I thought I’d go and look at the OSR yield data myself after listening to the spat between the wonderful Matt Shardlow of Buglife and Graeme Taylor, the Public Affairs Director of the European Crop Protection Association yesterday, and then again the umpiring of the spat by a bloke from the BBC’s More Or Less…
Category: FARMING
Burning issues 2
George Eustice was right to suggest that we (for it is our money) should withdraw subsidies from grouse moors. Take a look at this fine crop of burned ground and realise that you are probably paying £56/ha to its owner every year. That £56/yr certainly pays for the matches needed to set this land alight….
Monbiot, Batters on the Vine
I very rarely listen to Radio2 – I am so firmly a Radio4 stick-in-the-mud – so I am grateful to a reader of this blog for pointing me in the direction of the Jeremy Vine show this lunch time (although I feel rather bad about temporarily deserting Martha Kearney) where there was what passes for…
How ‘eco’ are Ecotricity’s plans for Green Gas Mills?
Last week Ecotricity, who supply my household electricity and gas, announced ambitious plans for Green Gas Mills which would produce gas from grass. The pitch is that green gas could replace or displace fracking (the environmentalist’s bete noir) and produce virtually carbon-free gas without affecting food production and by the way, help produce…
What sort of future farming do you want?
A few days ago, four of the UK’s largest wildlife NGOs launched a joint vision for the future of farming and farm payments (because Brexit means Brexit, you know). I find the fact that WWF is paying attention to the UK countryside, and that they have joined RSPB, National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts to…
Hedges – a good response
That looks good to me. Thank you Mr Eustice.
Who are the environmental lobby?
Farmers Guardian insight has an interesting little article on ‘who are the environmental lobby?’ I’d have thought that most farmers have noticed by now but you never know. Apparently it’s not the Wildlife Trusts, Friends of the Earth, WWF-UK or Greenpeace – which will miff some of those not named. The environmental lobby is George…
Leadsom’s historic opportunity
I’ve been to the launch of the latest State of Nature report. To the extent that such a depressing document can be fun, it was fun. But it was certainly interesting. The wildlife NGOs managed to entice the new Secretary of State for E, F and RA to the event to make a speech and…
What I said on Farming Today
Yesterday I took part in a discussion with Andrew Gilruth of GWCT for this morning’s BBC Farming Today programme. Our discussion followed nearly four minutes (3:42 I make it) of a positive piece about grouse moor management with the Chair of the Moorland Association and a gamekeeper. There then followed a four minute discussion. Of…
My first punt at our future agriculture policy
Everyone says that the redesign of agriculture policy post-Brexit is a big opportunity. And so it is. You can make this as complicated as you like, and it is complicated in reality, but let’s start by making it simple whilst not losing the gist of what it’s all about. Currently we taxpayers ‘invest’ £3,000,000,000 per…