Recent content by soilbug

Roger Perry - you are right, except discerning consumers in USA & UK will shop local for locally produced food and enjoy more nutritious food whilst the price conscious public will buy whichever is cheapest and that will include USA produce, but it won't give you or us much profit - the...

JCB - Who needs "Made in China" (with cheap/exploited labour) when good old-fashioned British, no - BRITISH ENGINEERING - can build such a remarkable machine HERE, IN THE ENGLISH MIDLANDS ? Mr Dyson and every other cheapskate manufacturer please note, and every British citizen take pride in...

Soiltesting - I have followed American Dr William Albrecht's research for over half a century. My conclusion is that the petro-chemical industry helped boost crop yields after the war but is now just another hand in the farmer's wallet. I have my soils properly assayed for a sufficient range of...

There are two crucial elements missing in Elaine's theory - first, the soil must be in good physicl condition and second, it must already be in chemical balance and then the soil biome will save you money, but expect the local agronomist to go bananas because he will loose sales and you will...

Elaine's food web - 2 main issues. The first is that building organic matter is essential in order to make a profit - you will buy less fertiliser because soil microbes will live off the OM and 'mine' the extra fertiliser from the soil materials - your agronomist won't tell you this! Crops will...

Danllan is spot on - industrialists and developers and anyone with a bright accountant advising them will roll capital into farmland to reduce capital gains tax and inheritance tax to bugger up the sustainability of genuine farmers trying to expand or become more viable. A coservative...

Duckwobble - a commercial rent would be around 1% of the capital value of the land for a sensible acreage (one worth traveling to for commercial cropping, i.e. the £80 - 120 per acre others are suggesting. This guy is exploiting your keenness to find a hobby patch to indulge your passion. So it...

pretty awful return on your own capital unless you borrow lots more and then pay more tax when you sell up. Meantime you bounce your butt off trying to cultivate as fast as jeremy clarkson and pray for a good harvest i.e. big drought, poor yields and better price per tonne. So get a good God!

you got it in two!

You sound as though you've been tumbled, as we say over here. Come on - let's trade on negotiated terms, not trump bully terms! Let us look to the long term and face down China together.

OK Bald Rick - let us spell it out for Boris's sake: Brexit is behind us - only tarriffs to be settled now to help us make new friends in high places and trade our technology and finance outputs. We can avoid EU trade restrictions if we start with USA. We will give them access to our food market...

The way he drives, you will likely get your fields cultivated too, for free - and save you getting the combine out this year (if that helpmate sticks the cultivator on again for him). How will he shop in Cirencester with a cultivator on the back? Should wake the high street up!

Couldn't agree more. 'Kow Tow' time is extended to cover both global bullies, America and China. Shame on Boris! Truss and the rest have allowed USA to get their proposals on the table first - the earliest sign of capitulation.

They say George Eustace is a nice man but does he speak for Britain or just for his cabinet position? If you think that is a hard question, what about the next one? Does Boris give a damn for the British rural economy now he has a stonking majority in parliament? If you remember, he came to...

Big Pharma - offspring of Petro-Chem x Synthetic Soil - has been trying to by-pass the farm manager and take control of all chemi-field operations for years in order to milk our farm profits. That's why they invented the 'basis' and other courses, to ensure only they are qualified to make field...