Category Archives: agriculture

Cameron woos Welsh farmers: it’s all about the exports

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Miles King

  This from Today’s Farmers Weekly: EU exit could cost UK’s livestock farmers £330m, says PM Livestock farmers would be forced to pay an extra £330m a year to export their goods abroad in the event of an exit from … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, Charities campaigning, EU referendum, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Farm leaders make case to stay in EU, to protect exports and their influence in Brussels

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Miles King

Farm business leaders are clearly rattled. They can see that the campaign to take the UK out of the EU is not going away, even if the “leave” camp is currently channelling the amphitheatre scene in Life of Brian, with … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, Common Agricultural Policy, EU referendum, Europe | 1 Comment

The Answer Lies in the Soil

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Miles King

As Arthur Fallowfield, the farmer character in the legendary Radio 4 comedy series’ Beyond our Ken and Round the Horne, would have said, “The arnswer loies in the soil”. I read with interest and increasing disbelief, an article by George … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, carbon storage, George Monbiot, grasslands, grazing, uplands | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Questions in Parliament: On Badgers, Dairy farms, Hedgehogs and Fewer Farm Inspections

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Miles King

  The first session of Oral Questions to Defra ministers took place on Thursday. You can read through the whole lot here on the excellent “they work for you” website. Reading through the questions and answers, three things jumped out … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, badgers, Common Agricultural Policy, Dairy farming, Rory Stewart | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Dorset Steam Fair

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Miles King

  It was our annual visit to the Great Dorset Steam Fair yesterday. We’ve been going on and off, for the past 16 or 17 years. It’s undoubtedly the strangest festival I’ve ever been to – though I didn’t really … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Badger Cull Circus comes to Dorset

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Miles King

The badger cull circus is coming to town – well to Dorset anyway. This was the announcement, a not entirely unexpected one, which was dribbled out on the friday before the bank holiday weekend. A piece of news management? It … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, badgers, bovine TB | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

UKIP Farm Spokesman Stuart Agnew’s chickens to be roasted by Massive Solar Farm

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Miles King

UKIP’s agriculture spokesman (John) Stuart Agnew may know nothing about chemistry, but he knows how to raise chickens. Agnew has a farm in Norfolk, where he has a 35000-chicken free range egg farm. Agnew also receives EU farm subsidies on … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, climate change, Common Agricultural Policy, Solar Farms, UKIP, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

UKIP exposes commEUnist plot to suck all carbon dioxide from atmosphere

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Miles King

UKIP Agriculture Spokesman Stuart Agnew made this statement/asked this question in the European Parliament yesterday, of Socialist Group leader Gianni Pitella Mr Pitella are you aware that if you succeed in decarbonising europe our crops will have no natural gas … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, carbon storage, UKIP | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Wheat found in Mesolithic Britain 2000 years before farming arrived.

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Miles King

Einkorn – the first wheat   Some of you may know that I co-authored a book called “Arable Plants – a field guide” about 12 years ago (still available from all good internet book outlets, and possibly some bookshops too: … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, Mesolithic, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

UKIP’s Lord fulminates against madness of CAP rules, but takes over a million Euros in subsidies

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Miles King

          The Perfect Storm David Verney, 21st Baron Willoughby De Broke, who is UKIP leader in the House of Lords, arranged for a short debate on Agriculture to take place yesterday afternoon in the House of … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, Common Agricultural Policy, UKIP | Tagged , , | 1 Comment