On Saturday I woke before the alarm and that was early! It wasn’t because I had gone to sleep before knowing the result of the London Mayoral election and the fate of the several hundred pound bet I had on Boris (that result was never seriously in question) but because I was going out to…
Category: FARMING
Agriculture policy and stuff like that
The week before last the EU adopted a biodiversity strategy which says many good things. but let’s just concentrate on agriculture for a moment. Here are some highlights about agriculture (I’ve highlighted some bits for you): 58. Recalls that over half of the EU’s territory is managed by farmers, that farmland delivers important ecosystem services and…
A farmer writes
Last week I received this letter from a farmer and I’m grateful to him for permission to publish it here along with my reply to him. Dear Dr Avery I have read articles and letters from you from time to time particularly in Farmers Weekly. We have a small farm of about 150 acres of…
Between a rock bunting and a hard place
I had a short piece in the Farmers Weekly this week and you can read it here. But have a look at the image that FW has chosen to go with the article – a nice bunting. But wait a minute – that’s not a yellowhammer or a reed bunting, and it’s certainly not a…
Letter from Defra
I am grateful to Defra Minister Richard Benyon for this reply to a letter which my MP, Louise Mensch, sent to him on 15 December concerning implementation of the EU Birds Directive. The letter asked about farmland birds, hen harriers and marine protected areas. The Minister’s civil servants have written him quite a detailed reply…
The NFU elects…?
Comments Off on 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…
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…
Paying by results
Your money is not being spent well in funding English agri-environment schemes. This used to be what the current Defra Ministers, James Paice and Richard Benyon, said while they were in Opposition but precious little has changed since they came into positions of being able to influence things. The agri-environment programme is voluntary for farmers…
Yesterday – three strands
I enjoyed yesterday. I launched the Nature of Harming ‘award’ and it generated a lot of interest. Around 250 votes yesterday was pretty good and there was a clear leader at the end of the day. Lots of varied comments and debate – very interesting. If you haven’t voted yet then please do so here. …
Still in denial
Guy Smith, just an ordinary farmer (not!), was doing his usual thing of trying to undermine the Farmland Bird Index on Farming Today yesterday. He has been making the same points for years and he knows perfectly well what the answers to them are. But this time he seemed to have quite a lot of…