Tag Archives: common agricultural policy

Guest Blog by Ruth Davis: A Common Good Manifesto 1) Living Wages and Good Food

Today I am delighted to have a guest blog from my old friend Ruth Davis. We used to work at Plantlife together. Ruth is Political Director at Greenpeace though these are her own views. Ruth is starting an open debate … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, environmental policy, farming | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Following on from my last blog talking about how effective the NFU is at lobbying to protect the private interests of a few wealthy farmers, this classic insight appeared this morning in the Western Morning News. New Deputy President of … Continue reading

Posted on by Miles King | 6 Comments

The EU: environmental good or ill?

The next political tremor tomorrow when the Euro elections results are announced, no doubt will be reported by Nick Robinson on the BBC as a Magnititude 10 super quake. Has Farage got hold of polaroids of Nick as a student … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, bureaucracy, Common Agricultural Policy, corporate lobbying, European environment policy, Habitats Directive, NFU, SSSis, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

No targets and prescriptions – Conservation: The Knepp Way

wild daffodils on Knepp Estate (c) miles king On Wednesday I was privileged to spend a day at the Knepp Estate in Sussex, with Natural England Agriculture Policy experts – not that NE do policy of course. Other experts (and … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, carbon storage, Common Agricultural Policy, ecosystem services, grazing, landscape dynamics, rewilding, scrub | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Keeping a Level Head

A Somerset Levels Wet Meadow (c) Miles King I feel almost reluctant to put pen to paper (metaphorically) on the issue of the floods and the Somerset Levels, because so much has been written or spoken in recent days fromn … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, anti conservation rhetoric, anti-environmental rhetoric, Common Agricultural Policy, Environment Agency, European environment policy, Floodplains, grasslands, meadows, Owen Paterson | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Public Goods for Public Money

“Public Goods for Public Money” has become a bit of a mantra, not just for me, but for a wide range of organisations and individuals fed up with one failed reform of the Common Agricultural Policy after another. I was … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, Common Agricultural Policy, European environment policy, public goods | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Death of Greening

Remember the European Commission’s much vaunted proposals to “green” the Common Agricultural Policy? The idea was that, to show the European public (who pay for the farming subsidies the CAP hands out) that their money really was being spent on … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, Common Agricultural Policy, Greening, NFU, public goods | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Conservation needs Change

This a continuation of the series of blogs stimulated by the re-wilding and conservation debate at the Linnean Society on Wednesday. I looked at how people’s relationship with nature has evolved to the point now where we can more or … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, animism, Beavers, biodiversity, Common Agricultural Policy, conservation, ecosystem services, environmental policy, European environment policy, farming, Floodplains, Forestry, Forestry Commission, greenspace, housing, management, neoliberalism, NFU, Owen Paterson, public goods, public land, regulatory reform, semi-natural | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Goodbye Peter Kendall

Peter Kendall, President of the National Farmers Union, has announced his intention to retire from the role next February. I for one, will miss him – simply because he provides me with so many easy blogs to write. Peter is … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, anti conservation rhetoric, anti-environmental rhetoric, badgers, bees, biodiversity, Common Agricultural Policy, deregulation, environmental policy, farming, NFU, Peter Kendall, public goods, regulatory reform | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

For the Greater Good

Yesterday’s Guardian (or it may have been the Observer) carried an interview with NFU President Peter Kendall, in which Peter observed sagely that climate change is now the biggest threat to British Farming – not through gentle warming, but extreme, … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, anti-environmental rhetoric, biodiversity, carbon storage, climate change, ecosystem services, European environment policy, farming, grazing, neoliberalism, public goods, soils | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments