I think it is over 20 years since I stopped trusting the NFU at all. I have quite liked some of the leading NFU characters over that time but I haven’t respected the organisation and its grip on the truth in that time. On Friday George Monbiot exposed an example that shows you the type…
Tag: NFU
NFU – there’s a useful course…
‘The NFU reacted angrily…’ is a common occurrence – try searching for it online and you’ll find a lot of examples. Today’s example, at least as reported on Today, is the NFU reaction to Ian Boyd’s suggestion that the future British countryside will have more hedges and trees and fewer grazing animals in it. This…
Vegetarian food and the NFU
This is apparently a controversial video – a Dad (controversial!) cooking (controversial!) his daughter a vegetarian meal because that’s what she wants (controversial!). The NFU issued a statement – click here – where it expresses its ‘significant concerns’ and its worries about the ‘distress caused to British farmers’. I’ve felt for a long time that…
General Licence confusion
I’d written the following blog post before hearing that Defra are announcing new, or not so new, general licences overnight. Wild Justice will be looking carefully at these and consulting with our lawyers over the next few days. One of the things that has really struck me about the whole business of reforming the general…
A crisis for the NFU?
Brexit means Brexit, and we now can be sure that it means a pretty stiff Brexit if not a hard one. This isn’t what most British farmers wanted but it’s what they are going to get. And it is going to be tough for them. I remember talking to a local sheep farmer about a…
Awful of Natural England, and confused of RSPB
BBC Wildlife Magazine has a good article about the Hen Harrier plan (welcomed by the RSPB) which will do nothing for the Hen Harrier. I am quoted as saying that neither the RSPB nor Natural England should have agreed a plan which does not have targets in it. What is a plan without a…
Guest blog – GWCT confused by Dr Ruth Tingay
Dr Ruth Tingay is a raptor conservationist with field experience from North & Central America, Europe, Africa, Central and SE Asia. She studied the critically endangered Madagascar Fish Eagle for a PhD at Nottingham University and is a past president of the Raptor Research Foundation. She’s currently researching the illegal persecution of raptors & its…
Lord Krebs on Badgers
My old boss, Prof Lord Krebs, was on Farming Today (8 mins in) being interviewed by Anna Hill on Wednesday morning. Lord Krebs provided a masterclass in sticking to the facts, despite some niggling questions from Ms Hill, and getting the message across very clearly. The message was that the ‘too-early-to-tell-really-but-the-figures-are-out-there’ results from the Badger…
Guest blog – Food security by Roderick Leslie
Although I worked as a forester I actually studied Agricultural & Forest Science under the great agricultural educationalist Mike Soper. Even back in the 70s I remember the question ‘where does it all end?’ was being asked – the risks of flash-over resistance to antibiotics from pigs to humans as a result of them being…
Beavering away – or, actually, here to stay.
Harry Barton, Chief Executive of Devon Wildlife Trust, said: ‘We are delighted by Natural England’s decision to grant us a licence to give these beavers a long term future on the River Otter. It’s the result of a great deal of effort by our charity, supported by partner organisations across the UK and, most importantly,…