Category Archives: agriculture
A further peep behind the curtain of Defra’s thinking about Environment and Agriculture after Brexit
Thanks to the impending General Election, Defra has allowed us another peep behind the curtain to show their thinking about the Environment and Agriculture after Brexit. A hastily thrown together response to the House of Lords EU Environment and Energy … Continue reading
Dorset chalk downland site sprayed with herbicide and re-seeded for farming.
It seems almost inconceivable that 20 years has passed since a Chalk Downland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) was ploughed up in Sussex. The Offham Down case became a minor cause celebre during the election campaign of 1997 which … Continue reading
Guest blog by Vicki Hird: Imagine the death of UK farms
As the Government continues to fail to develop any coherent plan for farming after Brexit, Vicki Hird, Sustain Campaign Coordinator and independent consultant (@vicki Hird) writes a guest blog. Imagine the death of UK farms Is it an exaggeration … Continue reading
NFU proposals for a new farm subsidy system only fit for cloud cuckoo land
It’s a special anniversary this year – 70 years since the 1947 Farming Act. I will return to this anniversary in more detail later in the year, but today I want to discuss one particular thing. The 1947 Act was … Continue reading
clean ponds and encouraging bees: Bayer influences public debate on future of farm subsidies
A public survey, paid for by mega Agrichemical industry business Bayer, has found that three quarters of the public supports farmers continuing to receive subsidies. So far the survey has received little publicity, just a couple of articles in the … Continue reading
Farmland nature is in intensive care
A week has past and I’m still at home. I finished my latest course of antibiotics yesterday (yay) and am drug-free for the first time in 3 weeks, for which I am very thankful. Now I need to start work … Continue reading
Time to Put Chemical Farming Indoors by Chris Rose
I’m republishing this (with permission) from Chris Rose’s Three Worlds blog. Time to put Chemical Farming Indoors A current side-effect of the prospect of Brexit is that Britain’s* green, countryside and wildlife groups are in an unusual fever of … Continue reading
The Nature of our State
I was looking forward to attending the State of Nature launch, but decided in the end to stay at home at get on with some writing that is now becoming urgent. But despite my noble intentions, I became swept up … Continue reading
Andrea Leadsom: “farming.. is a bedrock of.. the environment”. Err…
New Defra Secretary of State Andrea Leadsom has sent a statement to Farmers Weekly, the farming newspaper. Although the paper has not published the full statement, here are the quotes it uses: “Nothing is more important than the food we … Continue reading
Support the NFU as they campaign for Britain to stay in the EU
Is this the most significant moment in the EU referendum campaign so far? The National Farmers Union, representing 50,000 of the largest and wealthiest farming landowners in England (and Wales), who receive the lion’s share of all subsidies provided to … Continue reading
a new nature blog 