thatching straw is uncertain, but has thrown its weight behind campaigning for ‘flexibility’ in the planning legislation rather than in the seed legislation. Dorset MP Oliver Letwin and Somerset MP David Heath have taken up the baton, both calling for relaxation of the planning legislation to allow alternative thatching materials to be used on listed buildings in order to cope with the current crisis in thatching straw supply. But surely changing the planning legislation would be treating a symptom of the problem rather than the underlying cause? The Somerset meeting showed that the problem is not that we have had one bad harvest or that planning legislation is inflexible; the fundamental problem is the long-term production of good quality thatching straw. So why not campaign to remove impediments to increasing that production? Some people might argue that using water reed overcomes the problems of thatching straw shortages. Is this really a sustainable alternative? Quite apart from the environmental cost of importing water reed from abroad, the supply of this material is by no means assured. A hot, dry summer last year decimated the Turkish water reed harvest, while a warm winter in Hungary meant that less ice formed on the reed beds, making harvesting of the reed difficult, so supplies of water reed from these countries are very low this year. The improving economies of Eastern European countries may further diminish imports of foreign water reed as home demand rises. Chris Wood of English Heritage is due to meet DEFRA officers to discuss the seed certification issue. But it would seem that our MPs need to be better informed about the thatching industry. On reflection, it is little wonder that their views are one-sided. In all probability the only time thatching appears on their radar is when they are contacted by Mr Angry of Dorset (or Devon, Oxfordshire, Somerset or wherever) who is aggrieved at their local conservation officer’s refusal to grant consent for a change of thatching material from long straw or combed wheat reed to water reed. I suspect that no one has ever written to their MP to say that they have just had a lovely combed wheat reed job done. Conservation officers in areas where long straw or combed wheat reed are the traditional thatching materials could help to inform the debate by writing to their local MP to explain about the restrictive national list, and urging them to campaign to change this legislation rather than the planning legislation. The Conservation of Historic Thatch Committee has recently published a guide to growing straw for thatching, and in Somerset it is hoped that the Somerset Master Thatchers Association will raise its voice in protest at the seed certification regulations. If MPs, the NSMT and others put as much effort into campaigning for changes to the seed certification regulations as they do into clamouring for changes to the planning legislation, we might be a good deal closer to creating a sustainable home-grown supply of good quality thatching wheat.
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