Column: We plough the fields with tractors? - The Very Reverend John Dobson, Dean of Ripon monthly reflection

An adaption of the traditional hymn, ‘We plough the fields and scatter…’ and as if to emphasise that, Ripon Farm Services parked an enormous new tractor with plough on the cathedral forecourt.

The origins of this service go back centuries, to an age when people were enlightened enough to know their need of God. Each year, ploughing would start on Plough Monday, following the first Sunday after the Epiphany (when we remember the ‘wise men’ bringing their gifts to the infant Jesus). On that Sunday, the plough of each village would be blessed.

There was an appreciation that the provision of food cannot be taken for granted and that, as the hymn celebrates, ‘all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above’. In asking for God’s blessing upon the plough, the people were praying for those who would labour to produce the crops and secure their ‘daily bread’. In 2023, on Plough Sunday, communities benefiting from a hold on these ancient yet contemporary insights came together to do the same. And there is much for which we do well to pray.

Within the service in Ripon Cathedral, we celebrated the labours and commitment of our farmers and combined the wisdom of our ancient faith with the realities of modern life, as the faithful are called to do every day.

Duncan Berkshire of Bishopton Vets brought home to us the challenge of achieving economically sustainable farming, and thereby food security, within this nation. Duncan, one of the people behind the #BiteIntoBritish campaign, gave disturbing examples of how powerful retailing giants within our country risk our national capacity for food production through a reluctance to pay a reasonable price to farmers. So, according to Duncan, eggs have recently become more scarce because some producers are being priced out of business, while we have also seen thousands of healthy pigs killed in the last 18 months without being used to feed the hungry because cheaper imports are preferred.

It was inevitable, then, that the Plough Sunday service not only reminded us of God’s grace and bounty, but also of his justice. Clearly, the issues around how we should secure our food supply while sustaining viable farming units which maintain our countryside and environment are complex. There are also issues around how we care for animals, and the anxiety that good practices here will be undermined by importing less-responsibly produced alternatives. That’s not to say there are no concerns for animal welfare with some producers nearer home.

This joyful service did well then to challenge all of us to grapple with important questions. Ripon Cathedral Rural Forum will see regional leaders discuss food security in March; one way in which we seek to respond to God’s call for justice while serving the people of this region.

Until then, we continue to thank God for our farmers and pray for justice in the production, distribution and sale of the food upon which all our lives depend.