Great article in The Times

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
It's not a view. It's science. Go read the threads on here re trees/ farmland. Then go read the threads on food miles. Add the two together.
Read my post. I was referring to public opinion compared to farmer opinion. The two are very different on this and quite a few other subjects.

Whinging about the loss of subsidies is probably more likely to strengthen that opinion too.
 

delilah

Member
I was referring to public opinion compared to farmer opinion.

You said that it was my opinion. I am telling you that it isn't my opinion, it is my quoting of the science.

A recurring problem we face - be it the health benefits of 'lean meat', or the 'trees sequester more carbon than PP', or whatever - is that our national bodies don't have a scooby.
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
Thanks for posting that. Really sorry to hear about your siutation, just awful.

Is it just me or are we seeing more and more of these articles in the papers shining a light on the idiots and their "ideas"? Nothing on telly obvs but it’s a start.
 

DRC

Member
Thanks for posting that. Really sorry to hear about your siutation, just awful.

Is it just me or are we seeing more and more of these articles in the papers shining a light on the idiots and their "ideas"? Nothing on telly obvs but it’s a start.
I think there are more of these sensible articles about . Janet street porter wrote new in the mail on line the other day.which someone shared .
 
And just to point out 90% of the land we farm is owned by other people so I could very easily find myself in a similar situation. Part of my job is to fulfill land owners ambitions which is increasingly a blend of farming and environment. Thankfully with the way we have been farming we are ahead of the game and ticking all the boxes.
That’s great until they change their whims or get a new advisor for the week. Here regen ag was the thing and then all of a sudden it was rewilding instead
 
So sorry to hear all this mate. You did say at Groundswell last summer you thought it was coming.

How's your wife holding up about it all?
Yes mate it was at groundswell I realised we were going to get shafted. Just so much talk about how wealthy landowners could get paid lots of money by not farming their land and giving it over to beavers and trees. Which is great if you own 2000 acres. You get the money, get to be a saviour of society and get some cool images for your Instagram.

As for my better half, she doesn’t even know what to say to me. She’s not from the world of farming and just can’t fathom how folk can just destroy peoples lives on a whim.
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
Yes, everyone should sign that. But it is just about getting the LR element of ELMS binned.

This whole loss of productive land to trees is being driven by a bigger issue. The growing belief that trees are better in terms of GHG than farmland. A belief that is being driven forward by both the NFU and AHDB. That is where we need urgent change; for our national bodies to do a 180 degree turn and openly call it out as the crock of sh1t that it is.

edit: and at an individual farmer level, it is being driven by anyone who evangelizes about carbon credits. Shame on you.
This is the post I was replying to.
You said that it was my opinion. I am telling you that it isn't my opinion, it is my quoting of the science.

A recurring problem we face - be it the health benefits of 'lean meat', or the 'trees sequester more carbon than PP', or whatever - is that our national bodies don't have a scooby.
I see no reference to science, only beliefs, which is fair enough as that is what is driving this whole debate. We clearly need more actual science to replace some beliefs with fact.
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
Ironic that the groundswell/ regen/ carbon credits push, could be what sinks a lot of ships for you contract farming guys .
why? we can provide a service that produces both farming and environmental goals, its up to us to prove that's a better option for land owners than "re wilding" (which i think is term being flung about too much). the carbon stuff you can do whilst still growing good crops so that comment does not really make sense. you can do all this stuff togethor. everything is not as black and white as keeps being made out on this forum.
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
And just to point out 90% of the land we farm is owned by other people so I could very easily find myself in a similar situation. Part of my job is to fulfill land owners ambitions which is increasingly a blend of farming and environment. Thankfully with the way we have been farming we are ahead of the game and ticking all the boxes.
of course, landowner means wealthy, and it won't be the wealthy who will starve if we are short of food, it will be the poor who will struggle to feed themselves.
 
why? we can provide a service that produces both farming and environmental goals, its up to us to prove that's a better option for land owners than "re wilding" (which i think is term being flung about too much). the carbon stuff you can do whilst still growing good crops so that comment does not really make sense. you can do all this stuff togethor. everything is not as black and white as keeps being made out on this forum.
Apparently according to the folk here they spoke to Mr Goldsmith who told them it wasn’t worth practicing regen ag on any ground that wasn’t to the standard of the fens etc. That all this sort of ground is good for is rewilding.
 

SteveHants

Member
Livestock Farmer
Yes mate it was at groundswell I realised we were going to get shafted. Just so much talk about how wealthy landowners could get paid lots of money by not farming their land and giving it over to beavers and trees. Which is great if you own 2000 acres. You get the money, get to be a saviour of society and get some cool images for your Instagram.

As for my better half, she doesn’t even know what to say to me. She’s not from the world of farming and just can’t fathom how folk can just destroy peoples lives on a whim.
Been there - Sheep are making decent money at the moment, so if you had to get out at any time, now wouldn't be the worst time to do it. Think about what you are going to do next and start thinking about making it happen.

Keep your chin up.
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
Oh I see sorry. Forgot about that one. I could give security of tenure as long as my tenures basically. Hence the world most of us are now farming in which is sadly short term although most of ours have been going for a long time now.
In Jared Diamond's book Collapse, he talks about why societies fail, and mentions Italy and North Africa (which were both the bread baskets for the Roman Empire). He says they destroyed the soil in both areas by the way they farmed. He argues part of the reason for that, was the land was owned by large wealthy landowners, who employed managers to farm it. This then meant, the farmers worked on a "short term" results driven timescale. Poor results in one year, out of a job etc. This meant the land was not farmed with a long term view to improvement of soil resources. That idea sounds pretty similar to the way you are forced to farm - short term lets/FBTs/share farming agreements does not encourage the attitude of the smaller Yeoman farmer to improve the land for their children. You may say I am being overly romantic but I am only joining the dots from Diamond's book to the present system we seem to be moving towards.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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