Tag Archives: Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
The New Common Agricultural Policy Rules: Can you claim farm benefits for your golf course?
And so it begins again. The Rule Book for the new Common Agricultural Policy has been published – it’s here. There are some welcome omissions – the much derided 50 Trees rule has been consigned to history. The requirement … Continue reading
NFU claims badger cull is working; Defra continue to “revise” their bTB figures, downwards.
It’s good to see that Labour have one clear environmental policy – abandoning the Badger Cull. Huw Irranca-Davies confirmed that this was Labour’s position at the Oxford Farming Conference yesterday. According the Cull-supporting Western Morning News, “Mr Irranca-Davies said it … Continue reading
Badgers in the mainframe? Defra’s monumental TB data errors
Back in January I wrote about Defra’s revelation that the vet agency AHVLA’s new computer had been spewing out fictitious reports overstating the number of Herd’s which had suffered a bovine TB breakdown. In retrospect it’s amazing that Owen Paterson … Continue reading
Panic Ploughing
The BBC revealed yesterday that grasslands had been ploughed up, thanks to the European Commission’s Common Agricultural Policy proposals on “greening” – oh, the irony – to protect grasslands from being ploughed up.The EC had made the fatal mistake of … Continue reading
Defra slams stable door shut long after cattle bTB infections have bolted.
Your favourite politician has been at it again explaining why it is so important to sacrifice, I mean, cull scientifically, badgers. He, or at least one of his minions, has written a piece on Conservative Home, of all places, seeking … Continue reading
The CAP no longer fits
If there was any doubt before, the Local and Euro Election results indicate there is no doubt that the future of Britain in the EU and perhaps of the entire EU project, now hangs in the balance. Euro scepticism has … Continue reading
Offsetting at Lodge Hill rears its ugly head again.
CIEEM held a conference on biodiversity offsetting last week, and I was lucky enough to be the first speaker. I had put in an abstract for a talk which was highly sceptical of offsetting and whether it would provide any … Continue reading
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
Welcome to your new job Mr Sells
Andrew Sells starts as Chairman of Natural England on Monday (20th). If we could wave our magic wands and appear in his office that morning, what would we suggest to him as his top priorities? Some might suggest the Badger … Continue reading
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