Green Greeks

Beware Germans bearing gifts may be the watchword in Athens now, but if you raise your eyes above the floor to the heavens, or just short of them,  then you may see signs of green shoots of growth in the Greek economy.  Or at least on the roof of the Treasury in Athens.   These…

Guest blog – Gary Burgess, a pigeon fancier

Hi all I’m Gary Burgess and I’m a Pigeon Fancier and would like to thank Mark for this opportunity to write this Blog. I grew up in the late sixties/seventies. It now seems such a long time ago, almost like the dark ages. I was fortunate back in those days to live in an urban…

The NFU elects…?

Today the NFU Council will elect its new President, Vice President and Deputy President – except there is a fair chance that all three will be re-elected. The NFU has a very progressive voting system – in some ways.  If you are the incumbent then you need to get an increasing proportion of the votes…

It’s mad!

Yesterday’s blog suggested a different  way of paying by results for success in agri-environment schemes – regional top-ups for participating farmers if the regional farmland bird index rises.  It’s a tricky thing to administer, perhaps, but it is essentially a good idea (in my humble opinion). This month’s copy of The Field – with an…

Paying farmers by results 2

Last week I posted a blog about paying by results in agri-environment schemes which generated lots of comments.  Here’s another way that we could pay by results.  Like any system, including the current failing one, this proposal has its problems of monitoring, cost, fairness etc but it’s worth thinking about alternatives when the current system…